For nearly 30 years, Diablo has been built around the idea that Sanctuary is always one catastrophe away from falling apart, and Diablo 5 is spinning that concept off into a new genre. The series has repeatedly sent players into a world where demons are returning, the Prime Evils are up to something, and humanity is caught in the middle of a conflict far bigger than itself. Even when Sanctuary looks like a ruined place, there is usually something worse on the horizon, giving each Diablo game a sense that the end of the world is still approaching.
Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Diablo 3, and Diablo 4 all play with that idea in different ways, but there is an important distinction in how those stories treat their apocalypses. Each one is set in Sanctuary, a dark fantasy world where it constantly feels apocalyptic, but the world still exists, people still live free, and heroes gather to stop the next apocalypse. Indeed, as a dark fantasy franchise, it can sometimes feel like the Diablo games are “post-apocalyptic,” but they fit a general “apocalyptic” genre more by nature. Diablo 5 changes that.
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Diablo 5’s New Genre is an Important Distinction
Diablo 5, however, is officially taking the series somewhere it has never gone before: the apocalypse has already happened. Blizzard’s new game takes place in a Sanctuary where Diablo has defeated its heroes, conquered the world, and left only a small number of survivors behind. Blizzard itself describes Diablo 5 as a “post-apocalyptic world,” with Sanctuary in ruins and survival becoming the central concern.
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That difference is more significant than simply making Diablo 5 look darker than Diablo 4. Blizzard says Diablo 5 takes place 100 years after the events of the prior game, following a period in which Sanctuary actually had a Golden Era after Mephisto’s defeat in Diablo 4. The upcoming ARPG isn’t asking players to stop Sanctuary from falling; the player character is entering a world where it has already fallen. The familiar towns and safe zones are gone, while survivors travel together in a caravan and attempt to endure Diablo’s rule.
Image via Blizzard
Image via Blizzard
Image via BlizzardThis also explains why the post-apocalyptic label fits Diablo 5 more cleanly than it generally fits the previous games. A ruined Sanctuary isn’t enough by itself, since Diablo has always featured ruined settlements, corrupted lands, dead civilizations, and the aftermath of supernatural destruction. What changes with Diablo 5 is where the story sits relative to the catastrophe. Blizzard’s developers specifically described the game as exploring what Sanctuary is like after Diablo has already won, twisting the typical franchise formula and genre.
Diablo 5 doesn’t abandon the series’ fascination with the end of the world so much as finally move the timeline past it. Diablo 1 through Diablo 4 repeatedly asked how Sanctuary could survive the next apocalypse, while Diablo 5 begins by asking what happens when Sanctuary doesn’t.
