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The release of Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred was largely criticised not just for its mediocre story content, but also its multiplayer-focused post-game. With the Dark Citadel endgame focusing on multiplayer gameplay—even releasing with a Party Finder feature—solo players have expressed disdain for the new focus.
However, in a new interview, Diablo 4 director Brent Gibson has revealed the team won’t be walking back on its decision to create multiplayer endgame content. In fact, it appears the team is doubling down on the change in gameplay focus.
Diablo 4 won’t abandon Dark Citadel
Speaking to Polygon, director Brent Gibson said that players shouldn’t feel pressured into playing multiplayer content, but the endgame definitely isn’t changing anytime soon.
“I absolutely am sticking to my guns [on Dark Citadel],” the game director told the outlet. “We’ve designed it in a way where, to be the most efficient in the game, it’s not required to have to go through that multiplayer content. I love the fact that we have this huge, rich game that has a bunch of different activities that give you alternate paths in the same loop.”
Gibson was joined by Diablo 4 general manager Rod Fergusson, who backed the director’s comments. Fergusson explained that the beauty of the game as it evolves is the ability to experience a “diverse” set of activities depending on how you feel.
“The thing that’s been great about our endgame evolving over time is there is quite a diverse set of experiences now,” the general manager explained. “When you started off in season 1 or season 2, it was, I’m going to go do the thing. I have to go do my Nightmare Dungeon and I have to go do this Helltide. And now, where we are at season 6, I actually have moments where I’m in town standing on the waypoint going, like, Where to next?”
Despite the initial backlash, Gibson reveals that player “reception to the Dark Citadel has been fantastic” from those who are willing to give it a shot. While improvements will be coming to the mode, Blizzard will continue to double down on the multiplayer part of the game.
For more Diablo content, read about Rod Fergusson’s thoughts on why all ARPGs should be called “Diablo-like” or read about the new 2.1 update patch currently in PTR for the game.
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