Diablo IV Introduces the Cannibals in New Quarterly Update Blog

Diablo IV Introduces the Cannibals in New Quarterly Update Blog

4
Ben Borthwick

Blizzard has launched a new quarterly blog for the ongoing development of the upcoming Diablo IV, detailing some of the decisions and processes going to making the upcoming action RPG sequel including introducing one of the game's new monster types - The Cannibals.

The Cannibals are described as such: "No one is certain where they come from, but some legends claim they are a former tribe of barbarians, banished from Arreat years ago. Whether their cannibalism led to their exile or developed out of desperation afterward is unknown. The outcasts brought their endless hunger to the Dry Steppes, and from there spread to the far corners of the world to prey on lonesome caravans and unsuspecting villages."

The blog goes into detail about how, during development, monsters are categorized into 'families' - creatures with a similar overall category, but fufilling one of several roles, such as ranged, melee, swarmers and bosses. Cannibals will have four members in the family, each with their own unique weapons with the two primary melee iterations carrying a heavy greatsword and the other a halberd. Bruisers will carry a spiked club, while swarmers will attack with a flurry from their dual axes - the Cannibals won't feature a ranged variant, so you'll be able to choose whether you get up close and personal or keep them at a distance.

Elsewhere in the blog are some fascinating insights about UI decisions for the upcoming game - and how this will be the first Diablo in the series being developed simulteanously for consoles as well as PC rather than being PC first, meaning there should be improvements to controls on consoles from the off including as mentioned in the blog that in local co-op, another player going into a menu won't freeze the game for the other player this time. There's a lot of detail - too much to cover in a news post like this - so make sure you check out the blog yourself on the Diablo website.

Diablo IV doesn't have a release date yet, but is set to launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC - given the timing, we'd be surprised if it doesn't also turn up on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X too, but at the time of writing no formal announcement has been made.

Comments
4
  • Cannibal faction looks generic AF. Reminds me of "cultists" from 3 but with less clothing and more muscles. The environments and mood from the Diablo 4 trailer were on point, though. Really bummed this is going to be an online only game. There is zero reason to do this at all.
  • Online only will be to stop duping items like in 3. Having your profile saved on line rather than locally They can control the loot drop rate.
  • @ #2 ... Yeah. That's why they are doing it. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact that nobody will be able to play this when they stop supporting it, and everybody will be forced to "update" or buy the next iteration. I can play Diablo I and II, which are better games than "3" ever was, whenever the hell I want, and 20 years later, I highly doubt they will be supporting "4" so you can forget about that. And what's more, why does it matter if people dupe items in offline single-player / couch-coop mode? That hurts nobody's experience by the cheater. What good does "having your save file stored on line" do when you can easily back up your saved data already?
  • @1/3 Because Cheaters need to just disappear. They are lazy & useless & do nothing for the gaming community. They ruin games, online ones especially. I would be happy if they perma-banned them all.
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation