d3 Everything We Know About Diablo IV So Far

[Stan 5,022]

Did you know that Diablo IV was supposedly in development for only two years and rebooted in 2016?

Kotaku's Jason Schreier, a reputable source of insider leaks from the video gaming industry, posted a lengthy article back in November last year about the past, present, and future of Diablo. Schreier spoke to 11 current and former Blizzard employees and we learned that the second Diablo III expansion that got scrapped and that Diablo IV has been in development since 2014, but got rebooted in 2016.

Click here to read the full article

Titan

To understand why Blizzard hasn't announced Diablo IV yet, we need to dive deeper into the past of the company. Titan, a MMO project in development since 2007, was canceled by Blizzard in 2013. Blizzard later used assets to craft a new game which then became Overwatch. (Source)

The shadow of Titan still looms over many decisions at Blizzard to this day, according to Schreier, and the company is careful about announcing Diablo IV before there is a playable demo or a trailer, despite claiming multiple projects are in the works.

Scrapped Diablo Expansion

In late 2013 or early 2014, Blizzard made an internal announcement that shocked the Diablo dev team, as they learned from the higher-ups that the second Diablo III expansion was canceled. The executives considered Diablo III a massive failure and wanted the Diablo team to focus on a new project rather than an expansion, even though many problems that the game was facing were fixed in Reaper of Souls. Blizzard then released Patch 2.3 with Kanai's Cube, Ruins of Sescheron, and Season Journey, which were likely intended for the scrapped expansion.

Project Hades

After the launch of Diablo III's first expansion, many Diablo developers were moved to other teams or left the company. The remaining developers on the Diablo team, under the leadership of Josh Mosquiera, began working on Diablo IV under the code name "Hades". The project was in development for two years, only to be canceled later in 2016 when Mosquiera left the company. According people familar with Hades, the development wasn't shaping up well, so now, people on the Diablo dev team had nothing to work on and decided to come up with Rise of the Necromancer DLC in the meantime to make up for the canceled project.

Project Fenris

In 2016, the Diablo team began developing a project with the code name "Fenris", which is supposed to be Diablo IV, with Luis Barriga as Game Director, who worked on World of Warcraft in the past. The goal of the project is to eliminate the cartoony elements of Diablo III, and quite literally, embrace the darkness. Another goal is to make Fenris more social by introducing light MMO elements to the game, so instead of having hubs full of NPCs, you'd see other players there, similar to how it works in Path of Exile. The development team is discussing, whether the game should have a new over-the-shoulder 3rd person view or an isometric camera like the game is using now.

Diablo: Immortal

According to Schreier, there are two separate teams working on Diablo IV and Diablo: Immortal. Some developers within the company are tired of working on a single title for 10+ years, so they moved to different teams to work on smaller projects. Diablo: Immortal was primarily developed for China, because the quality standards for games there are super low. Blizzard later decided to wait for a global launch.

TL;DR

To sum up, Diablo IV has been in development for only two years, so don't expect it go live anytime soon. The Diablo dev team worked on a project that didn't live up to their expectations from 2014-2016, so they completely decided to reboot it and begin anew.

Obviously, we didn't mention everything and advise you to read the full article at Kotaku.

Are you looking forward to Diablo IV? Do you think there's going to be a playable demo at BlizzCon 2019? Let us know in the comments!

A summary of all information about the highly-anticipated upcoming Diablo title.

[Valhalen 1,484]

23 minutes ago, Stan said:

The goal of the project is to eliminate the cartoony elements of Diablo III, and quite literally, embrace the darkness. The development team is discussing, whether the game should have a new over-the-shoulder 3rd person view or an isometric camera like the game is using now.

This is what I want. There were even some rumors that the game would have a gameplay and vibe of the likes of Dark Souls, and I think this is perfectly fitting for the Diablo franchise.

The original Diablo had a dark and deep atmosphere that was due to graphic limitations, which played in its favor. The game was SCARY and unsettling, with that uncertainty of danger at every corner inside the tight corridors, specially combined with that fantastic soundtrack. The subsquent sequels failed to capture this vibe, this essence (Diablo II kinda had it, but not as much as the first game), with the third game becoming indeed something more like "Diablo with WoW Aesthetics".

Sure, changing the entire gameplay system from the classic isometric view to over-the-shoulder might seem like a drastic change for Diablo, but this would allow the game to focus entirely on the player and story-telling, specially if combined with aesthetics of the likes of Dark Souls (which has one of the best game atmospheres I've ever seen, almost claustrophobic).

I don't think that changing the view would hurt the experience at all, but would definitely change the way you approach enemies. The thing about Dark Souls is that you should treat every enemy as a potential threat; any enemy in the game can kill you if you're careless, and that encourages you to take it slow and engage in duels rather than wiping hordes with a single blow. In my opinion, this carries much more weight to the gameplay, as each enemy slain feels like a victory, rather than mindlessly right clicking and killing 10 scrubs at once, which gets boring really fast. I always revisit the Dark Souls series because even after playing it countless of times, I still get that unsettling feeling of facing enemies.

