If you were to compile a list of the most influential game developers of all time – Blizzard Entertainment would be right at the top. For a while now, they’ve been renowned as the makers of some of the best MMOs and multiplayer games around, but most of their games also feature strong single-player campaigns.
Before Overwatch, before Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, or even Starcraft, there was their first bonafide megahit. The game that put Blizzard on the map and arguably made the company what it is today – Diablo.
Diablo 4, the newest addition to the series, has recently been unveiled during BlizzCon 2019, and fan reaction has been overwhelmingly positive to everything shown about the game so far.
The Diablo franchise has always been a fascinating case study for action RPGs – especially hack and slash dungeon crawlers. In many ways, it defined the genre, but it has also regularly been the subject of criticism, with Diablo 3, in particular, being a very divisive game when it first came out.
Previous Diablo Games in Order
With Diablo 4 still a ways off in the foreseeable future, here is a brief overview of the entire franchise, as well as the confirmed news and rumors about D4 that are currently circulating around the internet.
Diablo 1 – Greatness, Right From the Very Start
In every iteration of a Diablo game, some elements remain the same: the procedurally generated dungeons, loot system, different classes, immediately-recognizable user interface, and so on. But Diablo 1 – and, consequently, the rest of the series – almost ended up as a very different game altogether.
Initially envisioned as a turn-based game the likes of which were popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Diablo 1 nearly wasn’t even made. Publishers were hesitant to greenlight a concept they considered archaic, and Blizzard requested two important changes to the game right off the bat – for it to be in real-time, and to have multiplayer.
The game was heavily inspired by some of the best roguelike games of the 80s – predominantly Moria, Rogue, and Nethack. It was from Moria that the lead designer, David Brevik, got the core idea for Diablo – you descend ever deeper into the bowls of a randomly generated set of dungeons, fighting enemies along the way. Your main objective is to slay the main boss at the final level of the dungeon – the Balrog in Moria and Diablo in, well, Diablo. Just like in Moria, only the town (a “safe” zone, where you can buy and sell items and gears, and pick up quests) area is set.
This gave Diablo an incredible sense of replayability where every playthrough would be subtly different from the last one. Sometimes you would enter a level and wander aimlessly around looking for a staircase descending to the next level, while other times the staircase would be right next to the one you just came down from. Even side quests would change, so you could never experience everything the game had to offer in just one playthrough.
Another important aspect that gave Diablo its addictive nature was the loot. It pioneered many principles that the looter shooters of today have honed to perfection – the craving for ever-better gear that has a tangible effect on your abilities such as damage output and protection, the randomness of it all where you’re never quite sure what you would get when you down an enemy or open a chest, and the subtle increase in quality and esthetics (the “cool factor” of your character avatar’s appearance) over the course of the game.
The game’s story is decidedly minimalistic, which, alongside a fantastic soundtrack and evocative gothic imagery full of horror and gore, works in its favor.
All of this, coupled with an exceptionally intuitive user interface that’s been copied near-verbatim by just about every Diablo clone ever made, made Diablo a game that was really easy to play and even easier to get hooked on.
Diablo: Hellfire, an expansion pack made without the involvement of the original team, was released in 1998, and brought with it new quests, areas, and other gameplay improvements. But the biggest change was the addition of a new fourth class – the monk, master of unarmed combat. The monk would later see a return in Diablo 3.
In March 2019, Diablo 1 (complete with Hellfire expansion pack) was made available on GOG, marking the first instance that the game was released on any digital distribution platform. This version includes some bugfixes and high-resolution support.
By every metric possible, the D1 was a resounding success. But it would be overshadowed by its sequel.
Diablo 2 – the High Point of the Series
Diablo 2 was everything an ideal computer game sequel had to be – bigger and better in just about every way possible. Improved graphics, a vast game world, expanded lore, more classes, a deeper and more involved loot system – everything was significantly upgraded from the original.
But what the game is most fondly remembered by is the myriad of ways you could build your characters. From the initial three classes (four with the Hellfire expansion) of Diablo 1 that, apart from several abilities and specializations, were more or less the same, Diablo 2 offers five (with two more added in the Lord of Destruction expansion) distinct character classes that can be further customized to your liking by investing points into skill trees.
Every class has three skill trees and you can build each class into several different concepts.
For example, the Necromancer can specialize in summoning skills (raising skeletons and golems), poison and bone skills (a combination of defensive buffs and damage spells), and curses (which debuff and weaken opponents in various ways). While you can specialize in just one of these skill paths, most players will make their own builds, carefully planning which skills to develop and which to ignore.
When you factor in that you also have to plan your attributes and how you will enchant your gear, you get a system that is easy to learn but hard to truly master. And that is another important part of Diablo’s appeal – almost anyone can pick it up and have fun playing it. Beginners will enjoy the game for one reason, and seasoned players will look to get the best items at the highest difficulties.
This time, Blizzard was in full control of developing its own expansion pack. Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction added endgame content, with the player going up against Bhaal, the titular Lord of Destruction. Besides the two new classes (the deadly but fragile Assassin, and the Druid, a shapeshifting practitioner of nature magic), the expansion pack brought a number of changes to the base game, one of which was the inclusion of hirelings – computer-controlled mercenaries that can aid the player in combat.
A direct continuation of the first game, Diablo 2 greatly expanded its setting and story. The protagonist of the first game, now corrupted by Diablo’s essence he foolishly sought to contain in his own body, is wandering the land, searching for a way to set free his two brothers – Mephisto and Bhaal. The animated cinematics that recount the tale of his travels, in which he is accompanied by unwitting companion Marius, are some of the most melancholy moments in videogaming.
