Diablo 4's huge Vessel of Hatred DLC expansion arrives next week, and the team's review embargo is now up, which means a selection of early impressions are becoming available online.
We'll run through a bunch of these early reviews and round them up down below, but the general gist here is that folks are liking this Diablo 4 add-on quite a bit. Vessel of Hatred isn't on Xbox Game Pass like the base game is, but it sounds like it could be worth the investment for Diablo 4 fanatics!
Stevivor (9.5/10)
"There are even more changes being rolled out in Vessel though not all of them feel like they’re for the best. I wasn’t able to reach deep into the end game during my time with the review build and so I wasn’t able to feel the full impact of these changes and to see whether these new systems truly have legs. The outlook is good though, and the past 15 months have shown the commitment the Diablo developers have towards making this the best game they can. Here’s to another year of Diablo 4."
God is a Geek (9.5/10)
"Overall, though, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is a superb continuation of the original campaign with some wonderful quality of life improvements and a fantastic new class. An overhauled difficulty system also simplifies all the messing about, allowing you to choose from a number of difficulties up to level 60, when you can complete a new activity to unlock Torment, your gateway to Uniques and Mythic item drops."
PCGamesN (9/10)
"Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred takes everything that made Diablo 2 and 3 great, and modernizes for it the present day. Blending stunning visuals, musical majesty, and slick, gory combat, it surpasses the base game in every way, even if some may walk away from its story a little perplexed."
GGRecon (9/10)
"Vessel of Hatred is a worthy extension of Diablo 4's already impressive gameplay mechanics and story. You might be left wanting if you're looking for a conclusion, but the extensive content offering is more than enough to keep fans happy while we wait for the next instalment."
COGConnected (8.5/10)
"Vessel of Hatred's campaign, new region, new class, and new cooperative dungeon all significantly extend the base game's appeal and depth. If you don't already enjoy the near-constant, frenetic, often exhilarating, sometimes exhausting combat, Vessel of Hatred isn't going to win you over no matter how impressive it often is. The expansion contains some of the best content the developer has released and should satisfy both casual and hardcore fans of Diablo IV."
IGN (8/10)
"Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is an awesome expansion that adds an excellent new area to explore, a gloriously modular character class that I can’t stop playing, an impressive debut raid activity, and lots more. But while just about everything it adds is awesome, it definitely doesn’t do enough where the somewhat flaccid campaign and story is concerned, and numerous bugs can occasionally drag it down. Thankfully, the changes to the meta, a greatly improved progression system, the resurrection of rune words, and NPC companions are all major wins for Diablo 4, even when it seems we’ll be waiting a bit to see where this interlude expansion leads."
Gamespot (8/10)
"Vessel of Hatred acts as a great reentry point for lapsed Diablo 4 players looking for another fix of the dungeon-crawling action that the original release so deftly introduced. The Spiritborn class is as satisfying to command in skirmishes as it is to experiment with, featuring a level of depth that extends beyond all classes before it. Both the Kurast Undercity and the Dark Citadel are captivating additions to the existing (and drastically improved) endgame content."
Dexerto (8/10)
"Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion offers a compelling new narrative for fans looking to continue the base game’s story. The new Spiritborn class is a joy to behold, and new features like Mercenaries and Runewords are a welcome addition, adding elements from older games that fans have missed."
At the time of writing, we're looking at an overall score of 85 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic, which is more than respectable! Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is available for Xbox on October 8th, and it comes in at £34.99 / $39.99 - or £31.49 / $35.99 with an Xbox Game Pass subscription.