Blizzard promises more flexible armor than ever with male and female variants.

It might not be at E3 2021, but Diablo IV is undoubtedly one of the great games we have on the radar even though its launch still seems a long way off. To make our wait easier, Blizzard shares one of its development updates, this time dedicated to the artistic and technical section of the game. In it, we have learned, among other things, what we can expect from the character editor.

If you played Diablo III, you may remember that the selection of cosmetic items for our character was fairly straightforward and limited because ultimately your hero would hardly be seen from a top-down perspective. But being in the middle of 2021, technological advances allow a much more complex initial screen.

“You can change your character’s face, haircut, facial hair (beards and eyebrows), and add accessories (piercings or earrings), makeup, and also body markings like tattoos or body paint,” explains Blizzard. “Some elements will be specific to some classes, to give them a unique background, but many will be shared across all classes allowing for more mixable possibilities.”

And although on paper it doesn’t seem like much, the truth is that those responsible are quite satisfied with the artistic possibilities offered by physics-based rendering or PBR: fabrics that look like fabrics, metals that look like metals, skin that looks like skin. It is not just a texture, it is a particular behaviour to light and colour response. It will be possible to dye all parts of the armor , which have male and female versions; while enemies can truly look like grotesque masses of blood and muscle drenched in fat and pus.

If you visit the original post, you will find several demo videos like the one accompanying the news to get an idea of ​​how all this works in the game. As we said, Diablo IV does not have a release date yet, but being in pre-alpha it is expected that it will arrive in the relatively near future to PC, Xbox and PlayStation. The new generation, at least. The question is whether we will have it between us before or after Overwatch 2 and other games in development.