Diablo 4 celebrates Black Friday 2023 with hellish free trial

23 November 2023 , 18:00

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If you've been unsure about whether Diablo 4 is for you, this PC trial is the best chance yet to see. (Image: Activision Blizzard)

Activision Blizzard’s fourth hellish Diablo instalment only launched this summer, but the studio is already giving players the chance to play for free.

One of the biggest games of the year, Diablo 4, has barely been out for six months, but that hasn’t stopped developer Activision Blizzard from treating PC players in the form of a week-long free trial. That’s right, for one week only players will be able to try their hand at any one of the new Diablo game’s five distinct classes and go toe-to-toe with the game’s hellish villain, Lilith. Sadly, this appears to be an offer exclusive to those playing on PC.

News of the Diablo 4 free trial on PC was announced in a post from the official @Diablo Twitter account, with Activision Blizzard inviting players to “give thanks and drag your friends to hell”. It was this announcement that also revealed the free trial will be running up until 6pm GMT / 1pm EST/ 10am PST on Tuesday, November 28 – the typical day of the week and time that Diablo 4 gets its updates.

Hell to pay

It’s not coincidence that, alongside the Diablo 4 free trial, Activision Blizzard has seen fit to slash the price of the base game by 40% as part of the ongoing Steam Autumn Sale. This is sure to tempt players into picking up the full game prior to the trial period ending – as is the current Mother’s Blessing in-game event that boosts XP gain and gold by 35%. However, these perks will end a day before the trial starts, wrapping up on Monday, November 27.

While any save progress made in the Diablo 4 free trial on Steam will carry over into the main game, it’s worth noting that characters are capped at level 20 while it’s running. This means that you shouldn’t expect to get too far into the main campaign before you get absolutely slaughtered by Lilith and her forces. Even still, you’re probably looking at a good three to four hours of solid gameplay before you hit this wall.

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In our Diablo 4 review we gave the game five stars, saying “darker equals better in this intrinsically addictive reinvention of hell.” It’s been a long road to recovery since then, however, with multiple balance changes and subpar seasonal content ruining the endgame for a lot of players. That said, at Blizzcon 2023 the game’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, was announced.

There's no better time to give this Diablo 4 free trial a go to see if it’ll be of interest before the first expansion drops.

Aaron Potter