Play Diablo IV for free: Steam's 7-day trial is now running, with major discounts on all...

[midian182]

In brief: If Diablo IV is one of those titles you really want to try but aren't willing to spend the full $70 (or more) on it, then here's some good news: the latest installment in Blizzard's ARPG series is currently free to play for seven days via Steam. And for those who decide to buy it, there's 40% off the retail price on all editions of the game.

As part of the Steam Autumn sale, Blizzard is letting Steam users download and play Diablo IV for free up until November 28 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT.

You will still need a Battle.net account to take participate in the free trial, and while it does include access to crossplay and co-op, character progression is capped at level 20.

As part of the Steam sale, which ends at the same time as the free trial, all editions of Diablo IV have a 40% discount applied to their prices. That means the standard version is $42 instead of $70, the Digital Deluxe Edition is $54 instead of $90, and the Ultimate Edition is priced at $60 rather than $100.

Diablo iV is a game that can often split opinion. We named it one of the Best PC Games You Should Be Playing in our last feature update, but it has a Mixed rating on Steam. Many of those criticisms come from the always-online requirement, which is annoying, admittedly. The monetization elements such as the optional Battle Pass and cosmetic items are guaranteed to raise gamers' ire, too, which is why a free trial is a good idea.

It's certainly not like Blizzard is desperate to sell more copies of Diablo IV. It's the company's fastest-selling game of all time, boasting over 10 million players, and it received mostly critical acclaim upon release.

Diablo IV's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, was announced last month, promising to introduce a never-before-seen class when it arrives in late 2024. We'll find out more next summer.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100932-play-diablo-iv-free-steam-7-day-trial.html

 

[Skully]

I bought the base game about a week ago for $40. I've been playing casually everyday since that time (necro) and while I like it, it's not all that great. To me, it's a lot of rinse and repeat with nothing really making me want to get to that next level or boss. I play it more just to fill time if I'm bored. I dunno, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but for lack of a better word, to me it has no "soul".

 

[Shaitan]

No, thanks. No LAN, no mods, tons of microtransactions, tons of sh!t, tons of useless stuff.
Never again, Greedzard.

 

[USAvenger]

I've been playing the hell out of it (pun intended) since it came out in June. They fixed a lot of the complaints that many folks had with Season 2. If you say that Diablo 2 is better - that's fair - but don't say with a straight face that endgame content is better on Diablo 2. If you're trying to hit max level on Diablo 2, your options pretty much consist of Baal and perhaps Diablo runs ad nauseam.

Goals in this game are like real life goals that you work hard to obtain - my goals were to beat "Uber Lilith" and a Tier 100 Nightmare Dungeon and I am happy to report that I accomplished both goals this week for the first time. Now, my focus goes to optimizing my character to prepare for the new and more challenging content that is coming out early next month.

Try it for a week - make sure you create a seasonal character, not eternal, and judge based off of that. If the online-only nature of the game or cosmetic-only microtransactions aren't your thing, then stay away.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Last Blizzard game I ever picked up was Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

What a shame to see what was in many ways a "founding partner" of PC Gaming as we know it in the late 90's and early 00's turn into... whatever the hell Blizzard is today.

I almost prefer the fate of Westwood over seeing what Blizzard has become.

 

[Shaitan]

Last Blizzard game I ever picked up was Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

What a shame to see what was in many ways a "founding partner" of PC Gaming as we know it in the late 90's and early 00's turn into... whatever the hell Blizzard is today.

I almost prefer the fate of Westwood over seeing what Blizzard has become.

Absolutely. Everything Blizzard touches now turns to ****.

 

[Shaitan]

Cam you imagine how poorly thisgame is doing if there's already a sale for 40 USD instead of 70?
I'm positive the bean counters are scratching their heads and going over the checklist of what they thought will sell like crazy.
I'd rather pay and pay baldur's gate. But since I have no free time anytime soon, I'm just laughing at these incompetent studios and their flops. My patience outruns their marketing budgets.
Each time I hear cosmetic microtransactions for a non free game, I'm passing.

 

[Tantor]

Most games suck because of a deep lack of creativity on the part of the writers. They have a grab-bag of stereotypes that they recycle for each game.

For example, they generally portray villains with classic White features. Look at Blizzard's rendition of 'Lilith'. Small button nose, high broad cheeks, classic white jawline, blue eyes. You can't get more White than Lilith. But the real Lilith was a product of Mesopotamian/Judaic culture and should look the part with a long nose, narrow face, dark skin and brown eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

Blizzard's Lilith has huge horns. This tells you two things. First, she is part goat, I.e., a small herbivore who eats plants. Second, she is a prey animal. Horns are only found on prey animals, where they protect the vulnerable neck and back. The bigger the horns, the more dangerous the creature that preys on them. Great predators like bears, tigers, pythons, crocodiles don't need horns. Lilith obviously needs LOTS of neck protection against the uber predators that prey on her people.

Evil villains need to look bestial. Egyptian gods had animal features with long snouts, big teeth, beaks. HR Giger who created the Alien supposedly was partially inspired by the Egyptian god Set. Instead we get milque-toast rehashes of white faces. Dying Light's top boss, the Mother, was also classically white with crystal blue eyes. But at least she didn't have horns and was somewhat believable.

Modern games lack creativity in areas such as combat, magic use, etc.