In a news post over on their official site, Blizzard gave new details about Diablo IV. In their first quarterly update, the developer outlined controller support, how the couch cooperative play user interface will work, and a new monster family called the Cannibals tribe. There’s still no release for the upcoming action role-playing game that is being developed for both consoles and PC simultaneously.
The first Diablo IV update came from Lead UI Designer Angela Del Priore. She revealed that players will be able to shift between keyboard and mouse and controller inputs freely and that the user interface has been designed around that. Due to this, the layouts are more grid-based than in previous titles. Her goal was to create controller-friendly shortcuts while not changing what PC players expect from the UI. As such, Diablo IV should feel fine no matter how the player chooses to play.
Del Priore also outlined the cooperative play in Diablo IV. One of the biggest complaints about how it was implemented in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was that players couldn’t do anything if a local player had a UI screen open. As such, they’ve decided to focus on two-player co-op for their UI design and have made it so both players can go through the core progression UI screens at the same time.
Blizzard Senior Encounter Designer Candace Thomas unveiled details on a new monster family called the Cannibals. There are four members in the flesh-eating family, each with their own unique weapon and fighting stance. Two of these are melee combatants, with one wielding a two-handed greatsword cleaver to deliver slow yet damaging blows, while the other uses a lightweight halberd to close the distance. Meanwhile, the bruiser uses a spiked club that will stun players, and swarmers use dual-axes to attack players head-on.
