The Diablo franchise has always possessed a simple core, in spite of the piles of lore and characters it has built up over the last three decades. Fundamentally, these games are about hunting down and murdering the titular Diablo, a huge evil demon guy who finds convoluted ways to come back to life in each new installment. There are other plots, characters, and things going on, but ultimately it’s about finding a large red guy and hitting him with swords until he topples over and threatens to come back once again.
In a bold and/or stupid move, Diablo IV doesn’t have Diablo in it. It’s so baffling that even though I’ve invested dozens of hours into this new title since its release last summer, I still had to Google around before writing this to make sure I didn’t miss some side quest where the red guy shows up. But no. Outside of a few brief mentions of his prior existence, Diablo IV is Diablo free.
That’s not to say it’s a reboot. It’s still set in the same world of Sanctuary as the prior installments — although the geography of the world has changed so much that it doesn’t line up with the layout of the previous games. The newest season has an optional lore moment poking fun at just how different the map is. Diablo IV is chock full of references to days gone by, and even has…