I really really want the development team of Diablo IV to really "embrace the darkness" and go back to the roots of what made Diablo special, and I think that a gameplay overhaul would help a lot into putting Diablo back to the radar. Bring back light radius, add more and more darkness, and revive the franchise as a Horror Action RPG.

I think this is the time for the devs to take their time and craft the game to perfection; I don't want a rushed product that will be deemed incomplete just for the sake of it. The Diablo franchised has its name tainted at the moment; it will require care and passion to bring it back to its former glory.

TL;DR #MakeDiabloScaryAgain

Edited April 3, 2019 by Valhalen

[Willeen 3]

Honestly I loved Diablo 1, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3.
Agreed Diablo 3 is "childish" compared to D2 or D1.
But ... Nowadays with all the easy-scandals when someone farts too loud and all the "Omg I feel offended, let me yell it to the world via social media and start a crisis !", having a D3 really dark and gloom and scary (a bit like Path of Exile or Dark Souls) is a challenge.
We have to admit that Rise of the Necromancer and the first born ruins do have a good gory/creepy vibe and honestly had me have high hopes for a second extension filled with darkness and such.

D3 right now has a second life for me on the switch (gamepad playstyle really is great with this game).

I really hope a D4 comes by and makes Path of Exile look like a walk in Disneyland and Deadspace feel like a sitcom !

As engine/gameplay overhaul goes, not sure changing the isometric cam might be a good thing ...
We all say "diablo-like" for a reason ...
Say they revamp the gameplay and give it a Dark Souls or a Dante Inferno style, would that still be the heart and soul of Diablo ?

But to be honest .... Even if such a game exists, even if a Diablo 4 comes out with all the doom, the gore, the angst, the terror and ultimately needs to be sold with diapers in order for all of us to not ruin our seats; would that game be a success ?
Would that game pass all the "this is not for kids !", "this is too violent !", "this is satanism incarnated !"; "oh god how can we allow such display of horror ?", etc etc etc ....

I dream of a Diablo 4 embracing true darkness and deep rpg (god I'd love to have real talent trees with points and plethora of paths and options and not that over simplistic "tier one , choose between 3 talents" bulls*it ....), but ... Would Blizzard want to sell to a 18+ only audience ?

[Guest]

I am quite sure it will take MANY years until we see D4 - if ever.

My guess is, that at the moment, Blizzard has absolutly nothing about D4. No gameplay they can show, no ingame graphic at all, probably not even a idea what D4 should or could be.

If they had anything at all, I am quite sure they would have shown it after the disaster of Blizzcon. But they took the shitstorm, they stood by and watched how stocks crashed drastically. For weeks and weeks.

Maybe 2025 or later there will be a D4, but I wouldn't count on it.

[Loi 0]

If the game turn out to be another over the shoulder bloodborn/darksouls/mh... RIP series.

Its like over the shoulder Baldurs. It makes no sense. It is worse than mobile diablo lol

Guess Path of Exile is winning again :/

[darkinchworm 20]

To this day I fail to comprehend how people perceive Diablo III as "cartoony." As far as total playtime goes, Diablo II and Diablo III occupy my top two spots without question, and the only substantial difference in style I've noticed is... Diablo III is rendered in 3D. Compared to the decrepit dungeons and gothic atmosphere of Diablo 1, D2 had an abundance of colors! D2, like D3, had the occasional tongue-in-cheek moment or goofy reference! The hate is completely lost on me. They obviously took the "cartoony" critique to heart with Reaper of Souls, and honestly, I think Act V is mostly boring as hell. (But the expansion release definitely redeemed the game otherwise.)

Now, if you were to say "Diablo III's story is as bad as a Saturday morning cartoon's," I might be inclined to agree with that.

[Alkasar 55]

4 hours ago, Loi said:

If the game turn out to be another over the shoulder bloodborn/darksouls/mh... RIP series.

Its like over the shoulder Baldurs. It makes no sense. It is worse than mobile diablo lol

Guess Path of Exile is winning again :/

Before the big hit WoW there was Runescape.
Before the big hit Overwatch, there was Team Fortress.

Whenever Blizzard goes into a new genre and form their own game, they usually make the best out of it. That is, if they have full commitment as usual.

One thing was sure. They want to step away from the top down ARPG. I also heard they thought about a first person experience like Elder Scrolls. Just in form of dark Dungeon Crawling.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Alkasar

[Borg 0]

All they really needed to do was take D2 and update it. Reinvention was not required.

The skill system, the stat points, the classes, the game play, the feel of the game etc. It was all perfect. The only thing that really needed modifying were the graphics and additions to the quests and item system. D2s issues were items and how item based classes generally are. All that needed is some decent fixed quest items, to ensure all classes can fight effectively and then a new crafting system.

[Hector 0]

Wouldn't that be great if Diablo 4 came out with the new PS5 console next year....that would be awesome.

