Diablo IV is an action role-playing game created and released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2023. It is the fourth main game in the Diablo series. The game was first announced at BlizzCon 2019 and was released on June 5, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and Microsoft Windows. Players choose from eight character classes—Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, Rogue, Necromancer, Spiritborn, Paladin, or Warlock—and use their abilities to complete quests through battles.

The game includes features from earlier games in the series, such as dungeons that change each time they are played and character-building focused on collecting items. It also introduces new elements, like an open world and player versus player combat.

Diablo IV received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its story and atmosphere. As of September 2024, the game has earned over one billion dollars in total sales. Its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, was released in October 2024. The current season, Season 12: Season Slaughter, began on March 1, 2026, and will lead into the release of the second expansion, Lord of Hatred, which was announced in December 2025 and is scheduled to launch on April 28, 2026.

Gameplay

The main way to play the game is by getting better weapons and armor by defeating tougher enemies. Players use different character types, each with special skills that can be changed using gear and skill choices. This helps move forward in the story and complete quests. Enemies are grouped into families based on their theme, fighting style, and where they live. Each family has different types of enemies that work together using special abilities. They can be told apart by their shapes, postures, and weapons.

Creative director Sebastian Stepien said the story was made to feel more realistic than Diablo III. To do this, the story focuses on regular people in Sanctuary instead of politics, kings, or high fantasy themes.

A character's strength in battle depends on their stats and the boosts from their gear. Attack power and chance to land critical hits increase damage dealt. Defense and resistance to elements like fire or lightning help take less damage. Diablo IV adds three new stats: Angelic Power, Demonic Power, and Ancestral Power. Angelic Power changes how long helpful effects last, while Demonic Power affects how long harmful effects last. Ancestral Power makes it more likely for effects to spread to other enemies. Gear becomes more rare, showing how strong it is. The rarest items have special effects that change more than just numbers. In interviews, developers said trading and crafting will be available but only for less powerful items. Limited-time seasons return, adding new items, characters, events, and content. Microtransactions only offer cosmetic items, and the game requires an internet connection to play.

The player's view is from above, like looking down at a map, not from the side or first-person perspective.

Seven character classes are available. The Barbarian, Sorcerer, and Druid were announced in 2019, the Rogue in 2021, the Necromancer in 2022, the Spiritborn with the first expansion in 2024, and the Paladin and Warlock with the second expansion in 2026. Each class has unique abilities and voices.

• The Barbarian can switch weapons during fights.
• The Sorcerer uses fire, ice, and lightning magic.
• The Druid can change into human, werewolf, or werebear forms and uses earth and storm magic.
• The Rogue moves quickly, switching between melee and ranged attacks.
• The Necromancer uses dark magic to summon and attack enemies.
• The Spiritborn uses four spirit guardians with unique strengths.
• The Paladin chooses from four oaths that change how they play.
• The Warlock uses hellfire, demons, and powerful magic.

Character appearance can be changed, including portraits and skin color. Mounts can also be customized. Skill trees let players choose which abilities to use.

Players can explore seven areas in Sanctuary:

• The Fractured Peaks are snowy mountains with caves.
• Scosglen is a forested coastal area with druids, werewolves, and drowned enemies.
• The Dry Steppes are harsh plains where people eat each other.
• Kehjistan is a desert wasteland with ruins of a lost civilization.
• Hawezar is a swamp home to witches.
• Nahantu is a jungle full of dangerous animals.
• Skovos has ocean settings with underwater monsters.

Hell is also a playable area. Dungeons are randomly created and have different layouts each time. These areas are separate, so other players won’t appear. Sanctuary is a fixed area without randomly generated maps.

The game world is open, so players can move between areas and dungeons without loading screens. Players can complete regions in any order. Enemies adjust to the player’s strength, and the story has no fixed path. Hardcore mode is available. Some areas only open after completing story milestones. Large cities show many players, while wild areas feel empty.

Ex-game director Luis Barriga said the game’s atmosphere should feel like a medieval city. All game elements are 3D, and the world has hills and valleys. This allows for moving through the environment and showing movies within the game.

