Diablo III

Did You Know?

• At BlizzCon 2011, Blizzard offered an annual pass for World of Warcraft that included a free digital copy of Diablo III and a special Diablo-inspired mount called Tyrael's Charger.
• French consumers group UFC Que Choisir received 1,500 complaints in four days about Diablo III connectivity problems and asked the French government to examine online-only DRM.

Gameplay

Diablo III is an action role-playing game featuring fast-paced real-time combat and an isometric graphics engine. Players choose a character class—Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, or Wizard—and gain experience, level up, and acquire randomized equipment. Equipment quality and attributes are randomized: magic-quality items have up to three random properties, rare-quality items up to six, and legendary-quality items up to eight, with set items providing cumulative bonuses when multiple pieces are equipped. The proprietary engine uses Blizzard's custom in-house physics and includes destructible environments with in-game damage effects. The game presents an overhead view via a custom 3D engine, similar to the isometric view of earlier titles. Enemies interact with the 3D environment, such as crawling up walls into combat areas. Multiplayer is available through Blizzard's Battle.net service, allowing drop-in and drop-out cooperative play. An enhanced quest system, random level generator, and random encounter generator ensure varied experiences on replay.

Plot

The game takes place in Sanctuary twenty years after Diablo II. Deckard Cain and his ward Leah investigate ancient texts in Tristram Cathedral regarding an ominous prophecy. A mysterious star strikes the cathedral, creating a crater into which Cain disappears. The Nephalem (the player's character) arrives in New Tristram to investigate the fallen star and accompanies Leah to rescue Cain. After rescuing him, they learn the only way to reach the fallen star is to defeat the Skeleton King, formerly King Leoric. The Nephalem defeats him and finds a stranger where the star landed; the stranger remembers only a sword that shattered into three pieces as he fell. The Nephalem recovers two pieces, but Maghda, leader of the Dark Coven, obtains the third. Leah kills the cultists with a surge of magic, but Maghda fatally attacks Cain and flees with the stranger. Before dying, Cain repairs the sword, discovering it is of angelic origin, and tasks the Nephalem with returning it to the stranger. After freeing the stranger from the Butcher, the stranger's memories return, revealing him to be the Archangel Tyrael, Aspect of Justice, who cast aside his divinity to warn Sanctuary of demon lords. In Act II, the Nephalem, Leah, and Tyrael travel to Caldeum. The Nephalem tracks down and kills Maghda, then rescues Leah from Belial's forces. Leah reveals her mother Adria is still alive, and the Nephalem helps rescue her from imprisonment in the sewers.

Development

Development on Diablo III began in 2001 while Blizzard North was still operating, and the game was announced on June 28, 2008, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris. The original artistic design underwent three revisions before meeting the team's standards. The game was announced for simultaneous release on Windows and macOS, requiring a constant internet connection even for single-player. The proprietary engine uses Blizzard's custom in-house physics, replacing the earlier Havok engine, and features destructible environments. Lead designer Jay Wilson previously worked on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes; lead world designer Leonard Boyarsky was a co-creator of Fallout. On May 9, 2011, Blizzard announced an expected external beta in Q3 2011. The closed public beta began September 7, 2011, with testers not bound by a non-disclosure agreement. The open beta ran from April 20 to May 1, 2012. The game released for Windows and OS X on May 15, 2012. On June 11, 2012, Apple announced native retina display support for Diablo III, which Blizzard confirmed the next day, noting ongoing optimization for high-density monitors.

Reception

Diablo III received generally positive reviews from critics according to Metacritic. GamesRadar+ praised the opening act and nods to past Diablo games. IGN praised the new skill system, stating it encourages experimentation and is a superior way to handle character abilities, and lauded the rune and loot systems, randomly generated levels, and enjoyable unpredictability, as well as the sound and voice acting. Rock, Paper, Shotgun gave mixed commentary during the beta, praising the game's directness and intuitive interface but criticizing lag in single-player mode due to the lack of an offline mode. After release, it reaffirmed displeasure with the always-online DRM and offered a mixed opinion that the game was enjoyable but added nothing new to its genre. Users criticized the strong digital rights management requiring persistent online authentication, eliminating offline single-player. Forbes contributing writer Erik Kain stated the online requirement was unnecessary for single-player and set a worrying precedent. Senior producer Alex Mayberry responded that StarCraft II and World of Warcraft also authenticate, and that the gaming world had changed since Diablo II.