Diablo 4 is Not Zelda; Blizzard Discusses Game's Open World
Joe Shely and Rod Fergusson of Blizzard revealed more details about Diablo IV. This time the focus is on the open world, which is expected to be combat-oriented.
IGN isn't done with Diablo news from Blizzard yet. In next part of the interview, the creators of Diablo IV discussed the open world and the Renown system..
Open world, but not Zelda
Let's be clear: Diablo 4 will not be a sandbox in the fashion of The Legend of Zleda: Breath of the Wild. The game's plot will be essentially linear, although it will branch out as the campaign progresses, enabling players to choose their own path.
After completing the prologue, the fourth Diablo will allow for (almost?) free movement between acts. If someone wants to check out the entire content of the third chapter right away, he or she will be able to do so even before going to the first act.
There will also be a variety of side activities to distract players from the main plot. Nevertheless the whole thing is supposed to have a clear "beginning, middle and end", and the game will make it easy to return to the basic path after exploration.
Map explored through combat
An important element that consumed the developer for a long time was the map. The developers wanted to stylize it on old cartography, so that it would fit visually into the game world, but at the same time retain its functionality.
Most importantly, however, Blizzard doesn't want Diablo IV's map turned into a quest list or an accumulation of flags directing you to subsequent objectives. Nor are there any quests like "go to point A and bring an item to point B" or mini-games that are disconnected from the core gameplay.
In other words the new Diablo is all about combat and even while exploring the game world we can get into a skirmish with enemies. Of course, the developers had to "calibrate" this properly, because at some point the maps became "too dense", even when the player character traversed the game world on foot.
Renown for all
The Renown system will also encourage the players to explore. Diablo IV will reward them for thoroughly exploring locations (read: clearing them of all demonic spawn and completing all quests). This will take the form of skill points, which will benefit not only the main avatar, but also all characters on a given account.
Diablo IV will be released in 2023, perhaps even as early as the first few months, if recent rumors are to be believed. The game will hit PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