Synopsis

Diablo IV is set in the world of Sanctuary, 50 years after the events of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The story follows the return of Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, who is summoned by cultists. After previous battles, the power of demons and angels has weakened, allowing Lilith to gain influence in Sanctuary.

Long ago, Lilith and the angel Inarius created Sanctuary as a safe place for those seeking peace between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. Their union produced the Nephalem, a unique race that includes the protagonist. The people of Sanctuary feared the Nephalem’s power and wanted to destroy them. Lilith protected her children, leading Inarius to banish her to the void.

The player, known as "the Wanderer," is drugged by villagers influenced by Lilith and given petals of her blood, creating a bond. After escaping, the Wanderer meets Lorath Nahr, a member of the Horadrim (a group from Diablo III), who explains a prophecy about Lilith’s return. Inarius believes he can end the prophecy by killing Lilith to return to Heaven. With help from Neyrelle, the Wanderer visits Rathma, the first Nephalem and founder of the Necromancers. Rathma’s spirit reveals he possesses a key to Hell. When Inarius demands the key, Rathma refuses, and Inarius kills him. Lilith later retrieves the key.

The Wanderer travels to Scosglen to meet Donan, a Horadrim who once defeated the demon Astaroth with the help of Druids. Lilith corrupts the Druids to free Astaroth, who is released in exchange for safe passage through Hell. Astaroth possesses Donan’s son, Yorin, who dies after the demon is defeated. Donan recovers the Soulstone used to trap Astaroth and plans to alter it to capture Lilith.

Reuniting with Lorath in the Dry Steppes, the Wanderer pursues Elias, Lorath’s former apprentice, who summoned Lilith to Sanctuary. Elias cannot be killed, but the Wanderer and Lorath find the Sightless Eye, revealing Lilith’s plan: to summon the Lesser Evils to empower humans against the Prime Evils. She also plans to take her father Mephisto’s power to conquer Hell. Elias uses a witch named Taissa to summon Andariel, who is defeated by the Wanderer. To break Elias’s immortality, the Wanderer and Horadrim destroy the severed finger where Elias stored his life essence, and the spirits of the Tree of Whispers claim his head.

From the Tree, Lorath discovers a gateway to Hell beneath Caldeum, opened using Rathma’s key. In Caldeum, the Wanderer defeats Duriel, another Lesser Evil. Inarius enters Hell to confront Lilith, who kills him. Donan is mortally wounded, and Lorath stays behind. The Wanderer and Neyrelle pursue Lilith to Mephisto’s Cathedral of Hatred. Mephisto, who appeared as a bloodied wolf during the journey, urges the group to focus on Lilith. Instead, Neyrelle uses the Soulstone to trap Mephisto, believing him to be the greater threat. The Wanderer defeats Lilith, who warns that without her, victory over the Prime Evils may not be possible.

With both Sanctuary’s creators dead, the group returns home. Neyrelle leaves with the Soulstone, determined to find a way to defeat the Prime Evils permanently.

Development

After the 2014 release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Josh Mosqueira planned Diablo IV under the code name Hades. He imagined the game would include combat viewed from a character's perspective, similar to the Batman: Arkham series, a feature where character deaths are permanent, and multiplayer options. In July 2016, when Mosqueira left Blizzard, the first version of the game was canceled, and development began again.

Diablo IV was announced on November 1, 2019, at BlizzCon 2019. It was planned for release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Development for the PC and console versions happened at the same time. Luis Barriga, the game’s director, had previously worked on Diablo III: Reaper of Souls and World of Warcraft: Legion. Blizzard Entertainment’s president, Mike Ybarra, said the game took more than 6 years to create.

Game designer Jesse McCree said the game’s look was inspired by heavy metal music. The art team aimed to blend the dark style of Diablo II with the hand-painted style of Diablo III and medieval art. Art director John Mueller mentioned that artists like Frank Frazetta and Gerald Brom influenced the game’s design. The team used ideas from earlier Diablo games to create characters. For example, the Rogue class was designed to include the fast, skilled gameplay of Diablo II’s Assassin and Diablo III’s Demon Hunter.

