Diablo IV
My character in Diablo IV has died maybe three times. One of those times was because I went to get coffee, and some minor yet persistent demon seized the opportunity and, after a relentless 10-minute long assault, finally devoured my Level 50 Barbarian. The other two times, I simply missed the chance to gulp down one of the health potions I had stashed in my pockets. If you take your time and don’t act recklessly, Diablo IV is actually pretty easy. That being said, the sheer number of parameters, descriptions, plots, and poorly explained nuances make it feel like it teeters between difficulties normal and hard, especially if you don’t know what to focus on and want to take in full scope of the game.
The game doesn’t really teach you its mechanics, so there’s nowhere to learn them unless you’ve played previous entries or other similar hack-and-slash games. Diablo IV is not a bad introduction to the gaming world (many newbies won’t be deterred by the wall of stats for every sword or armor, and many casual players might dedicate their weekends over two years to finish it and feel satisfied), but this game definitely wasn’t made for that. No, no. It was designed with hardcore level-grinders in mind, speedrunners, and dedicated pros, those for whom 100 hours of gameplay is just a warm-up and whose understanding of the mechanics is more intuition than common knowledge. Such players will have a character at Level 40 faster than a casual player or newbie can even find out what season passes are, and why the game suggests abandoning the character they’ve so lovingly built over months to start anew entirely.
Considering this core target, it’s worth appreciating how approachable Diablo IV is for newcomers. This might be a first, but the game is actually harder for casuals than n00bs. While it doesn’t demand too much dexterity or a deep knowledge of the world of Sanctuary and its hellish mythology, it does demand a lot of time. You could stubbornly push through the main storyline just using a joystick and two buttons. But it will always take a while. According to howlongtobeat.com, it takes 26 hours to finish the main storyline, and 47 if you include side quests. In my opinion, more like twice that. It’ll take even longer the less time you have, as you won’t develop muscle memory, nor will you likely remember the rather shallow storyline or the framework of strategies you employed. What should you invest in—strength or dexterity? Where did you temper weapons…? Wait. Surely it was the blacksmith! Why can’t I now?! Oh, because of the new season… But I’m not playing a seasonal character, right? Or am I? @.@
And now, let’s add the late game—that’s what Diablo offers beyond a single playthrough of the story. Playing online in a clan, hunting for that one perfect item, gaming on increasingly higher difficulty levels. All of this takes many, many hours.
For a casual player, it’s mostly a waste of time. Half an hour stolen here and there to play a bit won’t deliver much satisfaction, and three hours on a Saturday afternoon once a month also won’t enhance the experience. But I’m ready to recommend Diablo IV to newbies. To those poor souls who’ve been suffering for years in the hell of mobile pay-to-win games with crappy, boring stories and loot boxes every few steps. To those keyboard and mouse penitents who, after eight hours on a work computer, want to try gaming on a controller but fear leaving their keyboard and mouse comfort zone for a 3D shooter’s controller setup. And finally, to those lost in the limbo of single-player who crave online companionship and seek a solid multiplayer experience, the kind you commit to, play until 3 a.m., and then discuss during school breaks. The kind whose parasocial clan bonds offer a taste of community, fulfilling an atavistic need to wander through desolate steppes as a tribe. Can you feel that vibe? The scorched earth, which you traverse, kicking up dust, battling demons, and gaining fame and riches? Always with a sense of longing for more dopamine? If so, may Lilith step aside, because this abyss has no bottom, and once you cross it—if you can cross it—it’ll be hard to still call you a newbie.
Final Izzy Mode Score for Diablo IV
Casual score: how suitable the game is for casual players – casual players who like a challenge from time to time, but generally just wanna’ have fu-u-n🎵 a few hours a week without stress and just for the fun of playing. The higher the score the more casual-friendly the game.
n00b-o-meter: how suitable the game is for n00b players – new players whose gaming career started and ended with Candy Crush, Tetris or browser games or even never played a game and would like to start. The higher the score the more n00b-friendly the game.
General Izzyness Level: between Izzy Mode, Normal, Hard and Nightmare – how would the title score in the difficulty scale known from games?
