The Early Access beta for Diablo 4 lets players experience a massive open world filled with dozens of dungeons, quests, and hidden secrets, but those expecting a traditional MMO may be surprised by the game’s isolation. Since the announcement that Diablo 4 would feature an interconnected open world for the first time, fans of the action-RPG series had high expectations. Many believed an open-world structure would create a social experience similar to World of Warcraft, but in reality players will likely only encounter a handful of other players while exploring.
There’s plenty to see and do in just the first zone of the game, but its large world is at odds with the online multiplayer system, leading Diablo 4 to feel like it’s having an identity crisis at times. When not in a party, players will spend the vast majority of their time in the open world exploring and battling enemies by themselves, as it’s rare to see another player outside of towns. Since dungeons and strongholds are instanced, public events and world bosses like Ashava are also typically the only times when players will come across other explorers.
Diablo 4 Features an Immersive, Desolate Open World
While the first public beta for Diablo 4 had its fair share of long queue times and crashes, the hype has never been higher. The Diablo 4 beta opens up access to the complete first act of the game, including the entire Fractured Peaks zone with its quests, dungeons, public events, and more. The full release will feature five distinct zones, and this will be the first Diablo game where all five are fully connected, allowing players to travel seamlessly between them.
The Diablo franchise has influenced countless other games, but with open-world titles becoming more prominent since the release of Diablo 3, adopting an open-world structure for Diablo 4 makes the game feel more immersive. Although the inclusion of a massive open world with other players and public events makes the game more like an MMO than any previous entry, in practice it feels more like Destiny 2 than World of Warcraft.
When World of Warcraft was released in 2004, it created an online social experience that was unmatched by other MMORPGs, and countless others have failed to capture this magic since then. Diablo 4 shares many similarities to modern MMOs like Path of Exile and World of Warcraft, but it’s not as much a massively multiplayer game as some may expect. Similar to Destiny 2’s main hub, the towns in Diablo 4 are where most social interactions will occur, as the limited amount of players on the map can lead to long stretches of isolation.
To bring the series back to its darker roots after the more colorful Diablo 3, developer Blizzard made the deliberate decision to reduce player counts. For the most part, Diablo 4 succeeds in creating a feeling of isolation, as players without parties will have little-to-no help while encountering relentless waves of enemies. Even public events will rarely have other players nearby, so with several difficulty tiers, players at higher levels will surely be hoping to stumble across a stray adventurer to aid them in battle.
The open world in Diablo 4 is the series’ most immersive yet, but the feeling of isolation leads its MMO features to feel somewhat misplaced. While the beta only gives players a limited slice of what the full game will offer when it releases, some Diablo fans may be disappointed that Blizzard didn’t fully commit one way or the other. Still, with Diablo 4 likely being supported for years to come, it’s possible that player counts can be tuned, and zones dedicated to PvP may end up being a tension-filled alternative for those wanting a social experience.
Diablo 4 releases June 6 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.