[Fate 0]

And lets not forget the sounds and conversations, which also adds up to the atmosphere. It's not only the graphics. Remember Warrior saying "The smell of death surrounds me" while a gloomy music plays in the background? It creates darker and tenser feel to the game way more than the Templar does with his "I tried to count how many we've killed, but I lost count". It seems like Warrior was entering hell to fight demons (well, he was...), while a Templar is walking through a park fighting tiny ants. Atmosphere is the key.

I would like less unneccesary NPC's (Karyna, Mira Eamon....) and less funny and relaxed NPC comments while fighting a world threat. Sometimes in D3 I have a feeling I'm playing a soap opera.

Classes do not need to be all new to be interesting and fun to play. Wizard is a renamed Sorceress. He's good, fun to play, nicely designed. Why not name him Sorcerer? WD is a failed Necro. Crusader is a renamed Paladin. DH is sort of Amazon, Monk is Assassin.... Or they're some sort of hybrids between two D2 classes... My point is, innovation was not needed here, or at least not in that amount. Barb and Sorc(Wiz) are almost the same, and they're still great.

I would also like less HP and more DMG for monsters on higher difficulties. Now on some difficulties I have too long battles with almost immortal monsters that are, on the other hand, incapable of hurting me at all. Remember Rot Walkers charge-stun-kill?

[DaXile 2]

On 4/3/2019 at 8:27 AM, Valhalen said:

This is what I want. There were even some rumors that the game would have a gameplay and vibe of the likes of Dark Souls, and I think this is perfectly fitting for the Diablo franchise.

The original Diablo had a dark and deep atmosphere that was due to graphic limitations, which played in its favor. The game was SCARY and unsettling, with that uncertainty of danger at every corner inside the tight corridors, specially combined with that fantastic soundtrack. The subsquent sequels failed to capture this vibe, this essence (Diablo II kinda had it, but not as much as the first game), with the third game becoming indeed something more like "Diablo with WoW Aesthetics".

Sure, changing the entire gameplay system from the classic isometric view to over-the-shoulder might seem like a drastic change for Diablo, but this would allow the game to focus entirely on the player and story-telling, specially if combined with aesthetics of the likes of Dark Souls (which has one of the best game atmospheres I've ever seen, almost claustrophobic).

I don't think that changing the view would hurt the experience at all, but would definitely change the way you approach enemies. The thing about Dark Souls is that you should treat every enemy as a potential threat; any enemy in the game can kill you if you're careless, and that encourages you to take it slow and engage in duels rather than wiping hordes with a single blow. In my opinion, this carries much more weight to the gameplay, as each enemy slain feels like a victory, rather than mindlessly right clicking and killing 10 scrubs at once, which gets boring really fast. I always revisit the Dark Souls series because even after playing it countless of times, I still get that unsettling feeling of facing enemies.

I really really want the development team of Diablo IV to really "embrace the darkness" and go back to the roots of what made Diablo special, and I think that a gameplay overhaul would help a lot into putting Diablo back to the radar. Bring back light radius, add more and more darkness, and revive the franchise as a Horror Action RPG.

I think this is the time for the devs to take their time and craft the game to perfection; I don't want a rushed product that will be deemed incomplete just for the sake of it. The Diablo franchised has its name tainted at the moment; it will require care and passion to bring it back to its former glory.

TL;DR #MakeDiabloScaryAgain

10000000000000%

RPG IMO need that darkness the Aura of death/life all that stuff around you, distant enough that it feels like life in the real world tends to be with "strangers" here there and everywhere but also with places to get comfortable in, shop and such.

I still do not know why Blizzard did not use more filters and such to give more "dreamy" vibe and less blasty brightness everywhere, I love all 3 Diablo games very much (I likely to never bother with consolized versions etc, I got my PC that good enough for me)

D3 for sure should have striven for darkness as much possible, make sure to not destroy ears when bosses come out of rifts and such things LOL.. the wispy essence some games use ( Skyrim, Fallout 4, Dragon Age 3 to name a few that did excellent job of doing such, I believe is a few extra additions to base line code and they could add the aura to dark or light objects to give the "essence" of that energy "bleeding" to all around them.

PoE I had nothing but problems stability wise, so did everyone I played with (world wide) no matter the system they were running it on, probably one of worst RnG for stability/ able to play games I have ever known... that being said .. if they toned down the metric @#$@ ton of effects it would play very well, but they just had to prioritize layering one effect on another on another ... I LOVE the Atlas and Labyrinth as well as their currency system < as a baseline, not as they use it.... 

It can be done, and D3 with the way the maps are, Legend gems such type things is already a very very solid starting point to go well beyond Sanctuary. 
(I myself have mentally worked on a game for decades, jotted down hierarchy for how coding would work for the game engine, enchantments, security, and even making sure auction house WILL BE present real $ as well as game only $ or comparable hybridized

it can be done, I believe however it HAS TO BE from a core smaller team laser focused on always striving for perfection so that excellence more than often becomes the result ^.,^

[HugeMurloc 43]

On 4/3/2019 at 3:43 PM, Willeen said:

D3 right now has a second life for me on the switch (gamepad playstyle really is great with this game).
 

I feel the same but instead of Switch i've playing on Xbox for 3 seasons now. Playing with pad, while chilling on the couch is great