Following Diablo IV‘s official unveiling at BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard Entertainment divulged some more details about the upcoming title over the weekend.
For starters, if you thought the game will be out within the next year or two because it’s releasing on current-gen platforms, then you might want to keep your expectations in check. Game Director Luis Barriga confirmed during a panel that Diablo IV is still in early development and it won’t be out anytime soon.
“A game of this scope takes time,” Barriga explained. “This is a very, very early first step. We’re not coming out soon….not even Blizzard soon.”
Secondly, lead designer Angela Del Priore has confirmed that although Diablo IV can be played solo, it won’t come with an offline mode. Past games have been online-only on PC but console versions did support offline play.
“We are not going to support an offline mode,” said Del Priore. “But as I said before, nothing in Diablo IV is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campaign quest areas will remain private.”
Console players will be able to team up with friends via two-player local co-op. The game will also support four-player parties with voice chat functionality.
Finally, we learned that Diablo IV will include a hardcore mode, and Blizzard is looking into the possibility of releasing post-launch expansions.
We’ll update our readers when we have more information.
Diablo IV will release on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Blizzard has yet to confirm if it’s aiming for a cross-gen release or not.
[Source: IGN, GameSpot, Twinfinite]
