Review
Path of Exile 2
A staggeringly deep ARPG that respects your intelligence and disrespects your free time. Still in early access — treat it accordingly.
No. 30 in The Noteworthy 50 · Action RPG
Diablo IV
The most satisfying combat in the genre attached to the most tiresome business model Blizzard has yet devised.
Nobody makes an action RPG feel like Blizzard. Every skill in Diablo IV lands with weight, the animation and hit feedback are exceptional, and the first thirty hours of building a character are as satisfying as anything in the genre. The art direction — grim, gothic, muted — is a deliberate and successful correction after Diablo III's brightness.
The shared open world is the structural novelty, and it mostly works. Encountering other players at a world boss or a legion event gives the world weight without forcing grouping. Diablo has always been a game people played alongside friends rather than truly with them, and this suits that.
Where it falls short
Itemisation. Diablo IV has been reworked more than once and still cannot match Path of Exile's build expression or Diablo II's memorable uniques. The loot is a stream of incremental statistical upgrades punctuated by occasional build-defining drops, and the ratio is wrong. The seasonal structure — a new mechanic every few months, requiring a fresh character — is a reasonable model borrowed from the genre, but it asks for a full re-level each time in a game where levelling is the part you have already done.
The Vessel of Hatred expansion and subsequent seasons improved things materially, and the game today is considerably better than at launch. It is still a $70 purchase that then asks for more, repeatedly. Play a season, enjoy the best combat in the genre for forty hours, and put it down without guilt.
What works
- Combat feel and animation are the best in the action RPG genre
- Art direction is a genuine return to Diablo II's gothic register
- The shared open world makes world bosses and events feel alive
- Console play and couch co-op are properly supported, which is rare
What doesn't
- $70 up front, then expansions, then a seasonal pass, then a cash shop
- Itemisation has been reworked repeatedly and still lacks Path of Exile's depth
- Seasonal resets demand a full character re-level every few months
- The always-online requirement adds nothing for solo players
The Catch — what it will cost you
Four monetisation layers on a full-price game: the $70 base, paid expansions, a seasonal battle pass, and a cosmetics shop with armour sets priced around $25. None of it sells power. All of it is asked of someone who has already paid full retail, and it is the clearest example on this list of premium and live-service monetisation being stacked on the same product.
Who it's for: Players who want the best-feeling ARPG combat and are content to play one season a year.