Diablo IV developer update talks open world, cinematics, and a new zone

It’s been a few months since we saw the rather bloody reveal cinematic of Diablo IV, and the game remains a ways off. Even so, Blizzard continues dropping quarterly updates about the upcoming action RPG. Today, Blizzard released a developer update that discusses the development process and the current state of the game. It also provided us with several new, in-game screenshots.

Storytelling

Blizzard is making conversations more dynamic in Diablo IV. At the moment, the team is experimenting with dynamic choreographed cameras. That means conversations will appear more lively than in early entries of the series. When you talk to an NPC, it will use a library of pre-made animations to make the conversation more lively. However, for important conversations, the characters will use hand-crafted animations.

In addition, Blizzard is developing real-time cutscenes. In this case, the conversations become much more cinematic. Plus, you’ll see your character decked out in your hard-won gear. Real-time cutscenes will typically only appear in Diablo IV‘s important story moments.

Open World

During BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard revealed that Diablo IV will have an open-world. According to the dev blog, the Diablo IV team recently did a playthrough of the Dry Steppes, one of the game’s five regions. Some team members focused on completing story missions before side content, while others mixed things together a bit. It took the team members several hours to complete the content regardless of how they approached it.

Diablo IV will have plenty of open-world activities for players to pursue. These include crafting, events, world PvP, side quests, and a new feature called Camps. Camps are important locations on the world map that have been overrun by enemies. Once you clear them out, they turn into friendly outposts with NPCs and a waypoint. Each camp will have a different story, too.

Diablo IV also learned a lesson from Geralt of Rivia. After you defeat certain enemies or complete certain challenges, you can attach a trophy to your saddle. According to the dev blog, adding itemization to mounts opened up a new axis of progression for players.

Diablo IV world bosses

Even as an open-world multiplayer game, the team at Blizzard wants to make sure that Diablo IV never feels too crowded. To that end, while you can run into players in the open-world, you’ll see most players in towns. Dungeons and story quests, meanwhile, are always private. But there is one more major instance of a place you could see a larger gathering of players: world bosses.

For example, when Ashava shows up in the Dry Steppes, you’ll see several other players as they try to take him down. You don’t have to join a party to help complete the event, though. You can take part in it solo and still receive rewards from defeating him.

Items and future updates

There isn’t any more information on Diablo IV’s itemization at the moment, although that update should arrive later this year. However, the team did take some time to share a few items that they found during the recent playtest. Take a look below.

Finally, it appears that talent trees are next in line for a developer update. Music is also on the menu. Keep an eye out, and we’ll keep you updated as soon as information becomes available for Diablo IV.

For more information, make sure to check out the full developer update.