Diablo 4 has taken the franchise to new heights of success but to those who played earlier entries in the series, something is missing; a customizable companion from the start.
The up-and-down nature of Diablo 4’s seasonal content notwithstanding, there’s no denying that Diablo 4 has been a triumph. Just go back to one of the earlier games for a few hours to see how far the series has come in its latest entry. However, if you do, you’ll also notice that Blizzard has weirdly opted to omit any customizable companions from the game, something that was introduced in Diablo 2 and arguably perfected in Diablo 3.
While Season 3 of Diablo 4 has introduced a robotic companion that can be customized, it’s just not the same. And knowing that the Seneschal Companion will cease to exist beyond Season 3 means we’re not going to get too attached. Although, we’re going to miss our little robot buddy. It’s nice to have some AI company when hacking apart the legions of Hell.
It’s worth pointing out that the main draw of the Seneschal Companion is the buffs it offers, but even this doesn’t come close to making up for the lack of a proper companion system at the start of the game. Something we sorely miss in Diablo 4.
Duo dungeon diving
Our love of companions in Diablo games goes all the way back to the very first entry. While incredibly basic by today’s standards, Diablo 1 allowed you to use a spell to summon a Clay Golem that would independently stalk around the map attacking any demons it came across. The AI was abysmal, as the Golem would often get stuck in a corner or aimlessly walk the same corridor until you were forced to abandon it.
It was also not very effective in the later stages of the game, where a powerful demon could just kill it in one swipe. Although despite these shortcomings, we always summoned a Golem when we could. It was nice to have a companion and something to temporarily draw the enemy agro. Blizzard expanded on this mechanic in Diablo 2. Not only did they create the summoner classes, starting with the Necromancer who could once again summon a variety of Golems, but they also allowed us to hire mercenaries to aid us in combat, and we could equip them with armor and weapons too.
There was a range of mercenary types on offer too and it often made the most sense to hire one who complemented your build. There were Rogues, Sorcerer Knights, Spear-Wielding Aura Casters, and bulky Barbarians to choose from. Playing as a spell-slinging Sorceress? Then bring the Barbarian to provide some melee backup while you pelt demons with elemental magic. Or are you playing as a Barbarian? In that case, hire the Sorcerer Knight for some elemental/ranged support. You can even hire the Aura Caster if you’re a Necromancer, as the aura buffs not only you but your undead minions too.
Or you could hire a merc who’s the same build as you and form a deadly partnership. It was fun to see two Barbarians battling together or an Amazon and a Rogue fighting side by side, both filling enemies with arrows from a distance. Your merc leveled with you, so if they died you could resurrect them at great expense, but you did it anyway because by this point you’d built an attachment to them. They were more than just a minion.
Complicated companions
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Diablo 3 took this system even further by introducing named characters to be your followers instead of mercenaries. Once again, the strategic benefit was key and Diablo 3 featured Kormac the Templar, a tanky holy warrior, Lyndon the Scoundrel, essentially a crossbow-wielding Rogue, and Eirena the Enchantress, an elemental caster. You could recruit one at a time and switch them out when you desired, depending on your needs. Or you could stick to one if it suited or complemented your build.
However this time, there was another factor to consider, your character’s relationship with their companion. You see, some class types would initially not get on with their follower, depending on that companion’s background and fighting style. For example, the Crusader wouldn’t mind the company of the Templar, despite the differences between their respective Orders, but would be disgusted by the Scoundrel. At the same time, the Demon Hunter would enjoy the Scoundrel’s banter and turn a blind eye to their morally grey antics, while finding the Templar to be a self-righteous bore.
Classes like the Wizard and Witch Doctor would get along with most companions, especially the agreeable Enchantress, but the fun was in the dialogue and seeing how the relationship between the protagonist and their companions evolved as the game progressed. Eventually, every class would come to appreciate and respect their companions, regardless of their prior hostility. The companions would also form friendships with each other, with even a love triangle developing midway through the game. This system also encouraged replayability, sometimes just to see how your next class would respond to a different companion, as the dialogue between every class and every follower was unique.
Companions in Diablo 4
This is what Diablo 4 is missing and it’s really difficult to not notice it when you’ve spent so many years using this system. Diablo 4 feels lifeless and lonely at times when compared to even Diablo 2’s system, and the multiplayer component doesn’t do much to change that. Yes, Diablo 4 features various followers in its campaign, side quests, and seasonal content, but these are often useless in combat and don’t bring that same level of camaraderie that previous games provided. We’d go as far as to say that Diablo 3’s follower system was the best part of the game, making the campaign something we wanted to experience multiple times – rather than simply skipping it every season.
Of course, some players never engaged in the follower systems of Diablo 2 or Diablo 3, arguing it was cheating, despite it being a legitimate game mechanic. But some people prefer to enjoy Diablo without the constant back-and-forth of the character dialogue. Although, for some of us, that was a huge part of our enjoyment and we believe Blizzard wasted an opportunity to build on this celebrated system by simply omitting it in Diablo 4. This is especially true in an open-world game where moments of levity and world-building would be even more welcome, rather than the long periods of silence we must endure in Diablo 4. As we said, we sorely miss companions in Diablo 4 – proper companions.
Who knows, perhaps Blizzard will add such a system in the Vessel of Hatred DLC which is set to arrive in late 2024. However, to really fix the problem this would need to be a mechanic players could enjoy from the start of the campaign instead of just in the DLC. We think this might be a little ambitious to add now, but we can dream.
Also, if any Diablo 3 fans want to check in on an old Scoundrel, Lyndon can be found in the settlement of Backwater, Hawezar in Diablo 4. He’ll even accompany you on one last quest.
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