Diablo 4‘s Season Of Blood is going to be the “biggest update to Diablo 4 since launch”, pitting players against a ravenous vampire army.
Vampire hunter Erys, voiced by Gemma Chan, will assist the player in combatting the curse that they acquire from Lord Zir. When Lord Zir attempts to turn the player into his thrall, it backfires and players are granted vampiric powers that can be enhanced by killing the villain’s minions.
Speaking to NME, seasons lead artist Andy Lomerson shared that Season Of Blood will “embrace” the darker aesthetic of Diablo 4, and will feature fountains of blood and innocents being captured and “harvested” by their enemies.
Additionally, producer Tim Ismay shared that modified monster families and corrupted Bloodseeker versions of character classes will be out in the world, and compared the feature to having your single-player world invaded in a PvP game.
As for the season’s vampiric powers, these are unlockable through the consumption of Potent Blood from encounters with Zir’s minions – but only through the collection of Pact Armor pieces will they be useable by the player. Stronger powers require a greater number of Pact Armor pieces, and there are three Pacts that correspond with three types of power.
The focus hasn’t been solely on the story content, though. “One of the things that I am most excited about are the changes to the content that we already have,” said associate game designer Antonio Watson.
Watson revealed that there will be updated, more efficient nightmare dungeons with new loops and new endgame bosses that pad out the later hours of a Diablo 4 playthrough.
“There are a tonne of quality-of-life updates we’re putting into Season 2, stuff that people have been asking for for a pretty long time,” added Ismay. Mounts are faster and will no longer get stuck in their surroundings, while Renown bonus skill points will be available straight away across seasons.
Season Of Blood will begin on October 17 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
In other gaming news, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer trailer revealed the modernised original maps in action, with firefights on High Rise, Rust and Terminal to name a few.