Based on Blizzard's release history with Diablo, it's reasonable to assume that we get one new main entry in the series per decade with an expansion a year or so after the fact. For fans this makes each new release a big deal as it's never a short wait between games. Diablo IV was first announced in 2019 so it's been on the horizon for some time now. As its tentative release date of June 6 draws near, Blizzard has opened a portal to Hell where interested parties can get a taste of what's in store with Diablo IV.

Following the conclusion of the events in Diablo III: The Reaper of Souls, cultists have summoned a new evil to Sanctuary. Lilith, daughter of Mephisto and co-creator of Sanctuary in conjunction with the angel Inarius, has entered Sanctuary. Viewing herself as the mother and all inhabitants of Sanctuary her children she speaks in benevolent tones and encourages them to find their true potential. This is done in contrast as her newly-enthralled children bludgeon a man they once respected to death. General rule, demonic beings speaking in loving tones is typically a red flag.

Diablo IV offers five character classes, although only three of them were available during the first Beta. The Rogue who has been MIA since the original Diablo makes a return, skilled in quick attacks and ranged attacks with bows. The Barbarian makes a third appearance in a Diablo game, which serves as a walking tank that can dual-wield single-handed weapons or put all their might into a massive two-handed implement of death. The Sorcerer makes their return after taking the third one off, returning with control of magic involving fire, ice and lightning. The two classes that are expected to become available in the open Beta are the popular Druid and Necromancer. There's now customization to designing each character, so the player is free to model each class into whatever form suits their fancy, whether they are going to create a character patterned after themselves or so other personalized version of who they wish to play as.

Diablo games have always had a fixation on bugs, which was predominant in Diablo II with overgrown maggots and spiders making up such a large percentage of enemies. In this tradition, the Diablo IV Beta is riddled with just as many bugs as there were in the Lord of Terror's sanctum. Disclaimer, it's a Beta: an unfinished product and the servers haven't been properly broken in. We aren't trashing the game based on these issues, but when the Open Beta comes next weekend and more people are expected to be playing, it's good to have performance expectations tempered. Several times during the Beta progression was impossible due there being an invisible wall preventing egress to the next area. One time this was outsmarted by sneaking down to a lower part of the path, but the Barbarian was quickly lifted up in the air and flown backwards to the previous area which at least added a comedic effect to the glitch. Both myself and the friend that was accompanying were kicked out of the game due to server issues on multiple occasions, which led to a queue of 20-30 minutes to get back in. The initial attempt to log in had a queue 117 minutes long which brought flashbacks of Diablo III's launch, though fortunately the 117 minute queue ended up being closer to "only" 50 minutes. Given that this is a Beta these issues are easier to forgive now, but hopefully things run much more smoothly in a couple months.

Diablogames are known for their isometric hack and slash action and endless search for better loot. Diablo IV is no exception and it delivers the type of game experience fans of the series are expecting. Getting into the specifics, Diablo IV seems to be attempting to combine the best of Diablo II and Diablo III. The finite pool of mana remains absent, in its place are skills that have cool down times or that require a replenishable resource such as Fury to use. This allows for multiple skills to be assigned to different buttons which leads to be battle that involves a great deal of skill juggling. One of the biggest complaints about the third game was the lack of character customization through skill tress that was present in the second, and this feature has returned. The branching skill trees are more complex than what was seen in Diablo II, but considering how much character building factored into that game, this is a welcome return here. The overall tone and atmosphere of the current incarnation of Sanctuary seems more inline with the second entry as opposed to the third's more colorful and almost cartoon aesthetic. The vast environments are impressive to explore, which many areas requiring the player to scale a wall or jump across a chasm to reach. Something truly new is there's a minor MMO feel to Diablo IV as during the Beta players who were not in my party were seen wandering about Sanctuary and even partaking in world events. How much this impacts gameplay is yet to be seen, but it's an interesting prospect, even though it's too early to call whether this will enhance or hurt the experience.

After investing several hours of the weekend into the early build of Diablo IV, the impression so far is mostly positive. The Beta does have its share of technical issues which probably isn't a surprise to anyone. The long wait queues are troubling, especially after those tarnished attempts to play Diablo III following its launch, so hopefully that issue is resolved by the time Diablo IV launches. Despite the wait times to enter a game and the other aforementioned bugs, Diablo IV is a great time when things are working properly. It plays like the developers were making an attempt to combine the best features of Diablo II and Diablo III into something that feels like its own game. So far it seems like they may succeed, though only time will tell how well the final product shapes up. While nothing in the Beta suggested this, there's a fear that this will be plagued with an obscene amount of microtransactions like Diablo Immortal, so here's hoping that fear ends up being baseless. Diablo IV is scheduled for a June 6 release for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.