Diablo 4: Lord Of Hatred review – haters be damned

The second expansion for Diablo 4 is a true monster, with two new class types, a brand new story, and a massive new game world, but does that mean it’s worth the asking price?

In many ways Diablo 4 is the pinnacle of loot-hunting dungeon crawlers.

For a start, it’s diorama style isometric view harks back to the genre’s Dungeons & Dragons roots, reminiscent of tiny, fanatically detailed lead figures exploring a tabletop map.

You’ll also find yourself accumulating a varying party of accomplices, both via in-game characters joining you temporarily and playing with online friends.

It draws heavily on mythology – and inevitably Tolkien – for its high stakes apocalyptic storylines of good versus evil, world-shattering corruption, and layers of betrayal, but all that’s just set dressing for the real meat of the game, which has always been its combat.

That remains the heart of everything you do – the loot you acquire and powers you earn and upgrade – are all in service to the battles that crop up absolutely all the time.

Like the original Halo’s famous ’30 seconds of fun’ design philosophy, Diablo’s encounters are little Skinner boxes of delight, each one variable in its intensity and rewards, but also intrinsically enjoyable.

Unlike free-to-play games that use those mechanics as a psychological hook, to try and trick you into spending money, Blizzard uses them purely for entertainment.

The effect is magical, and just as addictive.

Another thing Blizzard has historically been very good at is supplying extraordinarily fully featured expansions for its games.

Diablo 4 has already benefitted from 2024’s Vessel Of Hatred, which added the Spiritborn character class, a new map region with its own story-based campaign, countless system updates, and a generous chunk of endgame content that radically extended its play time.

You could, of course, rush through its plot, but to do that would be to miss the point of a game whose true joy lies in uncovering the staggering possibilities of its character builds.

That’s a process that can easily absorb hundreds of hours, rewarding them with astonishing extremes, its special moves and powers working together to create absurd damage dealing potential.

Gaining sufficient understanding of the game, and the equipment to make that happen, is a significant long-term undertaking, but one that proves endlessly fascinating.

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Unsurprisingly, its new expansion, Lord Of Hatred, brings exactly the same principles to bear on its huge additional chunk of content.

Starting in the familiar environs of Sanctuary, you’re soon off to the island of Skovos, a brand new area whose Mediterranean towns, waterlogged depths, sun-baked volcanic deserts, and swathes of forest contrast nicely with the landscapes of Vessel of Hatred.

Naturally, they still feature all the dungeons, live events, and chance encounters you’d expect.

There are two fresh character classes.

Paladins combine sword and shield melee attacks with holy light powers that are transformed by selecting one of four sacred oaths, which like every part of the skill tree can be refunded and respecified at any time and without cost.

It’s a design choice that goes out of its way to encourage experimentation, which is just what’s required given the infinity of options on offer.

Warlocks are the other new addition, their occult and demonology powers coming with their own discrete reservoirs of mana, making it useful to alternate between them for a near continuous stream of overwhelming summons and special moves.

Once again, powers are particularly impressive in combination, for example using Dark Prison to ensnare nearby enemies, then casting Rampage, which summons an enraged demon that smashes everything within its limited range, or Terror Swarm’s seething cloud of annihilation.

As is traditional, the new classes feel more powerful than the original set, surpassing even the last expansion’s Spiritborn in their potency.

That’s assisted by an increase in the level cap to 70, and the Talisman that’s given to you right at the start of the story by long-time companion Lorath.

It has slots for stat boosting charms that are dropped along with other loot, letting you further refine and extend your builds.

There’s a simple fishing minigame that seems to work on pretty much any expanse of water, and indeed fields of lava, letting you hook a catalogue of fish and collectibles from the depths, and after polishing off the campaign you’ll gain access to the Horadric Cube.

This lets you upgrade armour and weapons in targeted ways, giving you the opportunity to pump up damage bonuses to even more ludicrous heights.

Balancing the array of additional destructive abilities, there are now an astounding 16 difficulty levels.

The top 12 of those are aptly named Torment tiers, which also grant access to Ancestral level gear; the highest quality Lord Of Hatred has to offer.

These difficulty levels also completely change the tenor of the game.

Along with dishing out bigger rewards, both in gold and equipment, they also fundamentally alter the feel of combat, with even minor encounters turning into epic struggles for survival.

Boss fights start to feel like miniature wars, with the tide turning multiple times before you finally manage to eke out a victory and collect your munificent spoils.

At higher difficulty, every fight becomes a knife edge exercise in crowd control, balanced on special move cooldowns and the combined powers of allies.

Along with the ever changing roster of enemies, continually evolving abilities, a generous new landmass, and the range of character classes to explore, there’s a huge amount to do, the depth of the expansion’s systems only getting more satisfying as you dig into them more deeply.

Graphically, Lord Of Hatred adds more detail than Vessel did, much of which is only visible when the game zooms in for dramatic effect during cut scenes.

Viewed from its usual level of remove, scenery is gloriously sharp, its overblown magical abilities and summons looking splendid in their calamitous destructive power.

As it has right from the start, Diablo 4 remains immensely playable, its moment-to-moment gameplay and incremental flow of upgrades and new kit proving as addictive as ever.

Yes, you will spend almost all of your time in battle, a feature that for bystanders makes the game look fairly one note.

But playing it is a different matter, the experience doing an excellent job of balancing difficulty and reward, with hours upon hours of demon-smiting entertainment.

Diablo 4: Lord Of Hatred review summary

In Short: Another cracking expansion for Diablo 4, whose new map, character classes, and extended level cap are balanced by higher difficulty levels and Blizzard’s customarily obsessive attention to detail.

Pros: Refined and compelling gameplay loop, with mechanics that get more captivating as you explore them more deeply.

Fresh additions blend seamlessly with existing systems and excellent value for money.

Cons: Almost all your time is spent fighting.

Truly getting to grips with it will take well over 100 hours (although you can rush the story in 12).

As you’d assume, there’s no big new ideas here.

Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £35.99
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Developer: Blizzard Team 3 and Blizzard Albany
Release Date: 28th April 2026
Age Rating: 18
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