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As Blizzard breathes new life into Diablo 2, some of its original creators are back on the scene with an ambitious new ARPG called Darkhaven.
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Blizzard surprised us the other day when it added a new Warlock class to Diablo 2 and brought the 2021 remaster of the classic ARPG to Steam. For some of Diablo 2's original developers, the revitalization of their decades-old game is a happy testament to its lasting appeal, but it also means that, to some degree, they're competing with their own work as they develop a brand new ARPG called Darkhaven.
"Just the fact that people are playing this 30-year-old game, that it's worth it for them to introduce new content, is amazing to me," said original Diablo 2 lead character artist Phil Shenk on a call with PC Gamer last week. "It's super cool. I'm very proud, I guess is the word, just at the fact that it has so much legs."
Shenk hasn't yet had time to check out Diablo 2's new class himself: Along with the rest of Moon Beast Productions, which among others also includes Diablo 2 programmer Peter Hu (also on the call) and designer Erich Schaefer, he's been busy preparing a demo for Darkhaven and launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund its continued development. At the time of writing, Moon Beast has raised $200,000 toward a $500,000 goal with 25 more days to go.
I asked Shenk and Hu how it feels to find themselves in competition not only with the Diablo games that came after their time at Blizzard, but also Diablo 2 itself, now that it's been remastered, released on Steam, and bestowed with new DLC.
"There's tons of conflicted feelings there," said Hu. "Yeah, not gonna lie about that … We're an indie company in a way, going up against a giant, and that's a tough hill to climb."
"Yeah, we feel the pressure, but I don't hate them for it," said Shenk.
Shenk also pointed out that the vision for Darkhaven is not just to make another Diablo 2 (or Diablo 4, or Path of Exile), so it's yet to be seen where their players come from. Moon Beast is aiming for something that sounds like a mix of Diablo and modern survival games like Valheim and Enshrouded, with "open-ended, procedurally generated, dynamically responsive sandbox worlds."
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
The bullet points include deformable terrain, digging and mining, building, mod support, and the option to play solo, with a group of friends, or in massively multiplayer servers.
It's an ambitious project, which is why Moon Beast wanted to have a playable demo in the public's ha...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Blizzard surprised us the other day when it added a new Warlock class to Diablo 2 and brought the 2021 remaster of the classic ARPG to Steam. For some of Diablo 2's original developers, the revitalization of their decades-old game is a happy testament to its lasting appeal, but it also means that, to some degree, they're competing with their own work as they develop a brand new ARPG called Darkhaven.
"Just the fact that people are playing this 30-year-old game, that it's worth it for them to introduce new content, is amazing to me," said original Diablo 2 lead character artist Phil Shenk on a call with PC Gamer last week. "It's super cool. I'm very proud, I guess is the word, just at the fact that it has so much legs."
Shenk hasn't yet had time to check out Diablo 2's new class himself: Along with the rest of Moon Beast Productions, which among others also includes Diablo 2 programmer Peter Hu (also on the call) and designer Erich Schaefer, he's been busy preparing a demo for Darkhaven and launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund its continued development. At the time of writing, Moon Beast has raised $200,000 toward a $500,000 goal with 25 more days to go.
I asked Shenk and Hu how it feels to find themselves in competition not only with the Diablo games that came after their time at Blizzard, but also Diablo 2 itself, now that it's been remastered, released on Steam, and bestowed with new DLC.
"There's tons of conflicted feelings there," said Hu. "Yeah, not gonna lie about that … We're an indie company in a way, going up against a giant, and that's a tough hill to climb."
"Yeah, we feel the pressure, but I don't hate them for it," said Shenk.
Shenk also pointed out that the vision for Darkhaven is not just to make another Diablo 2 (or Diablo 4, or Path of Exile), so it's yet to be seen where their players come from. Moon Beast is aiming for something that sounds like a mix of Diablo and modern survival games like Valheim and Enshrouded, with "open-ended, procedurally generated, dynamically responsive sandbox worlds."
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
The bullet points include deformable terrain, digging and mining, building, mod support, and the option to play solo, with a group of friends, or in massively multiplayer servers.
It's an ambitious project, which is why Moon Beast wanted to have a playable demo in the public's ha...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?