All my memories of Diablo IV from 2023 were great: my pottery-smasher Barbarian and Val's Necromancer queen; Lorath's voice and every Lilith cinematic; wandering through dark rain and shadowy interiors – in a painterly art style that was everything I'd hoped for; riding on a horse through the isometric open world… the golden light spilling from dungeon entrances… the evocative bits of dialogue from the tragic NPCs of Sanctuary… Kyovashad's theme!

The one thing I’d forgotten was the always online-ness of the game.

I was hellishly reminded of it a few days ago, when Deckard Cain’s return for an anniversary event made me curious enough to go back, only to be greeted by constant disconnects in the middle of single-player stuff. After a lot of tinkering with my router, the only improvement I found was using my phone’s hotspot… which is how I’ve finally ended up playing the expansions I’d been putting off.

Makeshift setup and all, I’m loving Skovos and the Lord of Hatred campaign. It deserves to exist offline too – all of it.

Someday?