Blizzard has finally officially announced Diablo IV today at BlizzCon 2019. Originally rumored to have been planned as an announcement last year but ultimately pushed to make room for the poorly-received Diablo Immortal, players have been expecting news on a new Diablo game for years now.
Multiple leaks throughout the year have hinted at the existence of Diablo IV, with rumors of open-world gameplay and multiple classes running rampant all over the internet. Although Blizzard has received a fair amount of criticism from both US politicians and players thanks to their recent actions regarding a Hearthstone tournament, the company has since apologized and promised to do better in the future.
Revealed in a video immediately following the company's apology, this new trailer for Diablo IV depicts a group of adventurers searching through an underground cavern and utilizing their own blood in order to unlock a Dungeons & Dragons-style door trap. Although the game's trailer is both beautiful and cinematic, it does not actually feature any gameplay from Diablo IV, instead only depicting the unfortunate fates of the intrepid dungeon crawlers.
Judging from Diablo IV's cinematic trailer, the main antagonist of the game is Lilith, depicted here as some sort of massive blood demon. Sometimes referenced as a vampire in popular culture, Lilith was first mentioned in history as Adam's original wife. In the Diablo lore, Lilith is the daughter of Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, and known as the Queen of the Succubi. Later on, in Blizzard's opening statement on the game, the company said they really wanted to lean into the dark, morbid side of the game's lore, and this trailer is definitely a fine example of dark, bloody, and morbid.
If the audience reaction in BlizzCon's crowd was any indication, fans are beyond excited to return to the world of Diablo in a proper, fully-fledged game. While last year's Immortal unveiling was met with start silence, some booing, and led to a now famous "You guys have phones, right?" joke, the reveal of Diablo IV was met with fervent excitement and applause. With multiple years worth of anticipation and a playable demo of the game on BlizzCon 2019's show floor, players will finally be able to delve back into their favorite isometric dungeon crawler, and while no release date is yet available it seems like Blizzard has been working on Diablo IV for a long time. Hopefully, for all the players not in attendance who would love to get their hands on that demo, they won't have to wait too much longer.
Source: YouTube