So Diablo IV is still a thing... I think...

 By three they come

Demonic hoards are coming home, apparently, as times which are broken can apparently be one again. That's right, aside from news of Blizzard chasing past glories with the 'Diablo 2 Resurrected' game, they've also tasked themselves with posting the odd update on that Diablo IV project that they've apparently been working on. Remember that? The thing they announced two years ago, totally not as a distraction tactic from the great many claims of freedom of speech censorship and Chinese dictatorial cronyism. Not even a little bit. Blizzard just felt like sharing details of this game that is so not finished that they couldn't even give a rough release window- but hey: it has horses! To be completely fair, Blizzard have always had a reputation for announcing games obscenely early to the point where they'll enter your lexicon as just as an established entity before you've so much as seen a gameplay trailer. (Just look at Overwatch) In fact, we should count our lucky stars that Blizzard went out of their way to at least cobble together a demo. Which they then only let people at the event play... yeah, we're really lucky alright...

But hey, It's been two years and I can't be bothered to rag on Blizzard anymore, I just really want to play their stupid ARPG sometime before the heat death of the universe. (That would be nice, wouldn't it) Even in the year and a half since that reveal I've actually familiarized myself a lot more with this sort of genre and really come to roots with what it is that makes these sorts of games special; therefore I've actually gotten myself all excited for Diablo IV over nothing because, amazingly, we've still got no release date! The Devs did, however, recognise that they're literally playing hard to get to an agonising degree and thus deigned to offer us a consolation prize of an actual video update revealing their first addition to the class roster. (Which, assuming we're getting one of these every 1.5 years, means that by 2023 we might actually have the vanilla line-up all done!) So that's what I'm going to talk about.

And, lo and behold, the first new class is the Rogue. Seriously. Okay, I know that I'm no Diablo lore nut and there actually all this lore about the 'Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye' made up of Rogues and that organisation was almost destroyed after the events of Diablo II. (After a little corruption here and the annihilation of 9/10ths of the population there.) But from a veteran of every single type of fantasy world humanely imaginably, just hearing the blunt name 'Rogue' is about as mundane as one could imagine. No 'Assassin' or 'Nightblade' or 'Ranger' or 'Cipher'. Just a normal ol', bog standard, plain as you like, garden variety, cookie cutter, paint by numbers, dime a dozen, run of the mill, white bread, milk toast, two a penny, roguish rogue. Forgive me if I don't lose my mind with excitement. And yet, damn if they didn't make her look cool anyway.

I mean it's an ARPG, they'd be crucified without some sort of ranged class; but a range/melee class promises the sort of versatility you don't always see out of this genre, and I must admit I like it. (I tend to play the rogue-like class a lot. So this character was right up my alley) Through the extended discussion there was actually a lot of talk about customisation in regards to building characters, which I think will really appeal to those who thought Diablo III wasn't what they wanted. Again, no Diablo expert here, but from what I've heard people tended to find a lot of the characters to be linear in their abilities and the real customisation to come from gear builds. In fact, the team themselves even built in a secondary levelling system a few years into the game's life cycle to supplement it, thus it's good to hear the team is at least trying not to make the same mistake twice.

From a completely arbitrary and shallow angle, I will say that once again I simply loved the visual design in the new gameplay we saw. There's a real flashiness to this class in the way that they move and dance around the map from which you see the influences of the original game. (Kind of odd how they're trying to invoke the spirit of the old games when there's literally a remake coming out this year. You'd think that'd give you room to change things up, but I digress.) The coolest move, without doubt, is the dismount from the horse which literally shows the Rogue launching in the air as she showers a rain of arrows on everyone in front of her. I really appreciate how the action looks to borrow a lot of the kinetic impact that you expect out of modern titles without showering them in sparks, colourful flashes and all the other trappings that come with modern effects. That might seem like odd praise, given that these are professionals, but remember it's been a hot minute since they made a Diablo game, I wouldn't be surprised if they missed a step or two. But for the time being I, at least, am satisfied. (I know some fans still aren't fans of the enemy highlights, but I don't mind too much.)

Some of the talk I picked up in their in-depth dive really did surprise me, for the depth that seems to be dedicated towards the levelling process. I mean, again I've only played the very beginning of Diablo 3; but I'm surprised at this whole 'three pathways' they're teasing. Essentially, there are these three different styles unique to each class that the player can choose to commit themselves to in the late stages of progression, seemingly at the cost of losing access to the others. Fair enough, that's how a lot of level-up trees work. What really surprised me, however, was the way they seemed to imply that choosing these paths also meant committing to route-specific quests across the open world; as if going through the process of learning the style. It's a surprisingly immersive and narrative driven approach to level development, if I interpreted their comments correctly, and I'm oh so curious to see how significant of an effect this will have on multiple different characters. Will everyone feel different in their journey as well as their playstyle? I doubt it, but the question's been raised. 

And finally there was the talk of PVP, which is something I've never been too big a fan of but it's here anyway I guess. For this mode it seems that the Devs have gone the route that a lot of multiplayer titles are doing nowadays and creating a zone for limitless PVP. (Although I think they'll still be opportunities elsewhere) Just like the Dark zone from The Division, Cyrodiil from ESO and (deep-cut here) the wilderness from Runescape. And, similar to The Division and The Imperial City in ESO, there'll be a unique currency and reward systems in this PVP zone in order to encourage players to go there and get duelling. I thought it was especially brutal for the team to reveal that this raw currency can be dropped and looted from by other players, and can only be refined through an event that invites everyone to your location. Brutal, but fitting given the series. Somewhere along the line I wonder how balancing factors into all of this, and whether or not the team stopped to consider exactly which armour sets will be unique to this optional challenge. Will they exclusively be sets to buff PVP play, or will there be some really interesting things to entice the likes of me over? But heck,  I'll launch myself at the throats of my friends for an armour set as long as it looks cool, so maybe don't look to my example.

Gear gathering and demon slaying is such a simple premise and yet we know from so many attempts at mimicking this genre that it can go wrong so quickly. (Anthem) I've really tried my hand at a decent number of these titles over the years, but I've never had the pleasure of trying one that seems so mobile. (As in 'movement' not 'mobile phone'.) You can tell that this is the sort of game that Blizzard wants to be their platform, and I not entirely sure if that's going to pan out in the same sense as Diablo 3 (With seasons of randomised content and loot) or evolve into something more akin to what Path of Exile is doing; because the latter really does seem like Blizzard's MO. Personally I'm hoping they keep things simple and just deliver a solid ARPG that reminds fans why Diablo made them fall in love all those years ago; and from everything I've seen so far, and baring in mind that I'm not technically a fan myself, I'm decently hopeful.