Diablo IV Devs Talk Making Things Darker and More Dynamic, Redesigning Monsters, Petting the Dog, and More

mmorpg.com:

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 environmentshelp tell the story, in addition to their actual story that awaits. They want you to be motivated to walk around and make discoveries, whether