I played 20 hours of Diablo IV on Xbox to see if it really lives up to the hype

Earlier this year, gaming giant Blizzard released Diablo IV on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and PC. It's one of the biggest game releases in 2023 yet, and millions of people have already played it.

Diablo IV is the fourth instalment in the Diablo series and implements many staple features from its predecessors, including loot-based character building and hack and slash style gameplay, whilst also applying new mechanics such as PvP and an open world to explore.

There’s nothing quite like finding a brand new game to sink your teeth into. Spending hours upon hours immersing yourself in a fictional world to escape the mundane.

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Sadly, very few games over the past decade have given me the satisfaction that older games gave me growing up. I initially put it down to the fact that I was getting older, with other things in life getting in the way and perhaps my imagination not being as active as it use to be. However, I think it’s fair to say that I’m not the only person who has suffered from gaming fatigue. Many triple A games and beloved series over the past few years have been hit with negative reviews due to a lack of effort and lazy cash grabbing schemes from developers that seem to be killing the industry. Despite this, Diablo IV is a diamond in the rough, and what Blizzard have done with the fourth instalment of this beloved series is beyond phenomenal.

I’d like to start my review with complete transparency before I delve into my experience - I had never played a Diablo game before picking up Diablo IV. Admittedly, I have only scratched the surface of roleplaying MMOs in the past so I was