The general fan and critic consensus is that D2 is the best Diablo game, and it is still widely played by millions of fans all around the world. And if you want to spice up your playing experience, it also has a sizable modding community.
Diablo 3 – One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
On paper, Diablo 3 looks like yet another excellent Diablo sequel. It sold fantastically, becoming one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 30 million copies sold across PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. But it is also a game that is marred by problems (some of which have since been rectified).
When first announced, the biggest criticism many fans had was the graphics. It looked too colorful, too cheery for a Diablo game. The look and feel of the game was more something akin to World of Warcraft. Instead of a depressingly bleak and dark world, it was closer to generic fantasy titles that the market was saturated with.
Another contested design decision was Blizzard’s choice to only allow the game to be played with an internet connection, a form of always on-line DRM (digital rights management). This effectively meant that there is no offline single-player mode.
The much-maligned Auction House was also a big problem. The way that it was designed allowed for players to spend more time trading for items (since getting good loot is one of the most important aspects of the game) than actually playing the game. Because of this, the Auction House has since been removed from the game.
It is replaced with a better loot system that was introduced in the Reaper of Souls expansion pack.
Speaking of which, the RoS expansion is generally seen as a big step in the right direction for the game, where many systems of the base game have been overhauled. A second expansion pack, with a very Game of Thrones-sounding name of “King in the North”, was originally planned, but was indefinitely “put on hold” (which, translated from corporate-speak, means “canceled”) by Blizzard who decided to put more resources into World of Warcraft development.
The story was symptomatic of Blizzard’s more recent games – bloated lore, and writing that veered more into the saccharine and emotionally-resonant, instead of narratively-impactful and consistent.
But despite all of these faults, Diablo 3 remains a fun, engrossing game. The only reason why it gets so much flak is that it is seen as a by-product of Blizzard’s greedier tendencies ever since it merged with Activision in 2008.
It also found a great way to mark the 20th anniversary of the original Diablo – with a free patch called “The Darkening of Tristam”, which recreated the original game. While not a perfect recreation, it did a good job with emulating the style of the first game – down to its eight-directions movement.
This brings us to Diablo 4.
Diablo 4: News & Release Rumors
An official release date for D4 still hasn’t been confirmed. But many predict that it will come out sometime in 2021.
Since Blizzard is a company that is notorious for not releasing their games until they are absolutely satisfied with how they play and look, this release date may be too optimistic.
But the gameplay footage shown in the trailer indicates that the game is very far along in development, so 2021 isn’t out of the question. Also, since the game is being developed for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, and the next console generation is on the horizon, it also means that it has a timeframe of only two, maybe three more years to come out.
Diablo 4 – Trailer
As you can see, D4 looks much closer to Diablo 2’s aesthetics than it does to Diablo 3’s. After the overwhelmingly negative reaction to Diablo Immortal, Blizzard seems to have deliberately doubled their efforts to placate fans and assure them that this is the true successor to Diablo 1 and 2’s brutal legacy.
Three available classes (out of five) are revealed: the Barbarian, who looks just as ferocious as he did in D2 and D3, the elemental spell-slinging Sorceress, and the Druid, another returnee from D2.
The world appears much more open to exploration now, with open-world games being a clear influence on this decision. You will be able to transverse these large and diverse areas using mounts – for now, just horses.
The new adversary in D4 will be Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto (one of the Prime Evils and brother to Diablo) and fabled mother of humanity. After an unholy ritual brought her back, she has once again returned to the world she helped shape.
But, like in D3, Lilith may not be the main bad guy for the entire game. Here’s what Art Director John Mueller has to say about this: “Diablo IV is like the first chapter of a book. We want to tell a big story and we want to tell it, hopefully, for a very long time. Treating this like the first chapter of a book and Lilith as a key character in this story, it feels great knowing that there are still all these other characters that could come back in the future. Or, new characters that we haven’t seen before.”
Diablo 4 – Gameplay Changes
One of the biggest changes is the new option to customize the appearance of your character. Diablo 3 let us choose our character’s gender, but D4 is pushing this to a greater level – now you will be able to select their skin tones, facial features, hair, scars, jewelry, cosmetics, and other options, all with the goal that you can create an immersive character that looks exactly how you want them to. Players will be able to see their characters up close and personal in real-time cutscenes.
The Acts structure of former Diablo games is abandoned for one that will instead take place on a giant, open map with five different areas. The area seen in the demo is called Scosglen, a place in the North. The transition between these areas will be smooth and instantaneous, without any loading screens involved. But dungeon-delving won’t be ignored because of this, as the designers promise that hundreds of dungeons will be strewn all along D4.
The Auction House will also see a return – but, the designers promise, in a much more balanced and modified way that, hopefully, won’t get abused as it did in D3 – as will the PvP (player vs player) areas from D2.
When a particularly big enemy is present (like the World Bosses, some of the toughest battles in the game), the camera will zoom out to let you get a better view of the battlefield.
Microtransactions are in, but only in the form of small cosmetic changes. The game will keep its always-online DRM scheme from D3.
For now, each class has five abilities, as well as an evade option – which may give the game a much more dynamic feeling and an added strategic element to consider in the heat of battle. In order to execute this move, you will most likely need a good gaming keyboard and mouse.
Final Words
Diablo 4 looks like a return to what made the series great in the first place – a dark art direction, challenging combat, big boss encounters, and, maybe most important of all: listening to fan feedback.
Everything we’ve heard and seen about the game up to now points to Blizzard taking the project very seriously with all the reverence that a series of Diablo’s caliber demands. Every fan, regardless if they’ve been an admirer since Diablo 1, or are more recent newcomers to the franchise, are hoping that once Diablo 4 is released – it will be a game that reinvigorates the entire brand and inspires a whole new generation of passionate Diablo players.