Video Games
‘Diablo IV’ to Have Always-On DRM Across All Platforms
Some of you hyped for Diablo IV will be bummed with the news that one of the more contentious aspects of Diablo III will be returning in the form of “always online” gameplay.
At the BlizzCon 2019 panel, lead designer for Diablo IV Angela Del Priore addressed a question about whether the game can be played solo and whether it will support playing offline. “We are not going to support an offline mode,” says Del Priore. “But as I said before, nothing in Diablo IV is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campaign quest areas will [also] remain private.”
One of the main criticisms of Diablo III upon its launch (besides the eventually-axed Auction House) was its use of always-on DRM to protect against piracy. Meaning, if you didn’t have an internet connection when you started the game, you couldn’t play. Not to mention the bugs (or the wait times) that came along with the system.
While it was tolerated by PC gamers, the concept will no doubt be a bone of contention for console players, as Diablo III had the ability to play offline on the console versions of the game. For Diablo IV, all versions of the game will be online-only, regardless of whether you’re a console or PC player.
The Diablo IV campaign will take you through a massive open-world with five distinct regions. In a change from the previous entries, players won’t have to play through the main story in its entirety before doing much else. Instead, players can now take breaks and jump into the game’s side content whenever they want.
Diablo IV is in development for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Just in time for Steam Next Fest, Studio Laaya has pushed a new update for their upcoming psychological thriller, Foghorns Drown. In addition to some subtle graphical improvements, the new demo features more mechanics, more characters, and a longer story. You can also grab the demo on itch.io.
Foghorns Drown casts you as a ferryman, bringing passengers across a foggy lake to a town drenched in mystery and folklore. The old ferryman has disappeared, and a murder has been committed. Coincidentally, you recently experienced a dream where you wandered through the pines, and came upon the body of someone who was murdered. Who is the killer? Why did the old ferryman disappear? Solve the mystery, before it’s too late.
First and foremost, you must tend to your job. You’ll use physics-based interactions to open doors, drag objects, and operate the crank of the ferry to pull it along a rusty old chain. The foghorns have little patience, the ferry must move.
Along the way, the story progresses through environmental clues, dialogue with the townsfolk, and surreal visions. As you progress, the psychological toll begins to escalate as truth begins to blur, and the strange old tales begin to reveal themselves to you. Something in the water demands its toll.
Originally aiming for a June 30 release, the team has decided to push Foghorns Drown to July.