After a disastrous crowd reaction at last year's BlizzCon - remember Diablo Immortal? - plus this year's Blitzchung fiasco, Blizzard was hard-pressed to redeem themselves this year. To do so, they'd have to serve up teasers so enticing that the crowd would be willing to relinquish their pitchforks, even just for a moment. And they have - at least for the highly beloved Diablo franchise. Sit tight, cause here's the recap of all the major announcements for BlizzCon 2019.
Diablo 4
Finally, a game for people who don't own cellphones: Diablo 4 returns to its roots with a gothic-horror aesthetic that's truly stunning. The cinematic trailer opens with 4 treasure hunters fleeing a horde of monsters in a beautifully satanic temple. They get picked off one by one, leaving 1 petrified scholar who ends up summoning the Daughter of Hatred, Lilith, in an appropriately blood-drenched ritual.
Everything about the 9-minute video left me screaming GIVE ME MORE! Alas, the gameplay video was less impressive, considering that 2020 is just around the corner. The colour palette still looks dull and uninspired, while parts of the video could easily be mistaken for a mobile game. However, it's still early days so hopefully there will be graphical improvements prior to release.
On the bright side, we caught a glimpse of some beloved classes - Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid - in the gameplay video, so that's definitely something to look forward to!
Overwatch 2
Not gonna lie, I've been a bit skeptical about Overwatch 2 ever since it was teased a couple months ago - it just seemed like a blatant cash grab and raised numerous concerns.
The gameplay would have to be super innovative to be to justify sinking another chunk of money into a brand-new game, leaving all our investments into cosmetics as well as hard-earned achievements behind. Thankfully, it seems that Sir Kaplan has taken all these concerns into account.
"For all original players of the current Overwatch game, you will get to play on all of the same maps as Overwatch 2 players, including all the brand new maps that are coming to Overwatch 2, and you'll get to play with all of the same heroes as Overwatch 2 players. It will be a shared multiplayer environment where no one gets left behind... We want to make sure that all Overwatch cosmetics come forward with you into Overwatch 2, so all your progress matters. Nothing lets left behind."
Sounds good to me!
The announcement kicked off with a cinematic trailer, where Echo makes another appearance, alongside familiar buddies like Winston, Tracer, and Mei. Genji also drops in at a crucial moment to deliver a devastating blow to what looks like Bastion on steroids. Check it out:
Gameplay-wise, Overwatch 2 will feature new PvE modes, story and hero missions, hero progression capabilities as well as new heroes.
No word on a release date yet - we'll keep you posted as we get more info.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
First things first: I just have to stop y'all right here and say that Sylvanas is a bona fide bad-ass in the cinematic. I mean come on, I'm a straight woman and I'd still let her throw me over her lap and spank my bare ass cheeks.
I mean...
Here's the cinematic trailer in full if you're keen to join the fan club.
Gameplay director Ion Hazzikostas claims that "Shadowlands is an expansion built around choice." Apart from being able to choose your Covenant, you will also get to enjoy new dungeons, raids and zones to explore - including Revendreth, Ardenweald, Maldraxxus, and Bastion.
The expansion is now available for pre-purchase in 3 editions: Base, Heroic, and Epic editions, which will each feature different perks.
Hearthstone: Descent of Dragons
Alright, to be frank, I left this for last because I have only played Hearthstone once (and I sucked at it), so I don't have anything insightful to say here except...DRAGONS!
Hearthstone creative director Ben Thompson promises that there will be "more dragons in a single Hearthstone expansion than ever before."
They've also hopped onto the Auto Chess hype with a brand-new Battlegrounds mode.
Also, I think that the wonderfully quirky cinematic trailer deserves its own shout-out, with a beautifully animated 2D style on top of a cheesy soundtrack reminiscent of 80s cartoons.
Dra-GONS~
And that wraps up the key announcements at BlizzCon 2019. Which game are you most looking forward to? #blizzcon2019 #diablo4 #wowshadowlands #overwatch2 #hearthstone #descentofdragons
