Diablo 4 Lord Of Hatred Reviews Are In: See How It Compares To Previous Games

Blizzard is dead-set on making Diablo 4 a bigger platform than it was in the past. With Diablo 3, there was just one total major expansion that was released (Reaper of Souls), and one minor one (Rise of the Necromancer). With Diablo 4, we’re already on our second big box expansion. Lord of Hatred just dropped, and a lot of critics have thoughts on the game.

Ushering in a new era of the game with the Paladin and Warlock in tow, along with a whole new storyline centering around Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, there’s a lot to dig into. It’s not just a surface-level expansion, especially since the two aforementioned characters are going to make a huge impact on the current meta and party composition.

While the expansion is getting overall positive reviews, it’s also scoring lower than the base Diablo 4 game and the previous Vessel of Hatred expansion at the moment. Let’s dig into the Metacritic ratings and see what people are saying leading into the impending launch.

What Reviews Are Saying About Lord Of Hatred

The game’s most glowing review came from Joe Morgan of GamingTrend, who loved pretty much every aspect of Lord of Hatred, minus some lingering story questions and an underbaked fishing minigame: “Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred feels like everything I want out of a good expansion. While it isn’t perfect, it feels pretty dang close.”

While reviews are generally positive, some folks found it didn’t add much to what was already there. Polygon‘s Oli Welsh had this to say: “Lord of Hatred is a good, meaty expansion. But I find it striking that I enjoyed playing the Paladin through the otherwise unremarkable season 11 more than playing the Warlock through Lord of Hatred’s campaign.”

Others found it more polarizing, like Darrus Myles Jr of Comicbook: “Lord of Hatred leaves Diablo 4 in a stronger place than it found it. It doesn’t fix every issue, and it doesn’t try to, but it builds on what works and pushes it just far enough to matter. There’s a confidence to it now, a sense that the game understands itself better than it did before.”

Diablo 4: Lord Of Hatred Reviews Comparison

Right now, 2023’s Diablo 4 is sitting on an 86/100 “generally favorable” rating on Metacritic for the PC edition of the game. While some criticized its lack of innovation in several respects, it was generally praised as a return to form to the franchise’s darker roots. Since then, it’s built up an even bigger reputation, hosting another expansion, Vessel of Hatred.

2024 saw the launch of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, which sits at a respectable 84/100 on Metacritic. Critics praised the introduction of gradual quality-of-life patches in addition to a ton of changes made for the Vessel of Hatred launch, which made Diablo 4 a smoother game. Some folks felt it didn’t drastically alter the game’s core loop, so it wasn’t quite an Earth-shattering release compared to the main game.

Now, Lord of Hatred is hitting 81/100 at the time of publication on its PC Metacritic page. Time will tell if it manages to slowly creep up and overtake other Diablo 4 releases, or sink further.

Systems

Released

June 5, 2023

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact

Engine

Proprietary Engine