Diablo IV on Switch 2: Great handheld, mediocre docked

Blizzard's booth looked how Blizzard booths always look: a red corridor of kiosks with Lilith glowering down off the wall. The pitch was narrower than usual, though. No new expansion, just a bundle. The Age of Hatred Collection puts the base game together with Vessel of Hatred and Lord of Hatred, and it lands Sept. 14, the same day Season of Hell's Legacy starts. Diablo IV has its fans; that's settled. What I wanted to know was whether a Switch 2 is a good place to play it.

In the hands, yes. The demo dropped me into a season quest under the Furnace of Hate, where I fought classic bosses, and where the smaller enemies carry names that nod at Diablo II's bosses (a nice wink, given the series turns 30 this year). Those fights get loud and crowded fast. The handheld build held its frame rate through all of it, and held its resolution too. I kept waiting for the screen to turn to soup given the limitations of the Nintendo Switch 2. It never did. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. 

Docked is where it goes wrong. A PC build was running a few feet away, and the gap was easy to see; the Switch 2 output looks like last-gen console work sitting next to it. Loading was quick, quicker than I'd guessed. But I could feel input lag in the boss fights, which is the worst place to feel it, since dodging what the game telegraphs at you is most of what it asks you to do well. Play this on a TV and you're playing a lesser version of Diablo IV.

Two housekeeping notes. Keyboard and mouse work on day one, which is more than the console versions have usually offered. Very disappointingly, Joy-Con 2 mouse controls don't work at all, which stings in a game with this much inventory sorting, and would be one of the draws of using the Switch 2. Beyond that, the developers have confirmed that the game is online only. 

So who should buy it? If you own a Switch 2 and have no Steam Deck, this is the easiest way to get Diablo IV into bed with you, and it runs well enough in the hands that I'd say go ahead. It might even beat the Steam Deck-verified PC build as a handheld, with better visuals in my perspective. 

If you already own a Deck and just want a portable option, stay there. The freedom is more worth it: you can tinker with it, and you can carry the same copy over to a desktop later (where it will definitely run better). Just don't buy this one for the television.

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John Popko

I write. I rap. I run. That’s pretty much it.

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