Enemies may have a tendency to swarm mindlessly towards you, but they come in large numbers and reasonable variety. Superb lighting effects make even Act 1's formulaic dungeons seem more atmospheric, but once you reach Act 2's Caldeum and beyond, more spectacular locations and draw distances emerge. Once in the game, it's clear that the new 3D engine has been put to work on rendering a level of detail we haven't seen in the series before.

For the first time, I was also able to make him a her, even though gender has no bearing on anything but appearance and voice-over. And, for sheer strangeness, there's the Witch Doctor – whose Demon Dogs skill fast became my defence of choice. In terms of gameplay, first glance reveals everything you would expect from a Diablo sequel: five playable character classes, roughly divided between close-range brawlers like the Barbarian and Monk and rangier characters like The Wizard and Demon Hunter. Of course, there are some advantages to having your character ID, stats and items stored online, but more about that in a moment.

Nevertheless, having already lost some progress and booty between checkpoints myself, it's clear this latest multiplayer intrusion will rankle some single players deeply – at least until Battlenet returns to its usual, stable self.

Diablo 3 witch doctor review