Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred review

I’ve loved Diablo 4 ever since it launched in June last year, but it’s safe to say that was in its best shape ever in the run up to its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. The Season of Loot Reborn did wonders for the game’s item system, then the Season of the Infernal Hordes came along with a much-need update to all unique items and a new wave-based Infernal Hordes activity that’s a blast. Now that Vessel of Hatred is here, however, Diablo 4 essentially feels like a new game yet again.

Being an actual expansion for Diablo 4, Vessel of Hatred features a substantial amount of content. For a start there’s a new campaign to play through, one that finds your dark wanderer following Neyrelle to a whole new region, ripe with fresh loot opportunities. Anyone that has played Diablo 2 will be familiar with some of the locations found in Nahantu; it’s a region filled with dense forests and temples aplenty, and home to likes of the Kurast, the Flayer Jungle and the Durance of Hate. The last place in particular is appropriate, given that this expansion focuses on Neyrelle’s struggle containing Mephisto.

It’s just a shame that, after being extremely impressed with the campaign of Diablo 4, that the Vessel of Hatred campaign is somewhat underwhelming. There are some enjoyable scenes and scenarios across its 10-or-so hour running time, but there’s also a hell of a lot of busywork and dull dialogue exchanged with characters that it’s hard to really care about. And what’s worse, the story ends just as things start to heat up, leaving you on a cliffhanger that feels unwarranted. So, it’s not a good idea to buy Vessel of Hatred for its story alone.

Thankfully, other aspects of the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion are much more enjoyable. Let’s start with the new playable class, the Spiritborn, who can call upon the power of four spirits to provide some outlandish attacks. This largely melee-focused class has tons of mobility skills, allowing them to quickly move across the battlefield, striking one enemy then another in quick succession. The four spirits available allow for a pleasing amount of build diversity, too; you can be an almighty tank thanks to easy barrier generation if you largely opt for Gorilla skills, for example, while if you go the way of the Jaguar, you’ll be relying on your lightning-fast reflexes to hit fast and dodge enemy attacks.

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There are some issues playing as a Spiritborn, however, particularly on console. For one, there’s the fact that their mobility skills don’t pair all that with challenges that demand you stay in a small area. Those events found in Helltides where you need to kill enemies while staying within a circle, for example; most basic attacks will find you darting out of the area if you’re not careful. And if you’re playing in local co-op with another player, expect to constantly lose track of where your character is.

On the subject of co-op, Vessel of Hatred also introduces some new co-op focused dungeons in the form of the Dark Citadel, though you can’t play them in local co-op. The Dark Citadel consists of three dungeons overall, and you’ll need to work with others in order to pass through barriers, gain access to portals and coordinate attacks against bosses in multiple realms. You’re not missing all that much if you’re not a social player, but a new party finder feature makes it easy to team up with others. And with the Dark Citadel being an endgame activity, the rewards are pretty decent.

The last major addition to consider in Vessel of Hatred is the introduction of Mercenaries. Four Mercenaries are available for you to recruit, each with their own range of skills. When playing alone you can have them fight beside you, providing some useful backup. And while they disappear when playing with others in a party, you can still use their reinforcement function, which allows you to bolster certain attacks or abilities with one of numerous skills performed by them.

Select the young demon boy, Aldkin, for example, and you can have him reign fire on your enemies when you perform a basic attack if you wish. But once activated, you’ll have to wait for a cooldown to expire before you can call on him again.

By adventuring with each Mercenary you’ll gain rapport with them, initially opening up more skills but then rewarding you with loot and Pale Marks. The latter can be used to Barter when back at the Mercenary Den, allowing you to buy legendary items, caches of items with aspects of a certain type and more. Ultimately, the Mercenary system isn’t all that impactful, but it’s a neat new addition. Those who play alone will certainly get the most out of it, but it does offer a little something for everyone.

Overall, Vessel of Hatred brings a decent amount of new content to Diablo 4, especially when you also factor in the additional dungeons, events, side-quests, strongholds and other bits of content you’d expect with a new region being introduced. And with a wealth of changes made available to all users for free, including a revision of the game’s difficulty levels, adjustments to the Paragon system, and more, you have a game that feels revitalised. Still, in light of its lacklustre campaign, while Vessel of Hatred is no doubt a must-have for devout Diablo 4 players, casual fans might want to wait for a discount.