Former Diablo II developers are making an ARPG with a destructible world, global catastrophes, and a procedural \"sandbox.\"
Blizzard North veterans from MoonBeast Productions have revealed new details about their ambitious role-playing action game Darkhaven. The project combines the legacy of Diablo II with the systemic freedom characteristic of Minecraft.
As one of the developers, Phil Shenk, noted, the team does not consider the game a direct continuation of the classic, but it develops ideas that were discussed even after the release of Diablo II and the Lord of Destruction expansion:
\"We don't call it a sequel to Diablo 2, but it's largely inspired by what we were thinking about after Diablo 2 and Lord of Destruction.\"
The world of Darkhaven is generated procedurally and changes as you progress. One of the central events will be the \"Necropolis\" — a global event that gradually turns the map into a territory of the undead. Players will be able to leave such a world and move to a new one, but there they may face other disasters, from volcanic eruptions to an ice age.
Erich Schaefer explained that the team intends to regularly expand the event system:
\"We will be adding new events. I hope to release the game with several at once, and then continue to create new ones. They will be modularly integrated into your world, as it procedurally grows as you explore. Almost like in Minecraft, when they add a new biome — we can do the same with these events.\"
Players will not only have to destroy hordes of monsters and collect powerful builds, combining equipment and abilities. Darkhaven will allow you to destroy walls with spells, pave paths through mountains, and change the terrain for an advantage. According to Schaefer, the idea of such a system has long haunted him:
\"I told the team that this is the most difficult game in the world to develop. And it still is. But it seems we've finally overcome the most difficult stage.\"
The release date of Darkhaven has not yet been announced. The project already has a Steam page where you can add the game to your wishlist.
