Another team founded by Blizzard veterans has unveiled its debut game called Darkhaven, which is a dark fantasy isometric RPG. Or in short – a competitor to Diablo.
Studio Blizzard has existed for 35 years and many employees have passed through it. A good number of them left the company and founded their own studios that are still trying to break into the market. Among them are Blizzard veterans Moon Beast Productions, founded by Philip Shenk (lead character artist of Diablo 2), Peter Hu (head of design and developer of Diablo 2), and Erich Schaefer (writer of Diablo 2). And now that trio has announced a game that is very similar to the game that marked their careers.
Darkhaven is a dark fantasy ARPG of isometric type, in which we hunt monsters and demons on a procedurally generated map. We will be able to do it alone or cooperatively with other players, and for those who want PvP confrontations, there will be special zones for that. It all sounds the same as Diablo, and the game cover itself screams Diablo 2, only in purple tones. Shameless?
Luckily, there’s Darkhaven and a handful of different, not to mention innovative, ideas. For one thing, it’s in Darkhaven the terrain of the entire map is completely destructible. This means that we will be able to dig tunnels in search of hidden caves, we will be able to drain lakes, divert lava by digging canals, etc. There is even mention of creating our own islands, building bridges and settlements…
It goes parallel to that possibility of jumping which we normally do not see in games of this type. In addition to jumping, we will also be able to swim and climb walls. It already sounds like something different compared to Diablo. And finally, it should be mentioned that the game is being developed to fully support modding, which is also the complete opposite of today’s Blizzard titles.
It’s Darkhaven in development for PCwill first be launched in early access, and before that it will have a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.