Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tested on: PC
Diablo 3 – Rise of the Necromancer – Review
The heroes in the Diablo series haven’t always been your average run of the mill, but when Diablo II introduced the Necromancer, a character that is often depicted as an evil entity, it pretty much shook up the basic notion we had of a hero. With the release of Diablo III, it felt as if the Witch Doctor had to serve as a replacement for the skeleton summoning spell-caster that we came to love in Diablo II. Before long, it was clear that many Diablo II players longed back to the PvP, the 8 player games and the characters from the second game, and while Blizzard did their best to recreate the feeling of the Diablo universe, it fell short pleasing said fan base. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Diablo III isn’t a great game, it was just different for many, and with the introduction of the Crusader, a lot more gear and more endgame content, it seemed that the developers were on track of recreating the feeling of nostalgia. This time we get another blast from the past, namely the Necromancer has returned to the barren lands which have once again been affected by Diablo’s evil presence. We were eager to revisit and try out the newly revamped necromancer.
As mentioned in the lengthy introduction, this review will mostly be handling the new character class in Diablo III, namely the Necromancer. As the name states, you’ll be playing as a master of the dead, and thus you’ll have a lot of grim magic at your disposal, ranging from summoning skeleton soldiers, mages and golems, to casting curses, blood spells and bone magic, to make sure the hordes of monsters meet their end in the most gruesome way possible. For starters, immediately after starting to play this character, you’ll notice that every monster you kill will leave behind a selectable carcass, which you can use for your corpse explosion spells, which are a bit of a key element for the Necromancer’s spell basis. This alone makes for a fun change of pace, where you can end up killing masses of monsters in a few well placed explosions.
Other than the fun skills package the Necromancer comes with, he also has a few new sets to collect, which are of course not all that easy to find, but it makes grinding a lot more enjoyable again. While it’s hard to compete, damage wise, to characters such as a Demon Hunter, it’s still fun to slowly improve your character until he stands on his/her two feet, to get started on doing rifts with a new class. The latter expands in this new release of Diablo III, not only for those who buy the Necromancer class, but for every player. From now on there will be Challenge Rifts, which allow you to play with another player’s character, specific equipment and skill set, and complete a greater rift with said character. If you can do so in a quicker time than the original runner, thus the owner of the character, you’ll be rewarded with a wad of cash, crafting materials and so on. Not only do these rifts create an incentive to do the weekly challenge, they also add a new competitive edge to the game, which Diablo III kind of lacks due to the lack of PvP, which was pretty much one of the best endgame possibilities in the previous iteration of the series.
Of course, with the new patch also come a few new areas to explore, which are fun, and add a few new smaller events to complete. Sadly, you will get no extra story content, safe for a bit of background for the quests and diaries to be found when exploring said areas. In many ways it would have been a lot better if Blizzard decided to aim for a full-blown expansion, rather than an extra class and a few new areas, which hold no actual ‘story presence’ for the overall game. That being said, it’s fun to explore the new zones, and they have a few fun sights to behold.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to expand your roster of characters, try out new builds or simply want a tiny drop of the Necromancer’s glory from Diablo II, then this expansion will surely be up your demon filled alley. If you’re content with the new zones and the challenge rifts however, then those will satiate your Diablo III hunger for a while. Nonetheless, while this extra character may come at a somewhat steep price for only one new class, it’s well worth the money if you’re looking for something to spice up the game again.
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[…] to life is something that has always been something fascinating. How many of you like to play as a Necromancer class in a game if the opportunity arises? Being the commander of a horde of undead creatures sounds like […]