The Diablo IV team, in a new video, take us inside Sanctuary, and detail some of their inspirations and plans for the latest installment in the classic franchise.
For starters, we get an introduction to Sanctuary and its importance to Diablo. The video is called The World of Sanctuary, after all, and The team is clearly speaking to all potential Diablo IV players, both new and old. One of the details they confirm is that they looked back towards Diablo II for some inspiration, leaning back into the darker lore and style to draw upon for the newest game. They also wanted to make the game look and feel like a painting.
“How would the people of Sanctuary show their world?,” asks Senior Quest Designer Harrison Pink. This reiterates that not only is Sanctuary at the center of where this great battle between angels and demons takes place, but a place where people live.
The rest of the video goes into a little tour of the environments, including the five different zones, showing off some of the concept art as well as a peek at each of the regions themselves. The regions were designed to feel like they could be realistic, even featuring transitions where one environmental feature, like snow from Fractured Peaks turning into drips as you pass through, heading into a warmer region.
The video also goes into the dungeon and monster design, with fitting environments, and efforts to make the monsters darker and scarier. They “wanted to make sure the monster families felt like they fit in their environments”, so their designs incorporated elements from where you found them.
The environments help tell the story, in addition to their actual story that awaits. They want you to be motivated to walk around and make discoveries, whether that's world bosses, new creatures, or other things that might benefit you, or try to kill you. Some things will also change and be different the next time you encounter them.
And yes, you can pet the dogs that you find. The team made sure to add that requested feature.
For more on the different types of creatures, the darker designs, the way the team made the environments explorable, including the very places from the release announcement cinematic. So if you’re looking to visit where Lilith was summoned in the trailer? You’ll be able to do that. You’ll be able to walk Sanctuary, which they describe as deliberately massive.
There’s so much packed into this video, and if you’re looking forward to Diablo IV ahead of its June release, it’s worth your time to sit back and get a taste of what hellish challenges await.
