The initial reveal of Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 4 was fairly straightforward with an impressive cinematic trailer and gameplay video. One thing that popped up in a panel afterwards is the game being a shared world experience. That means you’ll encounter other players, out in the wild, and can also trade with them in towns.
How will the shared world affect other gameplay aspects? We already know that all versions of the game will be online only with no offline options. You can’t disable seeing other players either though it’s possible to solo all content. Speaking to PC Gamer, lead designer Joe Shely along with executive producer and Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham offered even more details on what to expect.
First off, game-wide difficulty levels (like the Torment system) are gone though Hardcore mode is still a thing. Difficulty options can be selected in dungeons though. Enemies will scale to your level but some areas will be more challenging than others (and you’ll still wreak havoc on monsters by finding more powerful gear).
Solo and partied players will see dungeons private to them. The same applies to areas “relevant to the campaign” though this changes depending on one’s progression. Interestingly, towns will be more populated but venturing into the wastes will see less players encountered. You’ll team up with other players during World Events though the number of supported players is unknown.
In terms of end-game activities, Keyed Dungeons were mention. You use keys to convert a regular dungeon into a much more difficult version. Given that there are “hundreds” of dungeons in the game, it’ll be interesting to see how keys change up the gameplay.
Diablo 4 is in development for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It’s not coming anytime soon as per Blizzard so stay tuned – we’re in it for the long haul.
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