Over five years since we confronted Malthael in Reaper of Souls, Diablo 4 has been officially announced. The acclaimed ARPG series’ return was unveiled at BlizzCon 2019 by Blizzard. This event also provided us with the first glimpse of the game’s aesthetics, its initial gameplay details, and information about the targeted platforms and release date.
As we draw near to its release, we’ve assembled all the essential information about Diablo 4 in this article, covering aspects such as its release date, narrative, and more.
Diablo 4 Release Date
The release of Diablo IV, after an extended anticipation, is nearly upon us. At its announcement, Blizzard specified that the game was in the early phases of development, with many decisions yet to be made.
In November 2021, during Activision’s Q3 2021 earnings call, it was confirmed that the release of the game would be delayed, mirroring the delay of Overwatch 2.
The decision to delay it would “push out the financial uplift” that the publisher expected to see in 2022, which meant that Diablo 4’s release date would likely not occur sooner than 2023. During the Xbox/Bethesda Games Showcase in June 2022, Blizzard then announced that Diablo IV is expected to be released in 2023.
A leak from early December 2022 suggested that we would see the game launching in June 2023. During The Game Awards 2022, Diablo 4’s release date was locked down to June 5/June 6, depending on your region.
Owners of the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions benefit from four days’ worth of early access to the game, starting on 1st June or June 2nd, again depending on your region.
Diablo 4 Story
Lilith hasn’t been seen since Diablo 2, however, her role in Diablo lore is quite significant. Not only is she the Queen of Succubi, but her union with Inarius also created the first nephalem (Diablo 3 puts players in the shoes of a nephalem).
Diablo 4 is set to return to the darker, gothic aesthetic that the first two titles are known for and from which Diablo 3 departed. The aim of its art style is, however, “believability” over realism.
Diablo 4 Gameplay
From what we saw of Diablo 4’s gameplay, the title aims to both look towards the past, staying true to the series’ hack ‘n’ slash ARPG legacy, and push things forward with a handful of new systems and additions.It will launch with five playable classes: the barbarian, sorceress, druid, rogue, and necromancer. Where the Barbarian relies on brute force and large weapons to succeed, the Sorceress blasts foes apart with elemental magic like fireballs and bolts of lightning.
The druid, returning from Diablo 2, not only wields earth and storm magic but can shapeshift into werewolf and werebear forms during battle. The rogue is a mobile fighter who can tap into a hybrid gameplay style or go all-in on either ranged or melee combat.
Lastly, the necromancer wields the power of undeath, being able to summon minions to help them fight against opponents.
Diablo 4 will not feature Ancient items, Blizzard hoping the change will encourage a broader range of playstyles. At the moment, Blizzard intends to allow players to earn consumable items that let them give non-Legendary items affixes that would otherwise be found on Legendary gear.
Mythic items, the strongest tier available, will likely be sought thanks to their powerful stats, although you can only equip one at any given time. Item sets will also make a return in Diablo 4 but will play a smaller role than they did in Diablo 3.
Runes and runewords are another facet of customization that players can engage with. Inspired by Diablo 2’s system, Diablo 4 will feature two types of runes that, when combined, create a runeword. These runewords act as an enchantment of sorts, giving items new capabilities. Our deep dive into runes and runewords has more details on how they will work.
Players will also be able to freely customize their skill slots in order to create the build that they want.
Diablo IV departs from previous entries by having a shared world that players can traverse using mounts. As you roam around its five regions, you’ll encounter other players that you’ll be able to party with to complete quests, world events, and farm gear. Enemy level scales so the open world itself won’t have difficulty levels.
The game’s over 150+ dungeons, on the other hand, are instanced and can be tackled solo or in a set party. Upon entering, you’ll be able to select a difficulty level. Similarly, certain campaign-relevant areas will only be accessible to you or your party.
Strongholds are locations that you’ll initially find overrun with the Burning Hell’s minions. Clearing them rewards loot, repopulates them, and can also reveal new dungeons and “other hidden experiences.”
