Today, Blizzard revealed gameplay details on its new Spiritborn class for Diablo IV. An entirely new class for the Diablo franchise as part of their Vessel of Hatred expansion. We attended a special event at Blizzard HQ to learn more about designing the new class.
Speaking with members of the development team, we explored how the story of the upcoming expansion drove the class concept, and how the team approached building a new martial warrior class in a way that drew on themes of belief in humanity itself to deliver its spiritual power.
“The new class really comes from a narrative standpoint,” says Eleni Rivera-Colon, Associate Narrative Designer. “It’s about what is happening to Neyrelle and where she needs to go with the Soulstone. She has Mephisto in that rock, he’s had an influence on Nehantu before, there’s a lot of history there, so it felt natural going back to Nehantu and then building a class out of where in the story we were going.”
“It feels natural not forcing these pieces together,” says Stephen Stewart, Assistant Class Designer. “We’ve heard many times that there’s a desire for Paladin, Crusader, those sorts of sword and shield classes. But it just made sense for the Spiritborn to be the next class we were working on.”
The class concept is one of deep connection to Sanctuary’s Spirit Realm, a place where human spirits go that is removed from the influences of the angels of the High Heavens and the demons of the Burning Hells. Spiritborn use the power of four spirit guardians – represented by eagle, gorilla, jaguar, and centipede animals – to protect the spirit realm.
Rivera-Colon says that while the design of the Spiritborn pulled from a lot of different cultures, the aim was to focus on humanity itself.
“…while the design of the Spiritborn pulled from a lot of different cultures, the aim was to focus on humanity itself.”
“We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people to make sure we were respecting every culture that we were pulling from,” says Rivera-Colon. “We did a thorough dive to make sure we weren’t doing anything that a group might not be comfortable with. We feel confident that this really reflects the power of culture in general. Culture, community, coming together, believing in something. We really wanted to focus on humanity. What does having a spirit mean? So we really pulled into that.”
In writing the Spiritborn lore, the question of “so where have they been hiding all this time?” arises, but the team suggests the answer is about their focus on protecting the Spirit Realm which can be accessed there in the Nehantu region.
“They’re a culture that wants to keep to themselves and protect this sacred place,” says Rivera-Colon. “The spirit realm is an uncorrupted, untouched realm that they feel is the highest thing to protect since it is the closest thing to proving what humanity is and what humans have within them.”
While the concept of spirit guardians in the lore includes many different manifestations, the four animals chosen for the Spiritborn class was taken from the jungle setting to represent certain virtues and ideals – and cool aesthetics.
“We wanted to draw on all the environs of the jungle, from the canopy down to the soil,” says Bjorn Mikkelson, Game Designer. “It’d be easy just thinking of poison to say ‘snake’. But the centipede is even more connected to the soil and insects.”
“These animals added a lot of cohesion when we were putting the skill kit together,” says Stewart. “It gave us a grounded place to work from. A gorilla is going to be a very offensive, heavy handed thing. What is the core skill going to look like? It’s got beefy arms, maybe you see some of that come through.”
“…the class is designed to offer a great deal of customisation and personalisation…”
The gameplay experience (I went hands-on with the class at the event) offers four distinct styles of engagement across the four animal spirits, and Mikkelson says the class is designed to offer a great deal of customisation and personalisation in the way you can combine these powers.
“We want to give you, as players, the ability to find which of the spirits do or do not resonate with you,” Mikkelson says. “If you can’t stand bugs, the centipede might sound cool but you just can’t have a centipede showing up on my screen? The other spirits are there for you. That’s really what Spiritborn is about. Giving players the option to say that this is the guardian that really resonates with me and mixing and matching them as much as possible.”
For long-time fans of the Diablo series, Nehantu is a region that first appeared in Diablo II – 24 years ago! The team wanted to honour that past, suggesting there will be plenty of Easter Eggs for those with that deep memory to uncover on their return journey.
“We’re going back to Kurast, so you will see a faithful representation of that same city,” says Stewart. “The layout is even exactly the same. It’s really cool to get to explore those spaces in the fidelity of Diablo IV and see how it has changed over time because we are further along in the story.”
This connection to the long history of the game is something that the team is excited to bring forward into the modern era. “It’s cool to be adding to this history,” says Stewart. “I was a streamer who loved the Diablo franchise before I got to work here at Blizzard. To be adding to the history of the franchise and adding this new class – there’s a lot of apprehension but also pride too.”
“Everything to me is story,” says Rivera-Colon. “So success for me is that the Spiritborn feel like they fit into Nehantu and that lore questions you might be asking from Diablo II get answered.”
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred and the new Spiritborn class is coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox on October 8. A big thank you to the team for sitting down to chat with us.
About the Author
Seamus Byrne
Seamus Byrne has loved games since his neighbour let him play Decathlon on their Atari 2600. He has had to admit he has more time to think about games than play them as an adult, but still loves games more than ever.
