Season 8 for Blizzard’s Diablo IV comes in hard with The Lord of Lies, Belial, taking centre stage. Diablo 4 keeps adding new content thick and fast but my question is, is it quality or is it just quantity as we dive into ‘Belia’s Return’?

First, this season brings a plethora of changes. The most notable addition is the integration of a story questline, ‘Lord of Lies’. While not a very long adventure, you do get to take on another one of the Prime Evils, Belial, and his minions of darkness.

You interact with two new characters, Jarius and Sayeena, one an excommunicated church militia and the other a retired mage and also the guardian of the seasonal loot board. It was a nice addition, but it was not really anything of substance or overtly interesting. Though in saying that, Belial also joins the muchly needed lair bosses roster that also all got a ‘quality of life’ upgrade.

Appearing in the world, you will also find Belial’s apparitions, his disgusting vessels of deceit and deception that appear around acid green ground portals. These ‘Apparition Incursions’ bring waves of enemies to summon Belial, dropping some good loot and spectral ashes if you nail him in time, which can also be a great opportunity for players to trade Diablo 4 gold and gear with others looking to strengthen their builds.

Since I hadn’t had a chance to get onto Diablo 4 since the drop of ‘Vessel of Hatred’, a notable difference was the approach to this season’s battle pass, now called the ‘Reliquaries’. Sorted into Free, Premium or Deluxe, the Free has one page of 9 items, while Premium will unlock another 3 pages that also have 8 or 9 items sorted into categories of Weapons, Beasts and Armour. This season, there is also a short-term Event Reliquary collaboration with the anime ‘Beserk’. Cool items indeed.

I wasn’t particularly a fan of this new style of battle pass. It uses currency earned in-game to unlock stuff, which seemed grindier than usual, or you could buy items with direct monetary value. Then, on top of that, there was a separate currency for the event battle pass, too. It was too much and, at times, difficult to track.

Another in-game feature is the new 24 Boss Powers. These orbs can be earned by killing targeted bosses to acquire a distinct power. Four of these can be slotted into your character and upgraded with ranks, with yet another collectible item of spectral ashes. A fun little addition, but easily forgotten.

Most of the cooler items are, as you imagined, locked behind the Deluxe or Premium pass. A lot of cosmetics and pets are included this time round, with the chance to earn an awesome set of Deceiver wings, an owl pet, an instant unlock of the “Guise of the Deceiver” Bonus Armour Set for each class and a plethora of new transmogs. You do thankfully get ‘Iris’, a feline pet, at the culmination of your journey.

While Season 8 was full of content and I mean chock full, it was a cluster of so much going on that it at times became overwhelming and messy to sort through it all. I did enjoy the storyline with Belial though and that makes up for most of the downfalls but I still wait for another DLC the calibre of ‘Vessel of Hatred’ as currently nothing at the moment added lives up to that.

Written by: Stacey