Blizzard is pulling out all the stops for its annual gaming convention, it would seem.
Later this week, the company will unveil its future plans for the likes of Hearthstone, World of Warcraft and Overwatch, but as dominant as those three titles are in their respective genres, there’s one particular franchise that fans are especially hopeful for: Diablo 4. While still not officially confirmed, the long-running dungeon crawler series hasn’t received a new entry since 2012 which, even for Blizzard, is a frustratingly long wait period.
Outside a series of small-scale content updates and seasonal changes, Diablo 3 is largely considered to have been sidelined on Blizzard’s list of priorities, with its aforementioned franchises having risen to become considerably more lucrative properties in the years since.
Finally, however, the studio is widely believed to be using 2019’s BlizzCon as a platform to announce Diablo 4, thanks to a leak discovered last week in an ad for a Diablo artbook. Not quite proof enough on its own, then, but the plot thickens today with a number of further discoveries, including what could prove to be the title’s primary antagonist.
Check out the screenshot below – sourced from the same artbook in question – courtesy of Twitter user WeakAuras:
“Lilith’s debut in Diablo IV is a reimagining of her form that is far different from her previous appearance,” reads the character’s biography, which also provides concept art of the redesign. The so-called Daughter of Hatred, Lilith hasn’t appeared in the series since Diablo 2 and is only referenced via in-game lore in its sequel. With the titular Lord of Hell, Diablo, once again vanquished at the climax of Diablo 3, Lilith, the succubus queen, would make for an excellent new villain.
We’ll have to wait and see if that’s truly the case, of course, but expect to learn more about Diablo 4 when the doors to BlizzCon swing open on November 1st.