For a game about hate, the first Diablo 4 expansion is easy to love. When Vessel of Hatred launches on October 8, it brings a brand-new character class, the next chapter of the campaign story, and tons of new features to Blizzard’s action RPG. And while it explicitly builds on Diablo 4’s campaign and introduces the most complex endgame activity yet, it feels like a surprisingly good entry point for players new to the game.
As a caveat, I’m no stranger to Diablo. I’ve sunk a considerable amount of time into every previous entry in the series, but bounced off of Diablo 4 pretty early. I’m definitely up for repeatedly slaying demons to discover gear of constantly increasing quality, but Diablo 4’s rapid fire introduction of systems for earning and upgrading loot left my head spinning a bit too much to ever feel like I knew what I was supposed to be doing.
That’s still present if you choose to start your adventure with the Vessel of Hatred storyline, but everything surrounding it does a better job of pulling players in. The foremost among them is the Spiritborn, a class that’s been created specifically for Vessel of Hatred, much to the chagrin of players who’ve been impatiently awaiting the return of the Paladin from past games. The Spiritborn in some ways feels like a combination of multiple existing classes, but it’s distinct at the same time, and it’s by far the most versatile class currently in the game.
The Spiritborn’s schtick is that it calls on the power of animal spirits for its attacks. Jaguar skills hit hard and fast, Gorilla skills grant defensive benefits, Eagle skills offer greater mobility, and Centipede skills poison and debuff enemies. You’re free to mix and match these skills however you want, whether you want to focus on one specific aspect or combine the perks of all of them. It would be an exaggeration to say that the Spiritborn is like four classes in one, but you can end up with some shockingly disparate builds depending on which skills you choose. That means that no matter your playstyle, you can probably find a way to enjoy Spiritborn, whether you want to use Gorilla and Centipede skills to become a self-healing tank or focus on Jaguar and Eagle skills to crush your foes before they have a chance to respond. And most importantly, it’s fun as hell to play, thanks to the innate speed and variety.
That makes the Spiritborn a particularly good accompaniment to Vessel of Hatred’s Mercenaries system, a returning feature from Diablo 2. At the very start of the new campaign, you meet up with Raheir, leader of the Pale Hand mercenary company. After a few introductory quests, you can recruit Raheir as your first mercenary. There are four mercenaries to recruit, all with different strengths. So if you’re rolling with a high-damage Spiritborn (or any other class), you can call in Raheir to soak damage with his shield, while a tankier character might benefit more from recruiting an offensively focused mercenary. It’s not quite the same as playing with another actual human, but planning out builds for both your character and your chosen mercenary is satisfying.
The expansion’s campaign quests are also an improvement from the base game, marking the first time I’ve actually cared about the story in Diablo. At the start of Diablo 4, you’re given multiple main quests scattered around the map, with no real sense of progress between them. The demon Lilith is free and that seems bad, so you better zip across all corners of the map to see what she’s been up to, always arriving after she’s already come and gone. In Vessel of Hatred, you’re following one storyline, attempting to save Neyrelle as she keeps Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, from regaining his power. An introductory cutscene does a decent, albeit rushed, job of telling the base game’s story, but in short: You’ve murdered Lilith, and your companion Neyrelle has now been left to carry a stone that Mephisto’s trapped in lest the world be destroyed by his demonic armies.
Where the base game makes you the world’s savior because you happen to track down Lilith across its disorganized campaign, Vessel of Hatred feels like Neyrelle’s story. She has a clear quest to complete, and your job isn’t to swoop in and save the world again, but to make sure Neyrelle has what she needs to succeed. Keeping the spotlight on Neyrelle’s journey gives the expansion a character to root for that was lacking in the base game, and seeing the gruesome consequences for failure early on shows you exactly why it’s so important that you help her.
Things look promising if you stick around in Vessel of Hatred, too. The Season of Rising Hatred launches alongside the game, shaping the activity loop you’ll be in if you keep playing after the campaign ends. This season’s activity has you chasing giant demonic turtles called Realmwalkers that spawn on the world map, then entering the portals they drop upon defeat to gain plentiful rewards. At the end of the dungeons inside, you’ll find a potion that gains you reputation with a new faction for every enemy you slay under its influence, which in turn earns you seasonal rewards. It feels easier to start this seasonal activity and reap the rewards than it has in the past, and the fights with Realmwalkers have enough unique mechanics to make them a nice break from the rest of the action.
Diablo 4’s new player experience still isn’t great, but Vessel of Hatred makes it easier and more rewarding to get started. You always have the option to play the main campaign first, but if it couldn’t hold your attention, you may have a better time starting off with the expansion. I certainly did. With the wildly fun Spiritborn class and a streamlined campaign structure, Vessel of Hatred makes the case that this may be the best time yet to dive into the gates of Hell with Diablo 4.
