Ship of Hate unlocks half of 'Dungeon Crawler'

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Key Takeaways

  • Diablo 4 struggles with dungeon crawling elements despite improvements in other areas.
  • Vessel of Hatred improves exploration and boss battles, highlighting the need for more dungeon work.
  • While Vessel of Hatred brings the focus back to dungeon exploration, Diablo 4's dungeons lack unique boss battles and tie-ins.



Diablo because the series has remained within the realm of the dungeon-crawler genre, offering the player a variety of dungeon concepts as well as looting and action combat, and Diablo 4 made to follow when it came out. With a big focus on the open world, the dungeon crawlers Diablo 4 fell through the cracks a bit, especially with the more goal-oriented dungeons split into different sections, each with an important mechanic to address before heading to the boss room. This slows down the process towards the motto, forcing the player to backtrack and search every dead end looking for mechanical unlocking tools. Vessel of Hatred fixes this, but still doesn't completely solve the “dungeon crawler equation.”


One can argue that Diablo 4 is two steps forward and one step back in many ways, because it improves many aspects of the series or even adds interesting new things, but other key elements are left in the process. The prison experience in Diablo 4 falls into the latter category, as the key parts of the game, such as Nightmare Dungeons, tend to disappoint in the end. In this particular case, the problem is that there is no dungeon crawling experience, and if the Vessel of Hatred helps, there is a lot more work to be done.

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Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred has been launched with a new class, and while the diversity of the game is better than before, the Path of Exile system can help.

Diablo 4: Ships of Hate Nahantu Dungeons is the unsung hero DLC

Diablo 4's Dungeon-Crawling returns to classic form at the cost of uniqueness

Diablo 4The Nahantu prison of Nahantu is the unsung hero of the expansion in the sense that they bring the series back to their crawling days with an experience that is designed to focus more on the search for prison and the execution of the boss. This is a welcome change, as the game removes the requirement to complete side gimmicks before one can enter the boss room. What it does is kill two birds with one stone:


  • Quests can be rewarded with the same side gimmicks that were mandatory in the past, but this time it gives extra loot if completed and doesn't carry a penalty if it doesn't work.
  • Part of the action in an ARPG isn't stopping sometimes to handle switches, keys, or the like, but instead, players can just go ahead and kill the boss when they're ready.

As such, Diablo 4The Vessel of Hatred expansion brings the focus back to this important aspect of the series, arguably more so than to Nahantu itself. In fact, Nahantu has narrow paths and small labyrinths that are faithful to the idea of ​​clinging to a prison wall to reach the end. The problem is that this is not the whole package.


Diablo 4's Dungeon Spark is still missing

Diablo 4The content of the final game changed with Vessel of Hatred, and while the removal of the focus from Nightmare Dungeons was a good thing, it was another step away from the series' roots. Not only that, Nahantu's more “classic” dungeons in design and philosophy make them stand out more from each other – especially since there are no special and interesting boss fights. This remains a major pain point for the game now, and hopefully, the next one Diablo 4 expansion will solve it.

However, Diablo 4's progression system has no dungeon-related elements outside of the Sigil at the end of Nightmare Dungeons, which simply serves as a way to guide the player to the next event. What follows is a dungeon crawling experience for the most part, although the game eschews gimmicks to some extent. Prison in Diablo 4 it simply doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things, and if anyone could argue that the Dark Citadel was raided there. Diablo 4 is online crawling at its best, not an activity most players will see. It's a start, but a real comeback could take a DLC.


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