Since the Barbarian is the class that appears in both games (both Sorceress and Druid were not in D3) let’s use them to discuss how the games converge. But in that ten or so minutes, the gameplay we get feels so, so familiar if you’ve ever played Diablo 3. Again, it needs to be said that this is a 10 minute demo, and one that didn’t contain innovations like mounts.

In fact, that’s a good segue into what Diablo 4 takes from its immediate ancestor.įirst up, this game plays so much like Diablo 3 it could almost have been, at least mechanically, an expansion of it instead of a game of its own. The Barbarian has been in both Diablo 2 and 3 and it’s hardly surprising that they made a return in this game as well. Also, the three playable classes? Druids were last seen in Diablo 2, as were Sorceress characters. Seeing that talent window when playing Diablo 4 on the BlizzCon floor absolutely reminded me of days past playing D2, and it’s a very deliberate evocation of the granddaddy of the series. There are also mechanical similarities between Diablo 2 and Diablo 4, with the return of talent trees in particular allowing you to choose your character’s abilities with more granularity and depth. Hope is in short supply, the people are fearful and desperate, and even acts of heroism often end in pain and despair. And I mean everything - the general feel of the world as the demo presents it is one where the past fifty or so years has ground the world down. It’s a dark, dismal, blood-soaked game so far, with a literal dungeon crawl in it at one point, and a general air of dread and doom caked over everything. Since I spent a solid 50 minutes or so playing - and replaying - the demo, I have some insights to share on the relationship between Diablo 4 and its forbears.ĭiablo 4 is definitely looking back to the biggest game in the series for its aesthetic and mood. So let us discuss those similarities now, so that as time progresses and we know more we may return to this subject with fresh eyes.

That being said, it’s true that Diablo 4 certainly bears a certain similarity to its predecessors. It’s a work in progress deep within the Blizzard game mines (trust me, I’ve been there, all video games are mined from a rich vein of Ideatonium) and not, say, an actual playable game. Keep in mind that Diablo 4 is not only not out yet, it’s not even remotely out yet - at present it’s a 10 minute or so demo available only at BlizzCon.

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