Devilishly good adventure best enjoyed with friends

Diablo IV

Xbox Series. Also on PS5 and PC

★★★★

CO-OP gaming is one of the things I enjoy most in video games – being able to share an experience with a friend or two, work together as a team, hitting two birds with one stone by combining socialising with progression through a game’s campaign.

As a busy adult with a family, that last point really ticks the right box for optimising my free time too.

Diablo is a series that falls right into this niche, combining a sprawling world of dungeons and monsters with a narrative to work through and action that really comes alive with friends.

Diablo IV dropped last year but its fresh arrival on Gamepass after Microsoft’s record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard has meant me and my co-op buddy are now losing ourselves in its beautifully brutal world.

Sporting an isometric top-down view, Diablo IV is an action RPG where you pick a class from a beguiling selection such as Druid, Necromancer and Barbarian then battle your way through countless levels, powering your character up with new powers as you go.

The skill tree is overwhelming at first but slowly piecing together a selection of powers and enhancements that complement each other is a satisfying thing, particularly when you take into consideration the kind of skills your friend’s character will bring too.

Diablo IV’S world is dark and oppressive but rendered with a stark, bloody beauty.

It’s a gothic, scarlet-hued landscape full of detail, with monsters lurking at every corner.

It struggles a bit when it comes to balancing, seasonal content and replay abilty but at the end of the day it delivers on being a great Diablo that’s best enjoyed with friends.