Diablo creator gives brutal verdict to current state of Diablo 4

David Brevik, the creator of the original Diablo game, has shared his thoughts on Diablo 4 – and he’s not a fan of what’s become of his dark creation.

Brevik is now the head of gaming publisher Skystone Games, however, he was the brains behind the first Diablo and served as project lead on Diablo 2 – which is still considered the high point of the series.

In an interview with VideoGamer, Brevik gave a scathing assessment of Diablo 4 in its current form, as well as other ARPGs and MMOs. He was particularly frustrated by the speed at which players progress in Diablo 4, and how filling up the screen with enemies that are no more than cannon fodder has “cheapened the entire experience”.

Going into detail, Brevik said, “I think that RPGs in general have started to lean into this: kill swathes of enemies all over the place extremely quickly. Your build is killing all sorts of stuff so you could get more drops, you can level up, and the screen is littered with stuff you don’t care about.”

“I find it kind of silly”

“I don’t find that as kind of personal and realistic as like Diablo 2. The pacing on Diablo 2, I think is great. That’s one of the reasons it’s endured. I just don’t find killing screen-fulls of things instantly and mowing stuff down and walking around the level and killing everything, very enticing. I just don’t feel like that is a cool experience. I find it kind of silly.

He continued, “When you’re shortening that journey and making it kind of ridiculous. You’ve cheapened the entire experience, in my opinion. How fast can you level? How fast can you kill everything? It’s all about speed and things like that, but, in reality, I just think that makes a kind of a worse experience. And I tend to shy away from that direction.”

While Brevik doesn’t call it out specifically, it sounds like he’s talking about Diablo 4’s endgame modes like Helltides, an area that sees players mow down mobs of enemies without much in the way of context, the only purpose of them being to level up quickly.

However, Brevik could also be taking aim at Diablo 4 allowing players to “boost” their characters straight to level 50, and how the seasons encourage players to push for endgame immediately, with traditional questing becoming an afterthought.

While Season 7 of Diablo 4 has been well-received by players, it has not been without its issues, some of which are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.