Just as Halloween passed us by, Blizzard Entertainment dropped a bombshell of an announcement at Blizzcon 2019– even though it had already been leaked earlier, anticipation was high for the official reveal of Diablo IV. While surely a way to distract from other matters that Blizzard is embroiled in at the moment, it was welcoming to see the slaughter of demons and the collecting of loot that Diablo has done so well in the past. Before going any further, here is the cinematic reveal trailer, in which the new demonic entity the player will be facing is shown…
If the 10 minute cinematic isn’t enough to help you decide, there was also a gameplay trailer released alongside it. While the trailer doesn’t look like Diablo IV is going to rewrite the playbook in terms of gameplay, they are adding (and subtracting) certain aspects of Diablo III that should have a significant impact on the way this iteration plays. For one, Blizzard is attempting a semi-open world instead of a classic mission structure, with various areas and environments to explore including hundreds of dungeons that litter the “overworld”.
Blizzard claimed that the new installment would go back to the series roots– so those of you who thought Diablo III was a little light on the color crimson, you should be happy to see it make a triumphant return. And as the above trailer shows, there is a new enemy to be faced, the likes which will be battling whatever character class(es) you and/or your party choose.
There are only 3 classes revealed so far– the Barbarian, the Druid, and the Sorceress. While the Barbarian and the Sorceress are probably about what one would expect (the Barbarian has a focus on melee attacks and the Sorceress a wielder of magic) it looks like the Druid could be the most novel of the three– in a kind of upgrade from Diablo III’s Witch Doctor (the character I personally played as), the Druid can shape-shift into animals as opposed to just summoning them. How this might change one’s gameplay remains to be seen, but it makes for a slightly different means of attack. You can see some of the shape-shifting (including a Werebear) in action below.
There is still no actual release date for Diablo IV, and Blizzard has said that it is still quite a ways off, but it will release on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, at least for the moment. Stay tuned for more info as it comes.
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Sources: Blizzard Entertainment, The Verge
