Never played any of the Diablo games? Diving in right now blind? This Diablo 4 story recap for Lord of Hatred is the only part you need before you jump in. You can play without it, but read this if you want it to make a little more sense.
Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Diablo 3
In the beginning was Anu. Skip ahead.
There’s an eternal war between angels and demons. Skip ahead.
Diablo 1: Diablo himself shows up, hero wins, then makes a terrible decision and sticks the Soulstone in his own head.
Diablo 2: That decision goes exactly how you’d expect. Diablo and both his brothers Mephisto and Baal (The Prime Evils) return, and things get worse before they get better. The worldstone gets destroyed.
Diablo 3: Angels get involved, the world almost ends, and humanity (all hail the Nephalem) proves it’s stronger than both sides.
Skip ahead to Diablo 4.
Diablo 4: The Mother and Father
Lilith is a demon and the daughter of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred. Inarius is an angel and eventually becomes her lover. Together, they create Sanctuary, the world players know.
That doesn’t last.
They fall out, and Lilith is banished to the void.
Years later, Lilith returns in Diablo 4 and tries to reshape Sanctuary. She believes humanity needs to become stronger to survive what’s coming. However, she pushes that idea too far and dies for it at our hands, but not before killing Inarius.
That part is over.
The real threat is Mephisto (our Grand-Daddy). He never takes center stage. He guides events, appears as a wolf, and keeps pushing people toward bad decisions. He plays the long game.
At the end of the base game, Neyrelle traps Mephisto in a Soulstone and leaves to deal with it herself.
Do not treat that as a win. It is not.
In the first DLC Expansion: Vessel of Hatred, that decision falls apart fast.
Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Story Recap
Neyrelle starts losing control. The Soulstone corrupts her. Mephisto keeps influencing everything from inside. You follow her into the jungles of Nahantu while things keep getting worse.
Allies die. Trust breaks. Mistakes stack up.
A double crossing deal gets made with Mephisto to save Nahantu. That deal opens the door.
Mephisto breaks free. He takes the body of Akarat. Akarat is a long dead prophet and you could say that he is essentially the voice that taught humanity what to believe.
Now Mephisto is no longer contained. He is hiding in plain sight as the second coming of Akarat.
He is moving toward Skovos, the home of the Firstborn. (The children of angels and demons aka the first generation of Nephalem) If you don’t know who the Nephalem are, definitely check out Diablo 3.
That is where Lord of Hatred begins.
Lord of Hatred
If you remember one thing, remember this. Mephisto has been behind everything from the start and now he is in control. See you at launch in a few hours!
Jump in without the lore if you want. Watch the full recap from Blizzard if you want everything.
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