Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred

PlayStation Plus members have a good reason to be excited. Starting July 1, Diablo IV is joining the lineup for Essential, Extra, and Premium members. That's right. It's the full game, no demo, no trial. And the timing is also spot-on: the game's next big season, Sins of the Horadrim, also goes live the same day.

So if you haven't tried it yet, it is a pretty good time to be Playstation Plus member. The campaign is included, of course. And once you finish it, the real challenge begins with world bosses, Helltides, PvP, and a variety of exciting endgame content. And Season 9 adds even more on top.

This season's story revolves around the Horadrim. You'll be tracking down corrupted Blood Relics as Astaroth rises again to spread chaos in Sanctuary. You'll also get a new system called Horadric Spellcraft. It lets you use relics in new ways and adds more depth to combat.

There are also some bigger changes under the hood. Nightmare Dungeons are getting updated across the board, both in Seasonal and Eternal modes. You'll find new mini-dungeons called Horadric Strongrooms for quick loot runs, plus a tougher set of Escalating Nightmares that get harder as you go. Blizzard also added new affixes to mix things up mid-run, so you're not just steamrolling with the same build every time.

Most of this was tested during the recent 2.3.0 PTR, and the devs say they've made a bunch of tweaks based on feedback. Any changes made since the PTR are marked in blue in the patch notes, if you care to dig through that.

Also worth mentioning: cross-play and cross-progression are fully supported, so it doesn't matter where your friends are playing. If you're on PS5 and they're on PC or Xbox, you can still team up.

If you've been waiting for a reason to try Diablo IV, this is it. There's no better time to jump in than now, with a full season ahead and no extra cost.