When I first reviewed Diablo IV a few years ago, I came away impressed. While it certainly had its issues, it was a well crafted and addictive ARPG that took the franchise in an interesting new direction. More importantly, it laid a solid foundation for the kind of game you could easily sink hundreds of hours into.

At this year’s BlizzCon, we got a wealth of announcements, including a new StarCraft FPS, World of Warcraft Forever, Diablo V, and the long awaited Switch 2 port of Diablo IV, which launched just a few days after the show. With that, I had the perfect excuse to dive back in and see just how much Diablo IV has evolved over the past few years.

Blizzard still got it when it comes to cinematics.

Diablo IV: Age of Hatred is a new collection bundling the base Diablo IV experience with its two expansions, Vessel of Hatred and Lord of Hatred. As you can probably guess from those names, both expansions revolve heavily around one of the Prime Evils, Mephisto. The package also arrives alongside Season 15, Hell’s Legacy, which serves as a celebration of the Diablo franchise as a whole. I never played the expansions when they originally released, so this was my chance to finally dive into them.

To quickly recap the story, Diablo IV continues the never ending war between Angels and Demons, following our protagonist as they attempt to stop Lilith from turning Sanctuary against the Angels. The expansions deal with the consequences of our actions in the main game, eventually forcing us to take drastic measures to prevent Mephisto from manifesting in the mortal realm. There’s some genuinely solid storytelling here, making the campaigns worth experiencing rather than simply rushing towards the endgame. While Vessel of Hatred is somewhat of a weak point, Lord of Hatred picks up the slack with a surprisingly compelling narrative.

At its core, this is still Diablo IV, albeit with years of gameplay changes and improvements layered on top. That includes the post release Spiritborn, Paladin, and Warlock classes alongside the five available at launch. There are also numerous quality of life improvements that remove much of the friction from starting new seasonal characters, as well as a completely overhauled skill tree. If this is your first time returning to Diablo IV since launch, it’ll still feel immediately familiar, with that same addictive core gameplay loop intact.

You can tell this is running on Switch 2 because it has a muddier overall look…

So, with all the new content out of the way… what is the Switch 2 version actually like to play? After all, Diablo III was a remarkably good fit for the original Switch. Upon booting up the game for the first time, you’re greeted with an account connection screen, requiring you to link your Nintendo account to Battle.net. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection is always online and also requires Nintendo Switch Online, even when playing solo, which will understandably put some people off.

On the plus side, this enables seamless cross progression. All of my characters and progress are shared across platforms, making the Switch 2 version appealing even if you already own the game elsewhere and simply want a portable way to continue playing.

As for the actual gameplay experience, Switch 2 offers both Performance and Quality modes. I play my Switch 2 exclusively in handheld mode, where Quality targets 30fps at 1080p, while Performance pushes the framerate to 40fps at the expense of some visual quality. I was initially worried that Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection wouldn’t feel particularly good on the system, but for the most part, it hits its performance targets and delivers a much smoother experience than I expected.

Naturally, there are some visual compromises. Performance mode produces a slightly blurrier image, though both options remain perfectly playable. The framerate also stays reasonably solid during most encounters. When dozens upon dozens of enemies begin swarming your character and filling the screen, however, you’ll notice their animations being reduced to maintain responsiveness and keep the overall experience running smoothly.

…But it’s still a great place to play.

Overall, I found the Switch 2 version to be full of reasonable compromises. Reducing enemy animations during CPU heavy moments and accepting a slightly blurrier image are worthwhile tradeoffs when they result in a smoother, more responsive experience. As always, I play my Switch 2 exclusively in handheld mode, and on the smaller screen, the game still looks great despite those concessions.

Diablo IV has made fantastic strides over the years, turning an already great game into something even better. With the base game and both expansions bundled together, DiabloIV: Age of Hatred Collection offers a huge amount of content for veterans and newcomers alike. It’s still not perfect, but there simply isn’t much out there that compares to Diablo. The Switch 2 version has its compromises, but if you’re willing to accept them, this is still a fantastic way to experience one of the genre’s best.

Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection is available now on Switch 2. Previously available on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. 

Reviewed on Switch 2.

A copy of Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection was provided by the publisher.