Earlier this month, Blizzard revealed quite a bit of information about Overwatch 2. Everything from its first playtest to confirmation that Doomfist was being reworked into a tank came to light. All of this information left many Diablo 4 fans curious about when they’d get more information, as there hadn’t yet been any Diablo 4 quarterly update thus far this year.
Now, Blizzard has posted the quarterly update for March 2022 giving fans a little peek into the pre-alpha development of Diablo 4. Blizzard primarily focuses on the environment approach, as well as elements related to the game’s dungeons. In fact, Blizzard states that Diablo 4 has five “distinct regions” and 150+ dungeons, while managing to keep them all fresh.
The example provided when it comes to dungeons is that one could be a druid resting site filled with demons, decorated and designed around many druidic cultural items similar to Diablo 4's druid class. A lot of this is placed on a layer that can be changed, depending on the theme of the dungeon, while another could simply be an uninhabited dark cave. Associate Art Director for Environments Brian Fletcher describes this approach as “varied, handcrafted, and yet procedurally generated.”
This is accomplished with those layers but also by mixing and matching designed tilesets that can be re-used and not limited to one dungeon. This would also bring in props, interactives, lighting, and so on to make sure Diablo 4’s dungeons are top-notch. To show off these dungeons, Blizzard posted a couple of videos where players can see a character exploring some locations (bearing in mind that this is still pre-alpha footage).
It was also discussed that Diablo 4’s environments were focused on believability, not realism, and they are said to be a more grounded interpretation of environments and location than past Diablo games. Part of this is brought to life with new features such as seamless floor transitions and traversals, but it seems dungeons will connect tilesets too. Fletcher describes a scenario where players are in a crypt but find a hole in the wall that leads to an underground network—yet keeping that randomized layout for variety.
In the above video, Blizzard shows off a dungeon that uses a similar tactic—showing a ruined keep that seems rather sturdy, but the lower levels are decaying and filled with floodwater. Overall, these brief gameplay clips of Diablo 4 sell the believability aspect of these dungeons.
Diablo 4 is in development.
Source: Blizzard