Diablo 4 looks gritty and dark – so dark you'll need to squint to see anything

techradar.com:

It's been a hot minute since we've had some Diablo 4 news – three months in fact. But the devs are back with a quarterly update and a fresh batch of screenshots.

The takeaway from the latest blog post is that Diablo 4's aesthetic is going hard on «dark, low-fantasy gothic horror.» Game director Joe Shely (who replaced Luis Barriga) is keen to show the team's progress on nailing the themes, which gives the game its «distinct visual style.»

Art director, Chris Ryder, explains that the key to creating immersive environments lies in the two foundational pillars «old masters» and «a return to darkness.» Heavy on the darkness, it seems, because I'm struggling to make anything out in some of these screenshots without fiddling with my screen brightness. Or squinting really hard.

«Using these pillars has been instrumental in keeping us consistent and aligned with the visual tone of Diablo 4,» says Ryder. 

«The 'old masters' pillar gives us a lens to filter our art through, considering the techniques classical painters like Rembrandt used, with their controlled use of detail, tonal range, and expert use of color palettes.

»The 'return to darkness' pillar is a through-line in everything from dungeons to lighting and embodies the idea that Sanctuary is a dangerous and dark medieval gothic world."

The environments of Diablo 4 are described as a «darker and more grounded interpretation» than earlier entries in the series. Although the team makes it clear that this is achieved through believability over realism.

This is relayed through the game's architecture, artifacts found in dungeons, and the open world itself. Regional weather conditions and biomes build on these features, which are all firmly rooted in the «sense of history» that the