Diablo III: Eternal Collection Review

Eternal Collection:

The Eternal Collection of Diablo III is a huge get for the Nintendo Switch. Packed with endless hours of enjoyment and a ludicrous amount of content, it represents a perfect marriage of the Switch’s portable sensibilities and Diablo’s pick-up-and-play addictiveness. To be able to grind and grab loot when I’m on my morning commute fulfils a dream I never knew I had, but looking back at the confined versions of Diablo I’ve played in the past I realize this is the only way to play going forwards. Diablo III is an absolute no-brainer for the Switch.

Story:

After the apocalyptic events of Diablo II, the world of Sanctuary is allowed twenty years of respite before a falling star crashes into Tristram’s cathedral and begins spewing undead hellspawn from the bowels of the earth once more.

The story then takes off in a blur of locales, full of angels and demons, betrayals and sacrifices, and some genuinely surprising twists and turns. The Diablo series has always been known for its phenomenally rendered FMVs and classic, good vs. evil plots. Diablo III definitely does not disappoint in either of these areas, and whilst at times the narrative can get a bit too melodramatic or overwrought, there’s nothing here a fan of the series won’t thoroughly enjoy.

Eternal Collection also packs in the excellent Reaper of Souls expansion pack, including a final act for the game and a phenomenal closer to the Diablo III story. In its opening moments, the self proclaimed Angel of Death Malthael steals the black soulstone – a crystal that contains the souls of all seven of the Great Evils – and escapes. It’s a simple set up that sees our heroes fighting our way through the city of Westmarch, its surrounding swamps and crypts and finally into the Pandemonium Fortress – one of my favourite areas of Diablo II.

But it’s the quieter events in the ransacked streets and musty cellars of barricaded houses that are especially memorable as some of Diablo’s best ‘random encounters’, and its locales are as impressive as they are horrifying. Walking down streets piled high with corpses serves as a constant reminder that Westmarch used to be a bustling city, and some of D3s best moments are its quiet, contemplative ones, where the rare silence gives you a chance to reflect on your chilling surroundings.

Gameplay:

The pulsing, macabre heart of the Diablo series is it’s ridiculously addictive gameplay; horrifying monsters to dispatch, endless loot to pick up and the oh-so-satisfying level-ups. The formula has been tinkered with – both for better and worse – with Diablo III, but for the most part it’s just as engaging as you remember and equally hard to walk away from, even after sinking hours and hours into the lengthy campaign. Around thirty hours will see you to the credits, but with a massive amount of content and replayability over the numerous difficulties, Diablo III is a paragon of value, easily offering hundreds of hours of enjoyment.

For the uninitiated, players begin by choosing a hero to play as, picking from the seven classes of Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, Crusader, Necromancer and Demon. Each of these play wildly differently from the others, with the Witch Doctor raising undead allies to fight by their side, the Demon Hunter laying traps and taking out enemies from afar whilst the Barbarian, as you might have guessed, runs head first into any problem, armed with two ferocious weapons and screaming all the while. The Necromancer, which was released as DLC on consoles last year but is present for free in the Eternal Collection, is my personal favourite.

As you make your way through the twisted worlds the game presents you with different missions – never much more than go here, kill this, collect this – and along the way you can explore the sprawling world maps, delve into sub-dungeons, initiate side quests and so on. When you kill the towering beasties that stand in your way they’ll drop glittering loot – the drug you’ll never quite be able to kick. It’s these drops that keep you playing for ‘just one more dungeon’ long into the night.

In many ways D3’s vanilla version felt like a watered down, over-simplified sequel to the hidden depths of Diablo II. With its migration to consoles, and its further expansion with the Eternal Collection, everything clicks into place. It’s simpler menus make sense when upgrading your characters gear or changing their skills, and the streamlining of players level-ups feels like an obvious choice when you’re sat with three of your friends, eager only to blaze on rather than stop and stare at stats.

What was a point-and-click hack & slash with a keyboard and mouse made the transition to controller masterfully, and on a switch it’s just as competent. It’s a really tricky genre to get right on consoles and Blizzard have proven themselves time and time again, delivering an experience that is actually preferable to its PC counterpart. Menus and shortcuts have been entirely reworked and the game feels tailored perfectly to its new home, rather than feeling like a shoddy port. Skills are easily selected and used, and the controller never feels like it doesn’t have enough buttons.