Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC, (PS4, Xbox one in the future)
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls – Review
Finally the long awaited expansion for Diablo 3, the game that lured many new fans into the genre as well as a lot of old Diablo 2 players. Diablo 3 was a successful game, but many of the older players missed several of the options the older games had. Reaper of Souls might just be the expansion set that puts Diablo 3 back on the map, for old and new players alike.
Stay a while, and listen… (pun intended)
Story
For those who haven’t played the first part of Diablo 3 yet, it might be best to skip the story portion of this review. Whilst both games don’t have the thickest plot there is in a game, but it might be more fun to explore the storyline on your own.
It hasn’t been long since Diablo was defeated and sealed in to the black soulstone. Sadly, this did not mean all was over, seeing the soulstone emits its own kind of dark power. If harnessed properly, the power could be used to start the chain of evil events once again, filling the world with darkness and chaos once more.
Malthael, the Angel of Death, is one of those divine beings that wishes to take the soulstone for his own. He wishes to use the stone, to destroy the way of life as we’ve come to know it. With the soulstone it would be possible ‘to reap all the souls’ of the world, creating a world where there would be no more struggles and war. Whilst in essence this idea might be noble, the cost all those innocent lives is just too much.
The expansion set offers us a fun and dark storyline that, even though it’s simple, it is intriguing. A chance to have a world without war will sound alluring too many. Being able to save the world once again is more than enough story value Reaper of Souls has to offer.
Graphics
Overall Reaper of Souls keeps the same appearance as the original game, which provides us with detailed maps, with a lot of smaller details. Of course the expansion provides us with a new environment, with a rather dark setting. The area has a lot of nooks and crannies for you to enjoy the view, and a decent amount of new monsters are thrown in to the mix. Each looking fairly detailed.
The game was made to be played on low end computers as well, giving players with older computers the chance to enjoy the world of Diablo as well.
Sound
Once again we are treated to a cinematic soundtrack for the expansion, setting the mood for the dark new area. You are able to enjoy the voices of new cast members, which have been done perfectly to fit the game as well. Not much more can be said here, except for the fact it was done superbly.
Gameplay
Shortly before Reaper of Souls was released, Blizzard decided to release a patch that would bring a lot of changes for all the Diablo 3 players, be it those with or without an expansion pack. The difficulty settings were altered in a way where you could create your own challenge and receive better drops for trying harder settings. Monsters scaled to your level, thus creating a situation where you would receive a decent amount of experience at any given time. This is an important factor, seeing you can keep on earning Paragon levels even after you’ve reached the maximum level cap. These levels will earn you extra stats, which you can set yourself, allowing you to customize your character a little bit.
Last but not least, the auction house was removed and drops were improved a lot. Legendary items are a more common thing now and drops seem to be more related to the character you are playing at that time, which makes sure you’ll end up with a lot less junk than you’d used to.
For those who were tired of doing the same quests over and over again, with the expansion set you are now able to choose adventure mode, which is basically a glorified bounty system. You’ll be able to transport freely between all five acts, completing tasks that will give you a decent amount of experience. During your travels in the adventure system you’ll find the necessary items to open up Nephalem Rifts as well as Blood Shards to buy items. These Nephalem Rifts are basically randomized dungeons, in which you can fight a boss at the end. These dungeons will never be the same, offering you more variation than doing the same quests over and over again.
A new act is introduced in the expansion set, namely Act 5 which has a grim tone surrounding it. The gameplay is still fairly the same, namely hack ‘n slash your way through the evil minions, find loot and gain experience whilst doing so. The new act offers a few hours of gameplay and a decent amount of extra events for you to complete whilst playing through it. These smaller events are a part of a bigger whole and will offer you an extra little storyline for you to enjoy. The fact that these small events are connected, will motivate you in finding the rest of them.
Whilst receiving a new act is fun and all, receiving a new class for you to mess around with, might be a bit more fun. You now have the chance to create a new class, called the Crusader. For those that have played Diablo 2, the Crusader is pretty much a fancy looking Paladin. This means you’ll be a defender of justice in all possible ways and because of that, you will have the powers of the light on your side. You’ll be fueled by wrath and are able to summon holy bolts, blessed hammers, ethereal steeds and even explosive powers for you to vanquish your foes with.
As is usual with expansion sets nowadays, your maximum level cap is increased by ten levels. Which makes you able to level until level 70. This ensured some new skills to be chosen, be it passive or active ones. This also changed the way your other skills unlocked a tiny bit, but hardly noticeable.
Even though all the mentioned functions put Diablo 3 back on the map, there are a few points that will still not be liked by the older Diablo fans. The stat based system has been enforced even more with the coming of the new patch as well as the expansion. You will hardly have any freedom to try out builds with other weapon types than you’d normally give a specific class, as you could in Diablo 2, and still make something out of it. PVP is still not a real possibility, except for the implemented brawl system, that has absolutely no balance at all. It’s not really brawling, when you have to fight a Monk that will block or dodge every single attack you throw at him.
Conclusion
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is a fairly epic expansion for an already great game. It solves several of the problems of the original game, whilst adding great extra content. In combination with the latest patch, it can easily be said that it’s worth upgrading your original Diablo 3 client into the Reaper of Souls version.
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