As an example, after the game 's opening segment, you can continue questlines in three separate regions of the world : Scosglen, the fractured peaks or the dry steppes. You are free to tackle these issues in any order you choose.
There are other things to do beyond the main quest. Where Diablo 3's campaign has always seemed like a fast lane to a simple yet addicting endgame, Blizzard here wants to make the world more vibrant. “In an open world game, there areall of those fun things that pull you out of the way, ”says Mueller. "I know there are wild boars in the dry steppes, I know there are skeletons in the southeastern part of Scosglen, or I go to the coast and it is drowned - it informs really a lot of player decisions that you never had. to think in a Diablo game ”.
(Image credit: Blizzard) Chief designer Joe Shelly gives me an example of what a ordinary day in this more open-ended iteration of Diabloland. "You could do a waypoint in the fractured peaks, get on your mount, go upin a camp, complete it, on the way, you could be distracted by an event… maybe goat men harass villagers ”. He keeps on. "Then after you complete the camp you might find that a world boss has shown up in Scosglen, so maybe you'll head up there to deal with that with some other players ".
PvP, meanwhile, will take place in a dedicated region called the Fields of Hate. Here you will be collecting the Single Currency from Blood Shards while fighting monsters as well as other players, although Mueller points out that more cunning players may engage in this region in a different way. “I see Fields of Hate as PvE content,” he says. "This is the survival aspect of the game where I 'm just trying to get in, get shards, go to the vendors, and get out ".
It 's great that Diablo 4 is integrating its campaign, PvP and Endgame into one world - an upgradeConsiderable oration of the fragmented campaign and adventure modes of Diablo 3. By allowing you to cycle through other activities while working through the story, the game inspires you to engage a little more in the world, bringing some of that sense of open world discovery into the series.
Of course, the nature of these activities is more Destiny 2 or Path of Exile than, say, Red Dead Redemption 2. The fact that there was no mention of side quests and stories during the interview, but rather from the world Patrons, P vP zones and Events, reveals that its open world is very much in the service of a game as a service - enhanced by the fact that you will be sharing the world with other players online (although not in an MMO way, as Blizzard keeps repeating urgently).
Mueller has confirmed that there will be no branching scenarios or dialogue options, although an element directly from the Ub schoolisoft open world design is the Camp system. Across the world, you'll find camps inhabited by different types of enemies, with Mueller pointing out that "every camp the designers made has been unique - there's always some cool little ures, bits of lore, that sort of thing. ". >
(Credit from 'image: Blizzard) Defeat enemies in these camps and you will free them for Sanctuary regulars, which can lead to some interesting training effects that showcase the newly reactive world. There is a camp where the villagers, who are struggling to fend off a local tribe of cannibals, join forces with fallen demons. These demons (who are, you know, demons) eventually take over the village and you are called upon to help. You walk in, do your Diablo Dance of Death hack-and-slash, and bring the villagers back safely, offering vendors, a waypoint, and new opportunities. “The mines under this village become accessible when you do this,” Mueller adds. "And you 'll find that everyone inside of them has turned to salt, which is a cool visual part of it.
Diablo 4 has developed the series to fit the mold of the open world thanks to its size and transparency, each of its five regions being up to 10 times larger than any which one of those in Diablo 3. But on the evidence of everything we've seen so far, you'll still spend a lot more time browsing the dwellers of Hell - zapping between Waypoint andEvent and World Boss and Dungeon - than getting lost in the wilderness of Sanctuary.
And it's awesome, even though the open worldliness here is pushed harder than in games that tick a lot more of these boxes. A series with such a strong identity was always going to steer new design ideas towards its own goal of reclaiming its throne as the main hack-and-slash ARPG. Diablo 4 has fierce competition, way more than its predecessor, but you can bet your soul that this ageless old demon will make a fight out of it.
