From the moment I took my first steps onto the frigid mountaintops outside the city of Kyovashad in Diablo IV, it was clear that Blizzard was serious about responding to some of the complaints of Diablo III. While Diablo III contrasted pops of bright colors against the grotesque horrors of the world, Diablo IV is immediately more oppressive and dire in its presentation. Its hues are muted and gray, its world uninviting and harsh, its stories seemingly primed to expose the worst parts of its characters. And yet, it doesn’t seek to leave everything of its former entry behind. In many ways, this early slice of Diablo IV offered a good sense of how most of the mechanical changes introduced in Diablo III, and more recently Diablo Immortal, have been smartly iterated on to maintain exciting action with the satisfaction of flexible character construction.
The opening moments of the preview we had access to, which encapsulated just one of the five regions that make up Diablo IV’s massive map, were surprisingly slow and measured. After escaping a deadly snowstorm and suffering haunting visions, my Sorceress wandered upon a tiny village in need of aid. The villagers were gracious to receive my help and pointed me towards some enemies to dispatch, which was a straightforward task with a potent frost-based starting spell making quick work of most enemies. Upon returning, I was treated to a short cutscene of celebration, the camera swooping down and close to each character to provide a more intimate view of the party. It didn’t take long for the sinister underpinning of the soiree to reveal itself, however, with the villagers poisoning me and quickly attempting to offer me up as sacrifice for Lillith–the creator of Diablo’s world, Sanctuary, and main antagonist for this fourth main entry in the series. Suffice it to say that my Sorceress managed to just escape death and exact some well-deserved revenge for the deception, setting the stage for the overall tone of the story to come.
Lillith didn’t feature significantly in gameplay at all during my limited time with Diablo IV, which totaled around 10 hours, but her influence could be felt everywhere. Her appearance in Sanctuary has changed people; some have lost all sense of morality, seeking to appease this new god with blood sacrifices. Demons have emerged in other areas of the land, enforcing their own sins on humanity that lead to some gruesome side stories. One that stuck out occurred when a distressed villager asked me to help track down her missing husband, who was last seen heading towards the woods with another woman. A typical story of infidelity resolved in the husband in question being found maimed and dismembered, hanging between two rocks and being kept alive by his lust for a demon nearby. Despite slaying the demon and bringing about an end to the spell, the story had no happy ending. The grieving widow was left to question whether her husband’s misgivings or the workings of a foul creature had ultimately left her alone, with no simple answer offered by my Sorceress. This theme seemed prevalent in this latest interpretation of Diablo’s world, acting as a distinct departure from the far less dreary tone of its predecessor.