Diablo V Has a Clear Vision, and the Devs Are Confident in 2029

Blizzard tells us about Diablo V's story, release date, hopes, console plans and a whole lot more

• Interview

Aarsal "SoulBlazerz" Masoodi

27 seconds ago

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At BlizzCon 2026, I was fortunate enough to be part of a group interview with some of the development team behind the just-announced Diablo V. They were asked about a variety of subjects, from the reason why the game is starting after we “lose”, to class philosophy, to console plans, to bringing in new players and a whole lot more.

The three panel members were Joe Shely, Senior Game Director on Diablo, Jennifer Brandes Hepler, Narrative Director on Diablo, and Matt Zitterman, Executive Director on Diablo.

I’ve paraphrased their responses below, so only words in quotes are, well, direct quotes from one of the three panel members. For the most part, the exact questions asked are omitted as I opted to use context in their answers to provide that information. Now, without further ado, let’s dive in.

We Lost! Why?

One of the most controversial aspects of the Diablo V announcement is the revelation that we lose! The game is set roughly a hundred years after the defeat of Mephisto in Diablo IV, and after so many years of peace, the Lord of Terror himself reappears.

“What happens if you weren’t there?” That’s the reasoning they gave behind Diablo finally obtaining victory. A group of heroes rose up, as they always do, but this time they didn’t succeed. This entire premise is a creative decision that they’ll be playing off of in many ways throughout the game. The world of Diablo V is one where Diablo has ruled Sanctuary for seven full years, meaning we’re going to be playing essentially a post-apocalyptic version of the world we all know and love.

When asked why they chose to take the story in such a drastic direction, they responded that the Eternal Conflict is exactly that: eternal. Sometimes evil wins, and sometimes good wins. After Diablo 4, players understood specifically what a wildcard humanity is in this conflict, and so they really wanted to play around with that concept.

More specifically, they wanted to tell a story with Diablo at the centre, and they wanted a premise that would have him on display right from the start. To them, Diablo is much more terrifying when he’s more than just a hulking brute, and so they wanted to highlight his more sinister and devious side too. Interestingly, they highlighted how the angels in this conflict weren’t exactly holding up their side of the bargain, and this shift of balance might have quite a bit to do with their years of inaction. We’ll have to wait for more information there!

So all this “we lost” stuff sounds pretty dour, almost too much so. The panel was asked exactly that, if this whole premise isn’t too depressing. They answered saying the exact opposite.

They call the story and setting of Diablo V a very “hopeful” one, because it begins from the worst possible place. The world is already over, everything sucks, and the only place to go is up. This makes Diablo V a story of rebuilding and recovery, where you “claw back space for humanity with your fingernails.” So yes, the world itself is very dark, but they let your character, your companions, and your found family be a shining light in the darkness. Which brings us nicely to the next major change in Diablo V: the removal of towns in place of a roaming caravan.

Leaving Towns Behind, All Aboard The Caravan!

Diablo is a franchise that’s known for having various hub towns that serve as your home base of sorts in different parts of the game. Or at the very least, safe areas where you’re not being swarmed by demons left and right. Diablo V does away with all of that, and instead your home base is a constantly growing and moving caravan, a “point of light,” as they put it.

Jennifer specifically mentioned how there was always a bit of disconnect between demons and monsters going crazy not two feet away from a town gate, but the town itself was completely peaceful, with demons “waiting on their schedule.” So they pitched a version of Sanctuary where there is no safe place except for the one you create. They consider this a very “pure” version of Diablo, and I’m starting to come around to it too.

They also mentioned how this lets them make the characters you recruit into the caravan “real”, with “stories of their own.” Interestingly, they used the words “gives you something to lose” when referring to them too. As a player, you usually know that you’re not going to lose this next fight, but a good story should make you afraid to lose something, and they specifically mention a community that you built as that potential something to lose. It’s apparently also the shortest route every time from town portal to blacksmith!

When asked how this approach would affect the endgame, or replaying areas, they assured us that you can absolutely go back and play things again. While yes, you’re a force with growing power, you’re not exactly saving the world instantly. As a mobile point of light, once you leave an area, the darkness settles back in. In terms of a post-campaign state, they mentioned how the game needs to leave you in a position where you’ve achieved something, but there’s still plenty to do. Hence, creating an integration between the campaign and endgame.

I mentioned how dark the game seems before, and the caravan is another place where they want to contrast that. A campfire is something full of hope and community, and this community aspect is something they kept mentioning. Specifically, they want some of that older style of campfire storytelling in the game, not companions whose gear you change, but characters you follow, travel with, and bond with throughout the journey.

The last thing they touched on in this Diablo V interview is that this whole concept of starting a journey with just a few people helps the gameplay progression of starting from nothing and building your strength up.

Welcome Back, Procedurally Generated Maps

Moving away from a fixed map is a big departure from Diablo IV, and it’s a very purposeful decision. The entire game is being built procedurally; as for why, they said it was based on what they found players enjoyed in D4. Specifically, they noticed players had a ton of fun unfurling the map of the open world, but that experience was “one and done”. To give players that feeling of constant discovery is one of the reasons for this change.

When asked how they’d avoid having the maps feel repetitive too quickly, their immediate answer was “we’re going to build a lot of content.” But they also talked about how each area of the world will still have its own identity, so even though the maps themselves are procedurally generated, what you’re seeing or exploring is going to be very intentional.

