Devil It is undoubtedly part of the licenses that have forged the video game industry. On June 6, the gates of hell will open again. After eleven years of waiting, the millions of fans of the saga will be able to walk through gloomy landscapes to defeat armies of bloodthirsty monsters.
Above all, the title developed by Blizzard (which Microsoft wants to seize) will have the mission of restoring the image of the series after a Diablo III halftones Considered too bright and less demanding than its legendary predecessors, the game had left a bitter taste among early adopters. Return to a cult saga.
• What is Devil?
The titles Devil are action role-playing games, the first two episodes of which were released for PC in 1997 and then in 2000. With more than 55 million copies sold, the series offers players the chance to embody a character responsible for killing waves of enemies. . in a dark fantasy universe. Dark colors and slimy monsters thus mark the saga that proposes to evolve in the heart of an eternal conflict between angels and demons.
On the game mechanics side, the concept is simple and satisfying: “We click on an enemy to hit it, we click on an object to pick it up,” summarizes ExServ. From Diablo III, a console version is available with joystick controls still focused on accessibility. But always with the goal of becoming more and more powerful thanks to increasingly rare weapons and equipment.
• Why did the license mark an entire generation?
When devil ii -the reference episode of the saga- was released in the summer of 2000, the modern video game as we know it today does not yet exist. The community aspect of games, but also parties or interactions with various people, are still in their infancy.
At the time, only a few titles, such as Counter-Strike, offered players the opportunity to meet online. For the phenomenon to become more democratic, it was necessary to wait until November 2004 and the release of World of Warcraft. However, the license Devil laid the foundation for these future developments in the video game industry since the early 2000s.
The game is part of a bygone era. It was the era of Internet cafes and LANs, those parties where each player brought their computer to a friend’s house to play together on a local network.
Above all, each of the works in the saga receives an excellent commercial reception. With each release, sales records are set. For the third opus, more than 3.5 million players bought the game on the day it was released. A still unbeaten record for an exclusive title for the PC environment.
• What innovations have these games introduced?
Assigning colors to items based on their rarity is one of the most popular items today. Devil has implemented this visual cue that lets you know at a glance if an item is Common, Unusual, Rare, Epic, or Legendary. Today, this system is found in very popular titles such as Fortnite EITHER call of duty: war zone.
Less noticeable, but equally important, Devil has created a science of the game loop: “There’s always something going on,” says Benoît Reinier. “Every 15 or 20 minutes the player knows that something is going to happen.” It can also be a fight against an enemy army, a fight against a boss or the discovery of a new game area.
• Why did Diablo III receive a mixed reception?
While the founding titles of the series are successful, the development team behind the series is experiencing some confusion. The publisher Blizzard passes from hand to hand before landing in the bag of the French Vivendi. Following disagreements with management, the longstanding members jumped ship in 2003. Five years later, Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create the Activision Blizzard group.
These upheavals led to the design of a third work quite far from expectations. Dark environments and gloomy backdrops were brightened. The aesthetic of the heroes has evolved towards Heroic Fantasy, a universe much more radiant than the atmosphere in which its players used to be immersed.
Despite this defeat, the episode sold particularly well. In 2015, the publisher announced that the title had sold 30 million copies in the space of three years.
• How did Diablo III set the stage for Diablo IV?
One year after its release, Diablo III made a switch to consoles. By releasing a version for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, the title was able to open up a new player base. This new momentum also led to the launch of the extension Soul reapers in August 2014.
This expansion introduced the new Adventure game mode. It allows you to adapt to the game time on console (less important than on PC) by offering to pick up the game little by little.
It is from this game system that the design of Diablo IV moved into an open-world universe, letting the player roam the environment freely. A choice assumed to adapt to the greatest number. The gamble is also successful for the developers, who remarkably detailed to Tech&Co how they sought to find the license’s identity while adapting to new players.
Source: BFM TV
