Diablo IV's Lord of Hatred expansion is out — critics love it, players are split
Diablo IV's second major expansion, Lord of Hatred, is live now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox — and it's already dividing opinion. Critics have handed it an 84 Metascore with some calling it the best Diablo expansion to date, while Steam players sit at just 67% positive across 105 reviews. The gap tells the real story of the launch.
The content
Lord of Hatred adds a new region called Skovos — the ancient homeland of Lilith and Inarius, now ruled by an oracle queen and Amazon warriors. Two new classes arrive with it: the Paladin, a returning fan favourite, and the Warlock, making its Diablo IV debut after first appearing in the Diablo II: Resurrected expansion. The main antagonist is Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred himself, reborn as a colossal demon rather than his earlier wolf form, and now threatening to consume all of Sanctuary.
Season 13 launched simultaneously, bringing a wave of free content and new activities for everyone who owns the base game. Blizzard also overhauled the endgame with War Plans, Echoing Hatred, and a revived Horadric Cube transmutation system — changes aimed squarely at players who had drifted away from Diablo IV since its 2023 release.
The split verdict
Critics on Metacritic praised the campaign as the darkest story in the franchise, and the new class designs have drawn consistent applause. Player reviews on Steam, per GG.deals, tell a different story: server queues and technical problems at launch pushed the user score down, though Blizzard says most issues are already resolved. For a live-service game, that's a familiar pattern — but it does erode goodwill in communities that have been through it before.
Price and availability
The Standard Edition costs $39.99 in the US and £35.99 in the UK, available on Steam, Battle.net, PlayStation, and Xbox. Deluxe and Ultimate editions reach $59.99 and $79.99 respectively, adding cosmetics, mounts, and premium currency. Whether the extra tiers are worth it depends entirely on how deep into the season pass ecosystem you already are.
If the campaign quality holds up to critic claims, Lord of Hatred looks like the most substantial content Diablo IV has received since launch — server hiccups aside.