Diablo 4 (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) will, unlike all its predecessors, no longer use color coding for enemies. This feature has accompanied the Diablo franchise since the first installment in 1996. In an interview, the executives explain that this is intended to create more immersion.
What is this feature? Since Diablo 1 (1996), especially strong enemies have certain colors to differentiate them better. In Diablo 3, for example, Champions glow blue, Elite enemies yellow and have special names.
Especially in endgame content like portals from Diablo 3, this code was useful for players to determine which enemies drop better loot or grant more progress. In some playstyles, all other enemies were even practically completely ignored and killed only as collateral damage.
Diablo 4 draws from the best features of all predecessors, but apparently not this one. Diablo chief Rod Fergusson and game director Joey Shely explained in an interview with IGN that Diablo 4 will no longer have this coding.
Why do enemies lose their color? As Fergusson explains in the conversation, enemies are meant to feel more “grounded,” making the gameplay feel “more realistic.” Glowing enemies do not fit in with that.
As the colleagues from GameStar have already observed, special enemies can still be distinguished by certain affixes. It will only be apparently more difficult to recognize elite enemies in Diablo 4.
Watch gameplay from Diablo 4 for 3 of the 5 available classes at launch:
“Less High Fantasy, more realistic”
Diablo 4 aims to be darker than its predecessors, especially compared to Diablo 3. The colorful comic style has upset many hardcore fans, and the latest Diablo installment apparently wants to return to its roots, to a dark Gothic setting. Fergusson says about this:
I think it feels different in the way that it is more grounded. Even regarding visual effects. They feel less like High Fantasy, more realistic.
Elements such as the required time to kill an enemy also play a role. If it is too high, enemies feel just like “meat bags with too many health points.” If it is too short, it feels like everything is made of paper.
The feeling of power is an important point in the game design, which Fergusson already explained in a previous interview:
To still provide challenge, Diablo 4 will offer so-called “World Tiers.” To rank up to higher difficulties, you will have to defeat world bosses that you should conquer together with other players in the open world.
However, some players doubt whether this will really be a hurdle. MyMMO reader Furby for instance predicts: “It’s probably harder to unlock a door drunk than to take down a ‘World Boss’ in Diablo 4.”
How difficult Diablo 4 will ultimately be, you can experience for yourself in 2023. The game is set to be released, rumored in April. A concrete date is still missing, but an insider claims to at least know when pre-orders will start:
Insider says you can buy Diablo 4 as early as 2022 – has been right about everything so far