Expanding on this a bit, they mentioned how a map will differ based on which commander Diablo has stationed in that area. Things like the kind of tiles, monsters, and even treasure can vary due to this. An example they gave was that you may come across the same ruined church, but the way in which it is might vary.

Alongside confirming that the game will ship with an overlay map at launch, they expressed pride in their procedural map-generation tech and will dive more into the specifics “at a later time.”

You Get a Class, You Get a Class!

During the interview, the team talked about how Diablo V is set to have more classes at launch than any other Diablo game. They even expressed how you can do the math how you want to, but Diablo V will still have more. I wasn’t able to confirm if this meant it would launch with more classes than, say, Diablo Immortal has right now, which is 10, but they sounded pretty confident either way.

As of now, we have three confirmed classes. Two returning ones from Diablo 3, the Demon Hunter and the Monk, and a brand new one: The Plague Knight. When asked if the classes themselves would also appear darker to match the narrative, they told us that they want the classes to have different aspects on this scale. As in some classes that lean more towards darkness, like the new Plague Knight, and some that lean more towards the light, such as the Monk.

One of their reasons for having so many classes is to make sure that anyone coming into the game, regardless of which Diablo game they played in the past, has something familiar waiting for them. Such as someone who only played Diablo 3 in the past would immediately recognize the Demon Hunter, who will feel and look familiar but will still have its own new aspects.

2029 Is Kinda Far…

So the big elephant in the room during this interview was the release date being more than two years away, and of course they were asked directly about this. They instantly responded with a “We’re very confident in hitting that date”, and then repeated what felt like a mantra that said confidence comes from their “clarity of creative vision and clarity of production schedule”. They called themselves a Diablo team that’s been making Diablo games “for a very long time” and mentioned how Diablo V is being built on top of the foundation built on Diablo IV. This allowed them to start work on this game in parallel with the other, and also let them think ahead to D5 while they worked on D4.

A big part of why they announced the game this early is that they want to be able to start conversations with players on many, many things (they mentioned potential stat requirements on equipment as an example of this). They also want to develop the game in a way that they can show players more of the game even early on in development. They specifically mentioned bringing players on to campus even. This would allow them to have conversations on many topics, such as classes and characters, and let them obtain feedback early enough in development so that they have time to really change and improve things as needed. They also mentioned that one of the best ways to make a game better is to simply play it. A lot.

Basically, they wanted to be able to get player feedback much earlier, and now they can openly talk about things behind the scenes. They also mentioned that of course they’ll want to get some hands-on feedback too.

But what about Diablo IV?

Asked about how some people feel discontent about another Diablo game being announced so soon while they’re still playing Diablo IV, the panel responded by saying there will continue to be “incredible reasons to keep playing Diablo IV.” They highlighted the upcoming Amazon class and the Season of Hell’s Legacy. Their words were, “There will continue to be incredible support for that game as we announce more things.”

Multiplayer? Online? Consoles? Level Scaling?

I asked them directly if Diablo V is being built as an always-online game, and they gave the same answer to someone who asked about the multiplayer plans. “We’ll have more details to share about multiplayer as we move forward.” So pretty much a non-answer, but I expected as much. Though they did say that, just like Diablo IV, the content in Diablo V will be able to be played either solo or with a group.

They had a couple more non-answers, one of which was when asked about which platforms they plan to release the game on. “No specific platforms to announce right now”, was what they said, but they also followed that up with “we want as many people to play Diablo V as possible.” Of course, with the game 30 or so months out, we won’t know exact console platforms yet, but I’d say it’s a fairly safe bet that the game will be coming to both Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Someone asked them bluntly if the Diablo IV level scaling system would return, and their immediate response was that they’re not talking about that just yet. But they expanded by saying Diablo is, in many ways, a game that’s about your character growing stronger, and so when monsters get stronger outside of your control, that can get in the way of this. Their exact words were that they would “take a somewhat different approach”.

When asked about the upcoming animated TV Show with Netflix, they simply said: “When the time is right, we’ll talk about more here.” Though they did mention that Diablo as a property has plenty of stories to tell.

Five Is A High Number…

When asked if they were worried about new players being scared away by the five in the title, they mentioned how, at a high level, Diablo V is a fairly simple premise. You’re the heir to Westmarch, and there’s someone sitting on your throne. Though that someone just so happens to be the Lord of Terror, Diablo.

They know that the gameplay, control scheme, and the camera angle of the game are all also very approachable. So as long as they do their job of introducing players into the depths the game has properly, they’re confident that Diablo V will be an easy game to get into even as a brand new player to the franchise.

They also talked about how the big time skip and the general mystery behind how or why this all happened will help put every player on a level playing field, at least going in. Finally, they touched on how Diablo V is returning to their roots in many ways, such as having familiar classes, which will make it so any player who’s played a Diablo in the past would still find aspects of V familiar and welcoming.

That’s it! There was quite a bit they touched on here in this Diablo V interview, from potential console plans to level scaling, to narrative choices, to class identity and more. Diablo V still has years until it releases, so I’m sure plenty of the above might change or be altered as time goes by, but what did you think of their answers? Are you more excited now for Diablo V, less excited, or about the same?

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