One of the major design decisions behind Diablo 4 was the open world. Here, we take a look at how open world design fits into Diablo, and discuss whether it can properly implement this concept in Diablo 4.

Level Design And Art

First, let’s talk about the level of design. There are 5 main areas or biomes in the game. Luckily, each zone has its own identity, and most of the time, you can clearly visualize which zone you’re in.

Hawezar has swamps full of rot and poison. Fractured Peaks Strongholds are full of snow mountains and polar bears. And Kehjistan is a never-ending desert. As a result, each area feels unique, with its own visual identity, but still maintains the same dark vibe.

I can safely say that one of the strongest features of the open world is the art. The art team did a fantastic job of creating this intense, dark, eerie atmosphere in the game. The detail is stunning, both in the world and in the character models.

But it’s a shame that Diablo 4 doesn’t have a bestiary or model browser to see all the places in the design in more detail. Another thing I’d love to see more of in the open world is the addition of more landmarks.

Landmarks And Memorable Moments

Over the course of my challenge campaign, the only area I can really say I remember well is Caldeum. It is a decaying city occupied by hellish forces, unlike any other city in the world.

Another place of note is Guulrahn, with its dark atmosphere and bloody streets. This is another memorable and unique place in the open world. Many games take advantage of this option of the open world format, adding landmarks and memorable places throughout the game.

Activities

The developer has been encouraging you to explore its campaign, but here, at this stage of the game, things are getting a little shaky. Which of these activities are worth doing and are actually fun and engaging?

First, Side Quests are definitely not worth doing, and their rewards are not worth your time at all. Altars of Lilith seem like a dirty campaign to me. Because I’ve never liked to gather Diablo 4 Items in the open world, especially if those items won’t add to the lore and story, but just filler.

Tree of Whispers is good until you reach World Tier 3. You start running Nightmare Dungeon, and Tree of Whispers also starts being replaced by farming Helltide. But it’s a great way to level up your character. Because it gets you into different areas, discrete events, and is more fun than spamming the same dungeon repeatedly.

Helltides are a great addition to the open world and one feature that I believe really takes advantage of it. This situation is further expanded throughout the life of the game with the addition of unique events in Tides of Hell.

Also Read: How To Quickly Level Up Necromancer Build In Diablo 4 Season 1?

Open World Traversal

Now let’s move on to what I consider being the fundamental problem with Diablo 4’s open world design: traversal. Because going from one point on the map to another is pretty boring.

First, the way we traverse the open world is extremely static. You just sit on the horse, keep pushing the analog stick on the controller, and wait to get there.

Traveling through the open world in Diablo 4, sometimes there is a random event. You might run into a bunch of mobs, but Diablo 4 Gold rewards from killing them are too small to be worth your time. Overall, the traversal of the game isn’t engaging enough that the open world feels completely lifeless.

Conclusions

The whole point of open world design is that you have the freedom to choose what to do and what not to do. But I also believe that for an open world to be successful, it has to be alive. And it had to happen something to break the cycle of just running around the world.

So what do you think of the open world of Diablo 4? I hope this improves Diablo 4’s lifecycle.

Diablo 4 will be released soon. As the fourth work in the Diablo series, the release of Diablo 4 indicates that players will usher in a lot of new content. Players will be busy running various dungeons, collecting various loot or participating in various competitive PVP combats.

In this article, I mainly introduce Diablo 4’s Co-op, open world, PVP and Strongholds.

Co-op

In Diablo 4’s campaign, you play a mysterious wanderer out to stop Lilith from achieving her goal of dominating Sanctuary and humanity itself. Destined to be another timeless, Blizzard antagonist, Lilith is certainly a big priority and the journey to defeat her will take you through a massive world full of stories, quests, and lore.

You can team up with a diverse cast of allies and even choose your own path through the story, as the first three acts can be tackled in whatever order you like. But there’s even more to the Diablo 4 experience than just the campaign against Lilith.

Open World

Diablo 4’s huge seamlessly traversable world is a shared one. You could see other players running around in it and interact with them. This means you can spontaneously team up with other people to tackle challenges that no solo adventurer or even standard party of four could survive.

Periodically, you’ll encounter the intimidating world bosses, which are massively powerful enemies. Truly, these behemoths are a sign that Hell has set its sights on Sanctuary and the return of Diablo is imminent. Up to 12 players can team up to take on a world boss, although the group can be loosely organized. Coordinate with friends or make new ones during the fight. Just take those monsters down before it’s too late.

Players will also encounter world events while exploring Sanctuary, which are spontaneous activities that vary depending on the region you’re in. You might come across an Ancient Obelisk that needs to be activated by standing on pressure plates while fending off incoming waves of enemies or perhaps a defiled ground event where you find monsters worshiping a Corrupted Shrine. Kill these monsters, and you will get a lot of Diablo 4 Gold.

Destroy the shrine, stop their worship and maybe slow the plans of evil down a little. Find a twisted Jar of Souls, an ancient urn that feeds on the souls of your enemies as you slay them, only to release the evil trap within that you must also kill obviously.

PVP

World events ensure that there’s always something to do as you traverse Sanctuary. If you’re not into playing nice, there’s also, of course, PVP. Much like an MMO, there are two dedicated PVP zones, the aptly named Fields of Hatred, where you can slaughter your fellow players in your heart’s content.

In these zones, you’ll find Shards of Hatred, which need to be purified to be earned by your character. If you can fend off other players long enough to purify a shard, you can use purified shards to purchase loot.

Strongholds

One of the most intriguing new additions to Diablo 4 are the Strongholds. These unmarked places are held by hordes of monsters and players will have to cleanse them. These locations can be liberated in each zone and doing so will actually change the area permanently. A freed Stronghold can become a friendly town containing vendors, NPCs, and new quests.

A Stronghold might also unlock new dungeons or more far-reaching activities well beyond the scope of a single location. Their dynamic new ways to impact the world of Sanctuary and there are over a hundred of them.

What we’re saying is clear your schedule. You’re going to have a dizzying amount of quests to tackle when Diablo 4 releases on June 6.