Diablo 4’s art director on the gritty tone: ‘Darkness doesn’t mean gloom’

When Diablo II Launched in 2000, it was praised for its graininess, injecting a sense of realism into an otherwise dark, fantastically realm. With Diablo III, it went in a more expressive direction, with a style that art director John Mueller describes as ‘painterly’. Now, with the upcoming Diablo IVMueller says the goal is to combine these two approaches. “With technology as it is now”, he says The edge, “We can have the best of both worlds.”

One of the challenges in a game like this is creating a world that feels dark and ominous, but also one that players will want to explore for hours and hours. Diablo games are the kind where players usually lose themselves, scour dungeons for the best loot and team up with friends to explore more dangerous regions. In Diablo IVAccording to Mueller, one of the key features is the new open world, which allows the team to create many different kinds of moments and feelings.

“When you are in the world, you come across many beautiful vistas,” he explains. “The world of Diablo is a medieval world, which means going through the countryside, desert or mountains. And although there are harsh storms and rain and a living world aspect to it, there is still day and night. It’s beautiful in the morning – even though you just killed some goat men in that field. “

One of the main sources of inspiration behind it Diablo IVThe look is the Hudson River School of painting, a mid-19th century movement that took landscapes and imbued them with a romantic Era atmosphere. It’s the same blend of beauty and darkness that Mueller and his team aspired to in the next Diablo – albeit with a few more demons and skeleton warriors thrown in.

“They had a darkness to them,” Mueller says of the Hudson River movement. ‘They weren’t pretty. And I don’t think anything in the world of Diablo is beautiful. It’s like when you see a morning of fog in the field, it’s hard not to appreciate its beauty, but it’s not necessarily like, “Oh that’s beautiful, like a rainbow and sunshine.” All the regions in the world have a lot of natural beauty, and then when you go into the dungeons we get a little gruesome there. “

This new open world is also used as a storytelling tool. Mueller and lead game designer Joe Shely say they used this space to create Sanctuary, the setting of the Diablo franchise, to a more fully realized place. Different regions have their own unique cultures, which extends to the weapons and items you collect and the characters you talk to. “It’s great to have this continued space in which to invest so much,” said Mueller. “It’s something new to the franchise.” Shely adds, “One of the things that is exciting Diablo IV is being able to see more of the world than ever before. “

Diablo IV still doesn’t have a release date – Blizzard says it doesn’t expect it this year – but it’s coming during a busy period for the franchise. Diablo expands to mobile with the upcoming spin-off Immortal, and this year will also see the launch of the highly anticipated remaster of Diablo IIWith all that going on, it’s especially important that the flagship title has its own distinct flavor. And in the case of Diablo IV, it is taste that is built out of balance. “Darkness doesn’t mean gloom,” says Mueller.