Diablo 4 will be open world and offer freedom to the player, but the focus will be on the campaign

Diablo 4 will be open world and offer freedom to the player

In an interview with IGN, game director Joe Shely and Blizzard general manager Rod Fergusson explained what players can expect from Diablo 4's open world. From their words we learn that the game will offer a lot of freedom and side missions, but that the focus remains on the plot and the main campaign.

"One of the concerns in highlighting the term" open world "is that people they have that notion of the genre related to Breath of the Wild, like “oh, it's completely organic, I can go anywhere and do anything and eventually I can figure it out for myself.” This isn't really the case with us, ”Fergusson said. "Our story allows for a non-linear approach, but there is a plot. We wanted to have a beginning, a center part and an end. We wanted to start in a certain place, we wanted to end in a certain place."

Fergusson explains that Diablo 4 offers rather a "branching story", where players can choose the order in which to undertake the main parts. In between there will be the possibility to explore the game world and try your hand at side missions or ignore them.

"That's the beauty of the open world, there are many side missions, there are many things you can do and that are not on the "golden path" of the main campaign, "added Fergusson. "The campaign path is a branched path where you can then decide when to tackle those branches and in what order".

Diablo 4 apparently will overflow with secondary activities, so much so that, as revealed by director Joe Shely, the team Blizzard was basically forced to cut down some of the content because the game world felt "too dense".

"As you explore the game world, there are many things to do, whether you're on horseback or on foot, ”Shely said. "We actually had so many activities to do that getting around the game world on horseback was challenging."

About the open world, Fergusson told a very interesting anecdote. While working on Gears of War 5 (before moving on to Blizzard), the development team got to meet open world designers from other games, who explained that the idea of ​​an open world "is a bit of an illusion" , as in reality most players who want to want to be guided throughout the adventure at the same time.

"Players say they want open worlds and freedom of choice," said Fergusson. "But they also want to be told where to go."

Diablo 4 is currently in development for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and PC. It currently doesn't have a release date set in stone yet, but rumors have it that it will be out in the spring of 2023, with the official announcement scheduled for December's The Game Awards 2022.

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