Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred Expansion Review

“I saw my corpse,

Hatred came from her lips

The father burned his children at the stake

And mother built a new era from the ashes”

Diablo 4 has been around for a year, and while the game had a relatively successful launch, many players were disappointed by the shallow ending and other problems with the game’s deeper systems that would have given it a long life. Not everyone returned to individual seasons, and some promised to give the game a chance only with the first big story addition. So it was quite a lot, because Vessel of Hatred had the chance to attract more players back and prove that Diablo 4 is worth playing for a long time.

• Platform: PS5 (review), PS4, X1, XSX|S, PC
• Release date: 08/10/2023
• Manufacturer: Blizzard Entertainment
• Genre: ARPG
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: yes, there is also a “sofa” on the consoles
• Download data: about 68 GB
• Game time: 15+ hours
• Price: from 999 CZK (Alza)

Deadly Jungle

The story campaign is a legitimate reason why many players returned to Diablo. The world of this series has an interesting history, and the campaign, in addition to interesting dungeons and bosses, is also supported by impressive cinematic scenes. This time it’s different. While the “real”, traditionally epic, pre-rendered movie can only be found here in the introduction, creators are getting better at using real-time movies in the game engine, the dramaturgy and overall presentation of which is still better and still rewarding. because it can directly show your character.

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

Source: Martin Zavrzel / Zing.cz

At the end of the original game, Neyrelle went on a desperate attempt to destroy the stone that contained Mephisto’s soul. As in the second part of the series, this journey with dangerous cargo gradually takes a very cruel toll on the poor girl. As she increasingly fails to control the stone, the infection from it also leaks into the environment during her journey, causing, among other things, the brutal transformation of the sacred jungle in the new region of Nahantu into a new variety of “green jungle”. Hell”.

Creators are increasingly using real-time movies in the game engine.

Although Neyerel’s plight was resolved at the end of the expansion, many players find the ending of Vessel of Hate to be too exciting. Personally, I didn’t have such a feeling, thanks to the successful building of a relationship with Neyrelle, her fate was truly the most important to me. There’s also a great plot twist at the end of the encore that pleasantly surprised me. But mostly I am pleased with the overall tone and style of the story, which is helped by the quoting of the “biblical” verses of the Rathm prophecy and the exceptionally beautiful, sometimes unexpectedly melancholic music. As a result, I liked the story campaign of the add-on, perhaps even more than in the original game.

Almighty calling

Besides the story campaign, the main attraction of the expansion is, of course, the game’s new profession called Spiritborn. The small combination of a warrior monk with a spear and a magician controlling the astral projections of several archetypal animals seems too overwrought. As usual, Blizzard tried to make the new class as attractive as possible and, among other things, released it in a much stronger state than all other professions existing in the game. Some of this was intentional, but some of it was unintentional technical oversight, so the first few weeks were dominated by builds that could wipe out the entire map in one fell swoop or teleport across the map absurdly quickly. The developers have already tamed some of these extremes, but among other things, at the request of the players, they left Spiritborn as the strongest character until the end of the current (three-month) season.

Along with the expansion, many partial improvements came to the game. The loot and leveling systems have been reworked again and are now a bit better than before. Among the new products, you will be pleased with AI comrades (Mercenaries), new types of mounts and pets that help you collect loot, and especially an attempt at the first “raid” activity in the history of the series. Dark Citadel is an exciting new experience whose difficulty and mechanics relentlessly require the presence of multiple players. Luckily, the game also adds a very nice teammate matching system, making it easy for you to find online partners for more than just this activity. The return of the old Torment difficulty system is also quite motivating, which is another of the many ways in which the overall look of the game is slowly getting closer and closer to what we knew from the third installment in the series.