As I take the rickety elevator to the business floor of one of London’s finest hotels, my heart is in my mouth. I step out of the elevator to be led down a winding mahogany hallway, then up a short flight of stairs to a room whose main feature is a massive statue of Inarius from Diablo 4 and a BAFTA-style Diablo 4 photo backdrop. Cream curtains hang from high wooden ceilings, and before me stand two pillars of the RPG development community: Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson and game director Joe Shely. Lilith answered my prayers; dreams come true.
The conversation flows naturally; Ferguson is charismatic and playful, while Shely is calm but full of personality. We’ve talked about the Druid and Necromancer classes, the design of the Butcher encounter, and more, but one thing stands out: Both of these men are very proud of Diablo 4.
In fact, Fergusson claims it’s “the best Diablo game in Diablo”, quite a statement considering Diablo 2’s legendary reputation. Is there a game that can really top the best crawler dungeon ever created? Fergusson and Shely are convinced that Diablo 4 does just that, but how?
“Diablo 4 is a great place to start, or if you’ve been away for a while, it’s the perfect place to come back to because it’s got all the things you loved about the previous games, along with (even more) plus that,” Fergusson says. “It’s the strongest Diablo story, so if you play Diablo games for the story, it’s by far the best story.
“If you’re playing for combat, the sophistication around the ‘evade’ system that’s been added and the way the potions system works, there’s more consideration. When you play, it’s not just 100% button mashing, but you can still do it to some degree.
“But it’s also this grounded world,” he continues. “At least at first, it’s not just a visual effects bonanza where you’re blinded by purple: you’re in the world and you can smell it, you can smell the characters; you care about NPCs for some reason now. It’s your fight, and it’s what makes Diablo Diablo. I think it’s the best Diablo of Diablo games, and if you’re new, it’s a good place to start.”
“People have things they liked in the early games and things they liked in Diablo 3,” Shely continues. “Some of (the nuance of Diablo 4) captured the mechanical fluidity of combat in Diablo 3, that fast tactical stuff, and the good pacing and number of monsters on screen, while bringing back the darkness of Diablo 2 It’s been a real journey for us, from enumeration to class design, to really capturing (both games) in a satisfying way.
“When you bring something back after basically 11 years, finding that line between respecting the past and innovating for the future is always a difficult balance,” says Fergusson. “It was a really interesting design problem to solve, and I think Joe and his team did a perfect job of threading the needle.”
Given the level of positive feedback on the recent Diablo 4 beta and the overall feeling I got from my preview of Diablo 4 gameplay many blood moons ago, it certainly feels like the team managed to capture darkness and darkness. , but they modernized it with smooth but not too busy combat. I asked the duo how it felt to finally see the game in the wild (this interview took place between Early Access and Open Betas), and the excitement was palpable, adding a glow to the old setting. .
“It’s super rewarding,” Fergusson told – Game News. “When you put that kind of work into a game like this, it’s different. Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got, then you’re like ‘oh, we’re working so hard’ and it didn’t got the reception you wanted it to get. Here, based on what we did in December with the previews and what we see in beta, we know we’re doing something that people really like . It’s really gratifying to feel that love coming back, we’re a better game for that.”
“It’s wonderful that the fans appreciate something that we love,” Shely repeats. “These kind of instant reactions you see on Twitter and things are fun.” The pair continue to recount some of their favorite beta moments, including an all-out foray into Diablo 4 world boss Ashava and a player logging over forty hours in the early access beta alone. There’s laughter and mirth, and a real sense that Fergusson and Shely believe in Diablo 4 as much as the community does.
I leave the interview with a big smile and the feeling that Diablo 4 may be the best Diablo game to date. The curtains have fallen on the beta, but my heart and soul yearn for more. Maybe it’s Lilith’s magnetic pull that brings me back to the Sanctuary, or my desire to finally explore the dry steppes, but one thing’s for sure; I’m incredibly excited to once again uncover the secrets of Sanctuary.