Here’s your short Diablo 4 lore primer before launch
Blizzard (and I) have you covered with a refresher on Lilith and Inarius’s history with Sanctuary.
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As it goes with any long-running RPG series, Diablo is crammed full of proper nouns—Inarius and the Horadrim and the Nephalem and so on. IfDiablo 4is going to be your first crack at the series (or hell, if you understandably need a refresher) Blizzard has a new video in which its developers set up the story for you with a bit of context from the series origins and the end of Diablo 3.
For starters, Diablo 4 kicks off 50 years after the events of Diablo 3’s Reaper of Souls DLC during which half of the population of Sanctuary (the mortal realm between the heavens and hells) was killed off by the archangel of death, Malthael. Sanctuary’s original creators, the angel Inarius and demon Lilith have both returned and, wouldn’t you know it, that’s not really going to go well for humanity.
Blizzard’s senior lore manager, narrative designer, and writers go on to explain foundational word events like Sanctuary’s creation and the origins of the Horadric Order that were meant to protect Sanctuary from outside forces. But I needed more, so I went and did a bit of wiki diving to brush up on the details—specifically the relationship between Inarius and Lilith, which is a bit more complex than the “he locked her in a realm of darkness” broad strokes that Blizzard leaves it at in the video above.
I took Act 1 of Diablo 4’s story at face value with no preparation during the first two beta weekends, so here’s a few high points from my lore dive that I wish I’d known before:
Blizzard says “the story between Lilith and Inarius is the darkest we’ve ever told in a Diablo game,” and based on some bits of the first act of the story I’d believe it. Mom and Dad are back and they still do not agree on how to handle the kids. Lilith may still have a soft spot for humanity but, well, she’s a demon. Meanwhile Inarius seems to now resent the descendants of his children and be more concerned with stepping over them on his way back to the High Heavens. The Horadrim certainly have their work cut out if they make a comeback.
Diablo 4 launches officially on June 6 with early access for pre-order players beginning on June 1. That’s plenty of time yet to do your own digging through Inarius and Lilith’s messy history if you want more. Blizzard started an even deeper video series today as well, the Book of Lorath lore readings beginning withEpisode 1: Creation.
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Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can’t stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.
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