It's been a really tough year for Blizzard. From asking angry fans whether or not they had phones to its stance towards a Hong-Kong-sympathizing pro player, Blizzard gave its fans lots of reason to get angry at them.
With consecutive PR disasters, you can't blame Blizzard to give players what they want finally. This Blizzcon, they unveiled Diablo IV, even if the game won't be out until at least a full year after.
By Three They Come
Blizzard revealed the first-ever official trailer of Diablo IV, which does a great job of setting the tone of the game. With a 9-minute long cinematic, titled By Three They Come, Blizzard introduced who appears to be the main antagonist of Diablo IV—Lilith.
The announcement trailer sees a group of tomb raiders successfully entering a crypt, only to be sacrificed in a summoning ritual. The gruesome scene sets us back to Diablo's roots: with a lot of bloody gore, demonic rituals, and genuinely terrifying enemies.
Although the trailer doesn't give us so much in terms of plot, it at least gives us an idea on what's at stake. Lilith, called the Daughter of Hatred and Mother of Sanctuary in the trailer, has a long history in Diablo's lore. She's the mother of the Nephalem, a race of giants preceding humans, and is the Queen of Succubi.
This isn't the first time Lilith will feature in a Diablo game. Although she's been featured extensively in lore outside of the game, Lilith was nothing more than a minor boss in Diablo II. She wasn't present in Diablo III, only appearing in writings. In Diablo IV, she will take the limelight and become the primary source of conflict in the world.
By Three Thy Path Opens
Aside from the cinematic announcement trailer, Blizzard also treated fans with a gameplay preview of their long-awaited game. Diablo IV is more reminiscent of Diablo II than Diablo III, delighting veteran players of the game.
The gameplay preview showcased three classes for players to choose from: Druid, Sorceress, and Barbarian. The Druid is shown turning into a bear, ravaging at enemies, which is the most exciting fighting style so far, judging by flashiness. The Sorceress makes use of potent spells to damage foes from afar, while the Barbarian prefers a more face-to-face approach to fighting.
Blizzard explains that unlike previous entries, Diablo IV will have a more open-world, with no linear storyline. It will also feature heavy online features, which also means the game has no offline mode. The exact extent of these online offerings are yet to be revealed, but it's highly unlikely for the game to become an MMO.
Other news from Blizzcon 2019
Blizzard didn't pull back from major announcements this year. Aside from Diablo IV, Blizzard also announced a sequel to their arena shooter game—Overwatch 2. World of Warcraft will also have a brand-new expansion called Shadowlands.
On the card game front, Hearthstone will be releasing a new expansion called Descent of the Dragons, and is currently testing out its own auto-battler game, Hearthstone Battlegrounds.
And yes, before you ask, Blizzard is still working on Diablo Immortal, for better or for worse.