The shared nature of the world, sadly, means that Diablo IV will not be playable offline. Crossplay is confirmed to be available on launch, and Diablo 4 will also feature microtransactions, although we don’t yet know their exact nature. The game won’t feature different-sized items, which is good news for anyone dreading the inventory Tetris of the first two entries in the series.
Alongside the traditional keyboard & mouse, Diablo IV will also support controllers on PC. To this extent, the game’s UI will be more unified and make more use of grid-based layouts that provide optimal navigation on both control methods without limiting one or the other.
Diablo 4’s monsters will be classified into families made up of different archetypes. Each family has its own combat style, its different archetypes fulfilling different roles. As an example, the Drowned family includes the following archetypes: bruiser, ranged combat, melee combat, swarmer, and dungeon boss. Where swarmers strike in groups, bruisers are large foes with sizeable health pools. In combat, melee units can also act as shields for their ranged peers.
Aside from the Drowned and the Fallen, Diablo 4 introduces the Cannibals as its third monster family. A gruesome bunch of humans with a taste for flesh and grotesque dismemberment, their family is made up of four archetypes that focus on melee combat.
The Cannibals’ two standard melee units wield a two-handed cleaver with a slow, sweeping frontal attack and a light halberd which allows them to close in distance by leaping towards players. Their bruiser wields two spiked maces which can stun players, while their swarmers dual-wield axes capable of fast attacks which can quickly prove lethal to a stunned player.
Diablo IV’s different monster archetypes will challenge players not just through their different abilities but also through the way in which they synergize with each other.
Horse customization is also confirmed as a feature while certain areas of the map will let players engage in PvP.
The Occultist is an NPC that will allow players to transfer Legendary Powers from one item to another, destroying the first in the process. The +Skill Rank affix is also making a comeback, both buffing existing skills and letting you try out those you haven’t unlocked yet.
Diablo IV’s progression will also involve the Paragon Board, an evolved version of Diablo 3’s Paragon system. Unlocked at level 50, each class starts at the central starting tile of its intro board, charting a path through tiles of different rarities that impart bonuses until it reaches a gate tile.
At that point, you can select another board to explore while targeting particular bonuses. Rare and Legendary tiles sound like particularly important targets, granting your character additional powers.
Socket tiles then let you slot in glyphs that grant benefits based on the number of active tiles in their radius. You can extend this radius by leveling up glyphs in some of the game’s harder dungeons.
The Codex of Power then hold Aspects. Completing a dungeon has a chance to drop one such Aspect, which you can imbue into items you find in the world, turning them into Legendaries.
As far as Diablo IV’s endgame goes, Nightmare Dungeons see you battling enhanced demonic adversaries while new objectives and extra affixes that further increase difficulty. The Hellgate affix, for example, opens up portals that spawn enemies you wouldn’t otherwise see in the dungeon.
There are over 120 dungeons you can tackle in Diablo IV and each of them can be turned into their more difficult version, provided you find their Nightmare Sigil.
The Tree of Whispers is another endgame system that provides “frequently cycling world objectives and bounties that reward you with Legendary gear, experience, crafting materials, and more,” according to the developer.
When announcing the closed endgame beta, Blizzard also revealed the Helltide feature which brings region-wide events that empower demons.
Defeating these stronger opponents has a chance to drop Cinders, which you can use to open Helltide Chests. They reward “bountiful boons exclusive to a singular item slot.” Cinders are dropped upon death and need to be reclaimed, so hoard them with caution.
Where can you buy Diablo 4 and how much does it cost?
Diablo IV is developed simultaneously for PC and consoles but as is available for sale on Battle.net (PC), alongside the Microsoft and PlayStation stores. The standard edition will set you back 69,99€ or your regional equivalent. The Digital Deluxe Edition is priced at 89,99€, while the Ultimate edition costs 99,99€.
Diablo 4 Trailer
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