EXTRAS
Blizzard talks about Diablo 4’s ‘return to darkness’ and its huge number of dungeons
The long-awaited new installment of the RPG shares news, videos and images in its quarterly report.
2021 ended with the sad delay of Diablo 4, a consequence of an unprecedented institutional crisis in ActivisionBlizzardHowever, 2022 started with the announcement of the company’s purchase by Microsoft and Blizzard’s promise to bring us news about its most anticipated games very soon.
Finally, the novelties have arrived with the quarterly report, where his team has shared some interesting videos, images, and information about Diablo IV. The new installment of the legendary RPG franchise will feature five different regions made up of environments where the artists have followed “a darker and sensible interpretation than in previous installments”, with credibility as the goal, not realism.
“The regional climate, the varied local biomes and the presence of history in the environments, lay the foundation for what an object or place should be visually in a medieval world like Sanctuary“, explained Chris Ryder, art director of environments for the game. “Weather and lighting play a fundamental role in Diablo IV: when it rains, surfaces get wet, puddles form in ruts and hoof prints, the ground gets muddy, and the atmosphere becomes heavy and humid.
For the visual tone of Diablo IV, they have taken into account the techniques used by classical artists like Rembrandt, with a “return to the dark” as a crosscutting pillar of the game’s features, from the dungeons to the lighting, making Sanctuary “a dangerous and dark medieval gothic world”.
Matt McDaid, lead artist for exterior environments, has talked about the five zones that we can explore in the open world of Diablo IV, regions that we can traverse “from coast to coast or climb glacial ridges”:
- Scosglen Coast: gloomy beaches full of algae and corpses decaying, surrounded by sheer cliffs. The biome features coastal settlements interwoven with ancient populations on its cliffs. The villages are represented with fishing as a crucial trade, full of cultural elements of the area.
- Orbei Monastery: An isolated and hermetic site on the plains of the Grim Steppes. a place of pilgrimage for the followers of Zakarum, with long caravans along the roads.
- Kyovashad: an oppressive medieval settlement, “frigid and hostile”, although it remains a refuge for those who reside there. In it we will find the architecture of Las Cimas Quebradas. The humblest shelters are reminiscent of slum camps, with crowds living in cramped quarters. Thus Kyovashad has numerous districts, each with its own cultural elements.
Dungeons in Diablo IV
Brian Fletcher, Associate Art Director for Environments, described the dungeons as “that randomized content you know so well from previous titles in the series”, but also shared some features that promise to make them more interesting. Among the most striking data, Fletcher has confirmed that Diablo IV will have more than 150 dungeons.
“We want you to have the impression that each dungeon is endless and that you are only seeing a small part of a great underground labyrinth,” said Fletcher. Chaz Head has assured that both the sets and the objects seek to maintain mysticism and horror: “Our hope is to get you feel uncomfortable during your adventurebut, at the same time, rewarded”.
As described by Fletcher, these dungeons will have “decorations, lighting and interaction objects to create assorted and craft dungeonsbut, in turn, created in a proceduralThis system has been described as “tile sets”, a mosaic with which they shape the environments of these dungeons, being able to reuse different elements and add enough variety to cover these more than 150 dungeons.
Diablo IV will have more than 150 dungeonsIn addition to the transitions between plants seamless inside a dungeonFletcher has highlighted the transition scenes between tile sets. These scenes allow us to connect two different tile sets in the same dungeon: “Imagine you are exploring a crypt and find a hole in a wall that naturally leads you to a vast network of underground caves, all while maintaining the randomized blueprints that They change every time you enter the dungeon.”
From Blizzard they have shared a lot of videos and images of these new environments that you have available since its quarterly release, and if you are fans of the franchise of dark fantasyremember that in Esports Extras you have available our analysis of Diablo II Resurrected.
More about: Diablo 4, RPG and Blizzard.
