Diablo 4’s endgame closed beta is now underway, and gigabytes of gameplay footage from the game’s later sections are now being uploaded to the Internet. Activision Blizzard recently announced that it would invite players to participate in the game’s beta, and though all participants are almost certain to have signed NDAs to keep the gameplay from leaking out, that seems to have been slightly ineffective.
Diablo 4has already had a fair few leaks, of course, one of which was a 40-minute gameplay video that gave players a good idea of what to expect out of Blizzard’s next flagshipDiablogame. As the game is slated for a 2023 release, there’s still a somewhat long way to go before it’s out, and the community is excited at the prospect of any new piece of information about it.
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Blizzard announced the ongoingDiablo 4betain mid-September, and it would appear that it is already well underway by now. It is currently unknown how many beta testers have been invited to participate in this testing phase, but some of them have uploaded hours' worth of what looks to be mid-to-late-game gameplay footage fromDiablo 4. The footage features a variety of classes, combat situations, and biomes, promising a fairly varied experience by the looks of it and one that more closely resemblesDiablo 2than its immediate (and initially maligned) successor.
None of thepreviousDiablo 4gameplay footage leakshave offered quite as much content as these have, which makes sense, as this is the first time Blizzard has invited a sizable group of players to participate in beta testing for the game. One slight issue with the footage is that much of it has been recorded by Asian and Russian-speaking players, which means the text might not be easily readable at a glance, though the combat itself is rather self-explanatory.
One potential point of contention for veteranDiablofans is the fact thatDiablo 4will be a live-service game. In other words, it will have always-online elements, an evolving open world, and a variety of social elements for players to participate in. The new leak does appear to feature some of these elements, though in a limited capacity, as the UI is still far from finished.
Diablo 4is incredibly hyped upalready, being one of the most eagerly awaited games of the generation. Blizzard has promised a bit of a return to form for the long-lived franchise, and though Microsoft’s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard is looming close, it doesn’t seem to have affected the production ofDiablo 4in a meaningful capacity.
Diablo 4will launch in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
