Blizzard has released an especially impressive live action trailer for Diablo 4.
The tagline for this trailer is Deliver Us From Evil, and the Christian references is no big coincidence.
Blizzard has always threaded the fine line about your fight against the denizens of hell being against the Christian devil. Whether it was Diablo, Mephisto, or Baal you slew, the range of Christian mythology around these names, across different historical epochs, were sure to be evoked.
But for Diablo 4, the big baddie is Lilith, in a storyline that straddles the line between good and evil. At least, for this trailer, we are compelled to ponder the natural evils caused by Lilith and her minions.
The trailer starts with a man looking at his dead horse. His voice trembles as he begs for help.
It then cuts to show a boy surrounded by a city in ruins. The child simply asks point blank if we will save him.
We then suddenly see a Rogue running across the screen, evading fireballs as she chases her enemies.
Another hard cut to a man who seems to have been chained to a wall. This man, who may be a prisoner, wants to know if we can make THEM suffer.
Another cut to another hero, a Sorceress casting spells and creating magical serpents to envelope some minor demons.
We then see an older woman who appears to be a seer or a soothsayer, who seems to be seeking a hero that she had literally predicted would come.
Again, we get a hard cut to a very edgelord Necromancer, who seems more than up for the task of making the dead fight the dead.
Another cut to another hero, a very tough druid, who invokes his powers to turn into a bear and strike down his enemies.
We get another cut to a blacksmith, clearly preparing a sword for someone else to wield. He seems eager to make anything for anyone to champion Sanctuary’s humans, like him.
Possibly the most disturbing and stressful sight is that of a young woman, cowering at the back of a candlelit tower.
The last champion to be introduced is the Barbarian, who leaps from a rooftop to strike down on Sanctuary’s demons.
The last cut is of the boy once again, but this time, with Lilith hovering behind him, inching ever closer. In the end, he only makes one final plea: hurry.
It’s an incredibly well acted commercial, and may make one wonder if these actors are playing roles for named NPCs that we might actually meet in Sanctuary. It would certainly be interesting if Blizzard really thought that far ahead, wouldn’t it? That would make this commercial the first time you did meet these characters.
Diablo 4 will be released on June 3, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows on the Activision Blizzard client. You can watch the full trailer below.
