I dumped several points into Bash, my concussion-inducing, Fury-generating secondary attack, while going with the bleed-inducing Flay as my primary attack and adding Whirlwind, Leap, and Death Blow as my three special abilities and then Wrath of the Berserker as my Ultimate, which I unlocked near the end of my time with this preview version. I’m sad I don’t have footage of my own Barbarian build to share, but as is my preference in Diablo games, my goal is to be able to deliver the maximum amount of pure pain at any given moment.

It snakes along sprouting hub-and-spoke clusters, with each hub along the way offering between 4-8 choices, some of which are either/or picks. Speaking of insane layers of content, the skill tree is bonkers in this game, in the best of ways. The layers here run both wide and deep, again making Diablo 4 feel like an extremely content-rich experience. Exploring both towns and the open fields of combat alike will yield frequent blue exclamation marks on your map, designating another side quest. Furthermore, as you level up, you’ll be able to do things like visit the Alchemist to improve your health potions’ healing ability.

The more Renown you tally, the better the tangible rewards get – notably in the form of skill points. (For context, the regions you visit in Act 1 look to be a noticeably small portion of the total land mass of Sanctuary.) But you are heartily encouraged to explore the areas you do belong in, as you’ll earn Renown for discovering new areas, picking up and completing side quests, and more. Sure, you can wander anywhere you want, but the regions outside of where you’re supposed to be in Act 1 are at a significantly higher level – enough to crush you like a bug for roaming into lands you’re not yet welcome in. As you’ve heard by now, Diablo 4 is more open-world than ever, and Blizzard’s implementation works well.

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