Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Reviews

We have rounded up the very first reviews and review-in-progress for Reaper of Souls, the first (and possibly last?) expansion for the oft-discussed action-RPG threequel Diablo III.

GamesRadar, 4/5.

Though Reaper of Souls’ story additions feel too open-ended, the new Crusader class and Adventure Mode go a long way towards revitalizing Diablo’s inherently fun and addictive core gameplay.

MMORPG.com, 8.5/10.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is the game that should have been released two years ago. Even saying that, waiting patiently for this past couple of years, it was well worth it. The inclusion of Loot 2.0, Paragon points, Adventure Mode, and the Crusader has made Diablo III a bright and shiny new game that has finally earned that 8.5 we assigned to it two years ago.

Finally, PC Gamer has a review-in-progress:

I’m especially pleased by the direction Blizzard took Reaper’s levels because there were sections of Diablo III that I dreaded slogging through zones like High Heavens with their bland grandeur but each of Reaper’s eleven zones here yields its own treats. What’s more, some levels shift randomly with each new playthrough so you’re never running through the same map twice. Randomized events pop up around most grimy corners. Some of these rely on familiar scenarios like fending off hordes on a timer, but others present vignettes that demand attention. One time I stepped through an unassuming door and found a would-be usurper gloating over the slain leader of Westmarch. And when my haughty Crusader condemned him for taking advantage of the chaos to further his own ambition, I felt his zeal.

He was a tough bastard, but only because I allowed it. One of Reaper of Souls’ best tweaks is full freedom over what difficulty level you play at, and this mattered a great deal for my well-geared level 60 character with a 55 Paragon rating. Diablo III, by contrast, allowed three separate difficulty modes corresponding to fixed level brackets that were only fully unlocked by playing three playthroughs in succession. The (hardest,) Inferno, was sometimes stupidly easy thanks to its fixed nature and the conveniences of gear optimization from the auction house. Not too long ago I jumped into a multiplayer battle on Inferno mode with Azmodan, the boss of Diablo III’s third act, and saw him three-shotted by a high-level, well-geared Paragon.