Since its very first announcement in 2019, Diablo IV has ignited infernal anticipation among players worldwide. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had the chance to immerse ourselves in a preview build of the game and were ensnared by its exhilarating gameplay, sinister lore, and boundless replayability. Below is an interview we’ve conducted with the minds behind the game, shedding light on the depths of this highly anticipated hellish adventure.

Can we share any features or gameplay mechanics in Diablo IV that you believe will excite some of the longtime fans of the series?

Dorottya Kollo, Lead UI Designer, Diablo IV: I always like to kick it off with the classes, because of how in-depth we went with them. We created a lore to make sure that they’re not just classes, but you actually believe in what class you’re playing as. Like Druid, this is probably one of my favorites, they can talk with animal spirits, they can actually make an offering and get something in return so there’s that transaction. And I love the fact that other players if you are not a Druid, then you cannot actually see them and interact with them. Apart from classes the skill tree is something that we’re really proud of as we put a lot of effort into it. It looked extremely different six months ago. In general when it comes to lore and gameplay, giving players the opportunity to explore the world, to explore dungeons and strongholds.

Adam Z. Jackson, Lead Class Designer, Diablo IV: There’s a series of progression systems that I think a lot of long-term fans will enjoy. You start out with the skill tree, you start out with some very simple itemization, and then as you go through the campaign, you get more and more layers on top of ways to customize your character. Late in the game, you get unique powers that give you even more ways to customize your player, and then the Paragon board comes online. So we start gentle and then there’s more systems and ways to make your character really special and powerful.

How has the studio reapproached its design philosophy for activities outside of the main story campaign in consideration to Diablo IV being an open world?

Jackson: One of the things we did that’s very unique to Diablo IV is the Codex of Power. Normally, in other games it’s a bit random, you’re just killing enemies and hoping to get the gear that you want. The Codex of Power marries two things together, we

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS, or download here

This week the team chats with Director Nakayama Takayuki and Producer Matsumoto Shuhei on redesigning classic characters in Street Fighter 6 and more. Plus the team dives into their personal fighting game journeys.

Stuff We Talked About

• Diablo IV Q&A
• Amnesia: The Bunker Combat Blog
• Immortals of Aveum Hands-on
• Street Fighter 6 – Capcom Cammy Redesign Blog
• Vampire: The Masquerade PS VR2
• Interview w/ Nakayama Takayuki and Matsumoto Shuhei (starts at 15:00)
• Street Fighter 6

The Cast

View and download image

Last week, we asked Guardians in Destiny 2 to share epic moments wearing the PlayStation collaboration armor. Here are this week’s highlights: 

Jake__Bellamy shares a Guardian wearing Ghost of Tsushima-inspired armor standing strong.

xelastarkly shares a Guardian wearing Horizon-inspired armor holding up their hand.

xenobitz shares a Guardian wearing Ghost of Tsushima-inspired armor kneeling beside a tree.

piyopiyopop shares a Guardian wearing Ghost of Tsushima-inspired armor using a bird calling emote. 

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Tropical
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on June 7, 2023

Next week, we’re headed somewhere warm. Share moments spent in tropical locations from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Hi, my name is Erik Odeldahl and I’m the Creative Director at VR game developer & publisher Fast Travel Games. We have just revealed our next game to the world! It is a PS VR2 adventure RPG set in the rich story world of Vampire the Masquerade. In it, you play Justice, a vampire of clan Banu Haqim, who travels from New York to a dark and mysterious Venice, Italy to hunt down the perpetrator of their sire’s final death.

Be a stealthy vampire 

With Vampire the Masquerade: Justice, we set out to make a game that fully immerses you in the role of a stealthy vampire, taking advantage of all the strengths of the PS VR2. One thing that truly excites us about the PSVR2 is the adaptive triggers and the haptic abilities available in both the controllers and the headset itself. As a vampire, you have access to all kinds of tools that help you stay hidden from your enemies, or when necessary, surprise and dispose of them with lethal force. You get to sneak up on your victims to drink their blood, unleash powerful disciplines and tear them to pieces, or fade away into invisibility before their very eyes. You decide how to take on each scenario, and we make full use of the wide range of haptics to fully immerse you in the experience.

