Dreams do come true at Blizzcon, and sometimes nightmares too. Following the unbelievable landslide of announcements at the Blizzcon 2019 Opening Ceremony today, attendees had an opportunity to go one-on-one with every single title announced. Obviously, we started with Diablo 4.
The long rumored (and recently leaked) Diablo 4 was finally announced at Blizzcon today with a horrifically terrifying trailer. After, game director Luis Barriga took the stage to describe the tone and visual style of the game. He promised fans Diablo 4 would have an exceptionally dark atmosphere and a deeper, more revealing journey through the world of Sanctuary.
The roughly 20 minute demo on the show floor offers the hack ’n slash Diablo experience fans will expect, with some significant visual updates, shockingly visceral sound design, and the most engaging combat in any Diablo title thus far.
The game currently includes 3 playable classes: Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid (returning, finally, from Diablo 2). Mechanically, the gameplay works the way it it always has: you move through an isometric world unleashing a variety of attacks on mobs of enemies, clear out dungeons, and collect loot of varying rarity. The exception being every character can now dodge, which was only available in the console version of Diablo 3.
What struck me immediately about Diablo 4 was how close the camera is to my character. I immediately scrolled to try to move away because my instinct was to try to get as much visual information on the screen as possible. Diablo 4 doesn’t let you distance yourself from the horrors and dangers of Sanctuary. I found the combat to be significantly more engaging than Diablo 3’s combat, and the camera distance played a big part in that.
While playing the Druid, the abilities all felt extremely situational and rewarding to use. Getting overwhelmed by enemies was a big concern, at least in the early levels. Luckily, all 6 abilities served an important purpose. I’d send my wolves to occupy an elite while I bear stomp AOE’d the mobs. I’d roll a boulder at archers to knock them out of range then dash through enemies with my bear charge to CC enemies and close distance on weakened targets. When things got to overwhelming, I could blow my lightning storm ultimate to help clear enemies out. Health potion cooldown management was a concern the whole time. There was no chance I could have made it through the demo zone by button mashing, this was the most involved combat of any Diablo game.
The other thing that struck me was the incredible sound design. Bloodhoof Clan bones crunched under the force of my bear charge. My wolf swipes shredded shamans, spraying blood with deafening force. The ground shook with a bassy rumble with every boulder toss and the crack of lightning strikes was, well, shocking. I felt assaulted by the sounds of Diablo 4.
Blizzard has made it abundantly clear that Diablo 4 is very early in development and this demo served to show the direction the game is headed more so than the systems and specifics which are likely to change between now and release. As a purely visceral experience that aims to create an fresh gothic-medieval horror identity, Diablo 4 is absolutely on the right track.