By July 2021, Barriga and McCree were no longer working at Blizzard after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard lawsuit. After interim co-lead Jen Oneal left, Blizzard said Diablo IV would not be released in 2022 because of high employee turnover. The company also announced it would sell cosmetic items and a season pass, not upgrades to game items as in Diablo Immortal. On June 12, 2022, a 2023 release was confirmed. At The Game Awards 2022, Blizzard said the game would release on June 6. Later, the company clarified that the game would begin on June 5, with early access starting on June 1, depending on the player’s time zone.

Users in the open beta reported problems playing the game on Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards. The game ran slowly, caused overheating, and crashed. Some users said the graphics card stopped working. Blizzard and Nvidia said in March 2023 they were working to fix the issue.

On January 15, 2024, Microsoft Gaming announced Diablo IV would be added to Game Pass on March 28, 2024.

Marketing and release

Before the official announcement, clues about it appeared in a description for a Diablo artbook. To celebrate the Diablo IV announcement, people who had virtual tickets for BlizzCon 2019 received special wings in the game that looked like Lilith's wings. The game was introduced at The Game Awards 2022 with a new trailer and a performance of the song "Lilith" by singer Halsey.

Blizzard Entertainment announced a free beta weekend for Diablo IV. It took place from March 17–19 for those who had pre-ordered the game and from March 24–26 for all players. On April 20, Blizzard announced a second free beta weekend, called "Server Slam," which happened from May 12–14.

On June 1, 2023, Blizzard Entertainment released a music video for "Lilith (Diablo IV Anthem)" by Halsey and Suga from BTS. The video was made public on June 5.

Diablo IV's first expansion pack, Vessel of Hatred, was introduced at BlizzCon 2023. It takes place in the region of Nahantu and adds a new playable class, the Spiritborn. The expansion pack was released on October 8, 2024.

The second expansion pack, Lord of Hatred, was announced at The Game Awards 2025. It will add the region of the Skovos Isles and include the Paladin and Warlock as new playable classes. Major changes to gameplay were also shared. The expansion is expected to be released on April 28, 2026.

Reception

Diablo IV received "generally favorable" reviews for the Windows and PlayStation 5 versions, and "universal acclaim" for the Xbox Series X version, according to Metacritic. Windows Central described Diablo IV as "Blizzard's magnum opus" and "Blizzard's most important, pivotal game since World of Warcraft," saying it met or exceeded expectations. The game was praised for its atmosphere, storytelling, visuals, level design, and improvements to gameplay compared to its predecessor. Travis Northup of IGN called it "a spectacular sequel." He praised the gameplay, changes from Diablo III, and the uniqueness of character classes but noted repetition in the game's opening act and some technical problems. PCGamesN highlighted the visuals and aesthetic, writing "It's creepy, yet somehow beautiful." While enjoying the endgame, Ars Technica said the skill trees had fewer upgrade options than in Diablo III.

Alessandro Barbosa of GameSpot wrote that the game's story was "moving and engrossing," especially praising the portrayal of Lilith, the main antagonist. He noted the game focused more on companions than previous Diablo games and called the action during gameplay one of its strongest points. However, he criticized some boss fights in common dungeons for being less complex than those in the main story.

Polygon disliked the dungeon-crawling aspect, saying the procedurally generated dungeons repeated layouts and missed opportunities for fun. VG247 praised the soundtrack as "exceptional; equal parts haunting and daunting, just like its traumatised world."

On June 6, 2023, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Diablo IV became the fastest-selling game in its history. It earned $666 million in revenue within the first five days after launch and reached 12 million players by August 2023.

The PlayStation 5 version of Diablo IV was the second best-selling retail game in Japan during its first week, with 24,375 physical units sold. The PlayStation 4 version sold 8,524 units in Japan and ranked fifth on the weekly all-format video game sales chart. In total, Diablo IV sold 41,839 retail units across all platforms in Japan during its first week. It was the sixth best-selling video game in the United States in 2023.