Become the apex predator

As a vampire, you do have superhuman strength and speed, but you are not safe from harm. The enemies you encounter will put up a great challenge for you, forcing you to take advantage of your powers. A combination of stealth and fast attacks will take you far, but you can also rely on your powers of persuasion as well. Sometimes in a dialog with an NPC, the threat of violence will unlock new paths for you.

A dark and mysterious Venice 

The Venice we’re inviting you to is not the city of love you see on postcards, but a dark, mysterious place where unseen things happen in the shadows, where plans are hatched and vast conspiracies are perpetrated among the undead. The last few years, there has been unrest among the Hecata, a vampire clan that has Venice as one of its bases of operation. Justice, played by you, is cast into a conflict between fierce vampires who fight for power … and their souls.

Regardless of your strategy, every step you take and undertaking you complete, will bring you closer to the center of the mystery, and allow you to grow in power to eventually become the most powerful vampire.

This title, like all of our games so far, focuses on delivering a strong narrative, but also rewards exploration and experimentation. Me and the team are looking forward to seeing you meet the characters of vampire Venice, and sneak along its dark streets. The game is built from the ground up with an original story and characters, and is a welcoming experience for those of you unfamiliar with Vampire the Masquerade and the World of Darkness, but we hope that we’ve created something special for those of you that have lived and breathed Vampire for a long time too!

We

When we first started with game creation at Frictional Games, we knew we wanted to make immersive horror experiences. We threw in everything we could think of: puzzles, physics, combat, creepy dream sequences – you name it. Those of you who played Penumbra: Overture will remember these elements well. Now, as we approach the launch of Amnesia: The Bunker – coming to PS4 on June 6 – we wanted to take a look back at how we’ve further refined our formula and approach to games.

The real breakthrough arrived with Amnesia: The Dark Descent. We started focusing on key aspects that led to a much more engaging experience. We cut away combat and all other aspects that didn’t directly fuel the horror experience. This led to players noticing more about their environment and becoming more deeply engaged. A simple sound effect, for instance, could trigger intense reactions, causing players to run and hide. Players become immersed with the happenings in a way we hadn’t seen before.

One of the only relatively safe places in Amnesia: The Bunker – the administration office. Check the map carefully, planning your next move is crucial to your survival.

This revelation showed us that we could use such techniques to propel the narrative in new ways. Few games at the time were doing this, and we felt we could still push the boundaries. This is how SOMA was born. We asked ourselves: Instead of scaring players, could you evoke similar immersion in more complex topics? In the case of SOMA it became: can you make them question the nature of consciousness? Five years of work later – turns out you could.

In Amnesia: The Bunker, the revolver is used to shoot off a padlock, showcasing how it can be used as more than just a weapon.

We then aimed to expand our studio into a two-project operation, splitting our team in two. One group worked on Amnesia: Rebirth, where we sought to intertwine gameplay and narrative more tightly, introducing mechanics (like simulating a belly rub) that carried significant story implications. We were proud of the result but felt we could have pushed further. A clear sign of this was that, once players knew the game, they would approach each section in a predictable manner. The gameplay simply wasn’t pushing far enough to truly empower the player.

The lighter. A very important item used to craft various tools, such as a torch that can be used to fend off rats.

With Rebirth launched, and our other project – let’s call it the Super Secret Project – still underway, Fredrik Olsson, who was the creative lead on Rebirth, proposed a simple idea: Why not have one monster, give the player a gun, and unleash them in an open world? This was a smaller, more focused project we could finish before the Super Secret Project. The Bunker was born.

This concept diverged significantly from our recent games, but if we trace back to our origins with Penumbra: Overture, it’s not that far off. In Overture, players tackled monsters in a freeform manner, using weapons, setting traps, and igniting canisters. The Bunker ai