But what about last-gen?
Do the new visuals take special advantage of the latest console hardware?
And what about last-gen consoles?
The most impressive aspect of Diablo 4’s visual presentation is the lighting.
There are some interesting tricks going on here as well.
And in some circumstances the lighting can cast multiple shadows at once off the same object.
Diablo 4 also features quite impressive environmental detail and asset work.
Each environment is caked with geometry, with a ton of little crannies and crags across every worn surface.
Occasionally the game segues into some proper in-engine cutscenes, which are presented with Blizzard’s typical cinematic flair.
But the core of the Diablo 4 experience lies in its fast action combat.
On a micro level, there’s lots of cool touches as well.
Physics is a big part of that.
Enemies convincingly ragdoll when killed, or when cleaved into pieces.
Really Diablo 4 just feels very organic.
It’s an impressively realised effort, and a very polished game from a visual perspective.
At the same time, we’re not necessarily seeing much in the way of current-gen pushing tech.
For instance, there’s no true day/night cycle.
And there’s no camera control whatsoever, without options to zoom out at all.
So Diablo 4 is a sophisticated, visually polished adventure - but how do the current-gen consoles stack up?
Series S acquits itself pretty similarly, with a smooth, nicely resolved image free of artifacting.
Outside of the differences in image resolve, there’s not a whole lot that separates the current-gen machines.
Diablo 4 targets 60fps on ninth-gen consoles, and hits that target the vast majority of the time.
It’s not a big deal in any event though.
Plus, cutscenes do run at 30 frames per second, though I didn’t really mind.
Current-gen consoles are mostly in good shape - so how does the game fare on last-gen machines?
The biggest cutback by far is the move towards a 30fps frame-rate target.
There are also a handful of visual changes.
Diablo 4 is a game that surprised me.
This is an ultra-polished, sophisticated looking game that looks very modern and is packed with detailed assets.
It doesn’t seem to be packing any boundary-pushing rendering tech, but it consistently looks excellent.
I found it a lot more engaging than Diablo 3, at least during the pre-endgame leveling process.
The only caveat is that the game is - understandably - heavier than the Blizzard titles that preceded it.
