Diablo 4 has fallen to “Mixed” Steam reviews following the release of its Lord of Hatred expansion. While the expansion itself has been largely well-received by players, there are a bunch of other issues that players are having with Diablo 4 at the moment, leading to an influx of negative Steam reviews.
Diablo 4 released in mid-2023, 11 years after the previous mainline game in the series. The initial response to the game was fairly mixed, and Blizzard has worked hard over 13 content seasons to bring the game up to player standards. Since that initial launch, Diablo 4 has released two expansions, including the recent Lord of Hatred, which brings the long-running Age of Hatred story arc to a close.
Related
One of the Best Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred Warlock Builds Basically Turns You into Pac-Man
Diablo 4 players can feel like they’re playing Pac-Man with this powerful Lord of Hatred Warlock build that focuses on devouring enemies.
Diablo 4 Falls to ‘Mixed’ Steam Reviews Following Lord of Hatred
On Steam, Diablo 4 has officially fallen to “Mixed” recent reviews, with just 66% of them being positive at the time of writing. A glance at some of the negative reviews indicate that there are a few different reasons for this. Some were unimpressed with the technical performance of Lord of Hatred, but the majority had issues with the game’s monetization model. Players can purchase Platinum with real cash, which can be used to purchase in-game cosmetics at a steep price. The issue of limited-time cosmetics, such as Diablo 4’s recent World of Warcraft collaboration, was raised, with players pointing out that they use fear of missing out to bring in sales. Others were annoyed that, having paid for the Vessel of Hatred expansion almost two years ago, it was now being given out for free with Lord of Hatred purchases.
While many players are leaving negative reviews for the game, that hasn’t stopped Diablo 4 from smashing its own player count records during Lord of Hatred’s release period. On Steam, the game has surpassed the 60,000 concurrent player milestone for the first time since launch. Diablo 4’s Steam release came in October 2023, so it’s impressive that it’s still managing to beat its own records over two and a half years later. These are just the Steam numbers, but it would be interesting to see if this pattern was the same on other platforms, too.
Despite what the recent Steam reviews would suggest, the sentiment surrounding Diablo 4 has been largely positive in recent seasons. Seasonal mechanics such as Chaos Armor, Sanctification, and Killstreaks have all been a hit with players. Meanwhile, Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred got positive reviews from critics, with praise for its endgame changes in the latest expansion. Clearly, though, there are some issues that the community cannot look past despite this.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)
Medium (5.0s)
Hard (2.5s)
Permadeath (2.5s)
Start
Restart
Back
Results
0
High Score: 0
—
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)Start
RestartBack
0
High Score: 0
—
It’s unclear whether Blizzard will address players’ issues highlighted in these Diablo 4 reviews, especially when so many of them point out the game’s monetization strategy, which shows no sign of changing any time soon. While Blizzard has already released a few Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred updates aimed at fixing problems gamers were having with the gameplay itself, and hopefully this continues, but whether it has a meaningful effect on its reviews is another matter entirely.
Released
June 5, 2023
ESRB
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
