Following the underwhelming Diablo Immortal reveal at BlizzCon 2018, many believed Blizzard announced Diablo 4 early to win players back. It’s clear Diablo 4 was early in development as there wasn’t much to show when it was revealed at BlizzCon 2019. Four years later, Blizzard finally revealed a release date for the dungeon crawler following the aftermath of the controversies going on at the studio. Still, Diablo 4 is shaping up to be an excellent game with lots to look forward to. Here’s what we know so far about the upcoming dungeon-crawler RPG.
When is the Diablo 4 release date?
Diablo 4 will launch on June 6, 2023. Blizzard revealed its release date trailer during the 2022 Game Awards.
Diablo 4 was originally announced at BlizzCon 2019. Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham confirmed to Game Informer that year that the fourth entry of the series was still in early development when it was announced, saying, “while we’ve been working on Diablo 4 for several years, we still have a ways to go.”
In November 2021, Blizzard announced on an earnings call that more time would be needed for the team to realize its vision for Diablo 4, pushing it to 2023 at the earliest. It looks like the team stayed true to their word.
Is there a Diablo 4 trailer?
Yes, quite a few. Blizzard first released a cinematic trailer and a sneak peek at a portion of Diablo 4’s gameplay. The cinematic announcement revealed the main antagonist, the demon Lilith, and showed the type of dark and blood-soaked inferno gamers will be battling through.
The gameplay trailer showed off a surprising amount of detail for a game that was years away. Blizzard highlighted three types of character classes gamers will be able to play with and some early portions of the game’s campaign.
We also got a look at the Rogue class that will be implemented into the final version of the game. More recently, Blizzard revealed the fifth and final class for Diablo 4, the Necromancer, with a cinematic trailer at the 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase.
The release date trailer goes for a more cinematic approach. Inarius, Archangel of The High Heavens, and Lilith, Daughter of Hatred, engage in a bloody battle between their two armies.
What are the Diablo 4 platforms?
Diablo 4 will launch for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. You can even pre-purchase the game for one of these platforms from the official website.
When Microsoft acquired Blizzard, there were some initial concerns that Diablo 4 wouldn’t be available on Sony consoles. But Phil Spencer said in an interview with Bloomberg, “I’ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform: It’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that.”
What are the Diablo 4 classes?
Diablo 4 will launch with five classes, which were announced in multiple waves after the game’s initial reveal.
- Barbarian: The Barbarian will be a melee-combat specialist emphasizing survivability and explosive, close-quarters damage. These warriors can dual-wield devastating weapons and use “war cries” to temporarily send them into a frenzy.
- Sorceress/Sorcerer: The Sorceress will be a ranged spellcaster who harnesses the elements to freeze opponents in place and blast them with fireballs. They’ll be most deadly at long range where they can safely cast destructive spells.
- Druid: The Druid is a hybrid melee brawler with shape-shifting and summoning abilities. They call upon nature to gain feral strength and can deal massive elemental damage.
- Rogue: The Rogue is a versatile class with elements of Diablo 2’s Assassin and Diablo 3’s Demon Hunter. On top of its melee and ranged attacks, the Rogue can imbue all of their attacks with elemental damage and choose one of three specializations that drastically change the class’ mechanics.
- Necromancer: The last class announced is the Necromancer. This fan-favorite class commands legions of the undead. Along with their signature scythes, they can raise skeletons and call upon Shadow and Blood magic for devastating ranged attacks.
What other classes could be added to Diablo 4?
If we take the announced classes as a hint to what other character types will be included in Diablo 4, it appears that Blizzard wants to refine all of the classes from Diablo 2 with a splash of Diablo 3.
After the Diablo 2: Lords of Destruction expansion, the game had a total of seven playable classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, Paladin, Druid, and Assassin.
Blizzard hasn’t confirmed any classes that will be coming to the game post-release, but popular archetypes like the Amazon, Paladin, and Monk seem like the most likely options.
What bosses will you fight in Diablo 4?
Lilith will be your main adversary as you trudge through the corpse-riddled world of Diablo 4. She’s a reimagined Succubus queen from Diablo 2 that was summoned using blood magic in the Diablo 4 story trailer.
We don’t know much about what kind of unholy powers she’ll wield, but she'll be in control of the demonic forces you'll fight in the majority of the upcoming dungeon crawler. You can see what she’s capable of in the Diablo 4 release date trailer.
Aside from the big bad, Blizzard is also announcing a new class of World Bosses in Diablo 4. The game is meant to be played more socially, with online players fighting together in the same world. World Bosses are intended to be tackled by multiple online players at once in all-out battles. Diablo 4’s BlizzCon reveal showed off Ashava the Pestilent, a massive World Boss who can mow down players en masse.
Will there be microtransactions in Diablo 4?
Diablo 4 will have microtransactions, which Blizzard confirmed early on will be limited to cosmetic items only, not those that affect a character’s abilities.
After the launch of Diablo Immortal, which features heaps of microtransactions in its endgame, players worried that Diablo 4 would follow the same path. Diablo community lead Adam Fletcher since reiterated on Twitter that microtransactions would only be for cosmetics. Paid expansions are already being planned as well.
Will Diablo 4 PVP be added?
Diablo has traditionally been a co-op game for most of its history, but Blizzard went into detail on Diablo 4’s PvP elements during BlizzCon2021.
In Diablo 4, PvP is entirely optional and can be accessed in the Fields of Hatred, areas integrated seamlessly into the main game’s open world. When players enter these areas, they’ll find a mix of PvE and PvP gameplay. As well as being able to kill one another, players will have monsters to contend with, and it’s possible to team up and take down a monster before turning on your fellow players.
The aim of the Fields of Hatred is to gather Shards of Hatred, which are obtainable through both PvP and PvE activities. Much like in The Division’s Dark Zone, you’ll need to purify your Shards of Hatred before leaving the PvP zone, which leaves you, vulnerable to other players.
Particularly blood-thirsty players can be marked as a Vessel of Hatred, which reveals their location to everyone in the Fields of Hatred. They’re more likely to carry Shards, which makes them a valuable target, and anyone who slays a Vessel of Hatred also gets bonus loot.
When will we learn more about Diablo 4?
Diablo 4’s latest festival showing was at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase in June 2022. Blizzard hasn’t announced any plans yet for BlizzCon 2023, but if the convention isn’t canceled like the last two were, it seems a likely place for more Diablo 4 news.
Between major announcements, Blizzard Entertainment has consistently kept fans updated with quarterly blog post updates for Diablo 4 since its reveal. These have been the best source for Diablo 4 news so far, with information about classes and deep dives into gameplay.
Diablo 4 is expected to launch on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.
