Zone Preview: Realm of Damnation
If you haven’t followed Diablo Immortal’s Closed Beta Test, this preview picks up where the zone of Frozen Tundra leaves off. If you missed that preview, you can catch up here. Spoilers ahead.
Diablo® Immortal’s™ launch storyline sends you racing after the cataclysmic shards of the Worldstone, the artifact used to create Sanctuary. After you’ve explored frozen wastes and festering swamps and cemeteries choked with the risen dead, your quest will take you somewhere people who played the Closed Beta haven’t seen yet.
The Realm of Damnation is the personal hell of a demon lord. It’s a corner of the Burning Hells where Skarn, the mastermind pursuing the Worldstone shards, gets to play judge, jury, and executioner (repeatedly).
I’m Ryan Quinn, Narrative Designer on Diablo Immortal, and I’ll be your guide to Skarn’s plane of agony and rebirth along with Hunter Schulz, Art Director.
At the end of the Frozen Tundra story quest, you’ll follow Skarn into his lair and uncover what he’s been planning for humanity and the Worldstone—but you won’t immediately come face to face with the Lord of Damnation or all of his forces.
The Forest of Misery
There is an impulse to limit hellish landscapes to one note, and there shouldn't be a question whether you are in Hell or not, but Diablo Immortal’s zone maps are large, and we really like having visual variation to keep your journey interesting and make it easier to remember locations and cool moments.
First, you’ll need to fight through the twisted canopies of the Forest of Misery. In the darkness swarm Rasplets and Gnarled Pawns, demons who’ve failed Skarn and had their bodies fused with parts of the realm as punishment.
The Old Growth, voiced by James Goode, is the most massive, venerable danger in the wood.
We tried to reflect environmental shapes and colors in the Realm of Damnation’s creature design (taking a breather from the classic reddish demon you see elsewhere in the fires of Hell).
We wanted the pawns to feel at home in this environment, as if they had evolved there, or at the very least been transformed by it.
The Last Vestige
Years ago, a group of angel sentinels discovered the Realm of Damnation while it was taking shape from hellish chaos. Cut off from the Heavens and trapped, they’ve carved out a foothold in Skarn’s home. As you leave the Forest of Misery behind, you’ll join the survivors in their besieged encampment: The Last Vestige.
The angels’ warleader, Verathiel, is utterly relentless; her band has been hunting demonic threats outside the Battlefields of Eternity for eons. But being stranded in the Realm of Damnation is a greater challenge than any they’ve faced. As the wielder of the angelic dagger Yl’nira, you have a chance to gather some allies in Hell. . .if you can save them from a truly awful fate.
Skarn, Lord of Damnation
At the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction™, the archangel Tyrael realized that the Worldstone had been corrupted, and he shattered it before it could doom all of Sanctuary. The resulting disaster discorporated Tyrael, and ruined Arreat and much of the north. Skarn wants nothing more than to pick up the pieces.
Painting by Brom
Yet little has been recorded of him. At the defeat of the Prime Evils in Diablo II, war was raging within the Hells, with no clear victor despite great evils like Azmodan and Belial claiming massive realms of their own. Skarn flourished during this age, but demonologists cannot say whether he led an army, or simply used the conflict as an opportunity to capture parts of the Hells for himself. Most do not even know him by name.
What is clear about Skarn is his abiding interest in humanity. In just a few years, he has gathered a massive cult of followers who tempt and deceive to swell their ranks among the Western Kingdoms. The power of creation is nearly at their disposal.
Sounds of the Realm
Our audio team really pushed themselves to make sure Skarn’s cruelty and grand ambitions take root in every ominous corner of the zone. Give a listen to “Realm of Damnation.”
Demon Gates
Nothing about this environment is inviting—it's a graveyard of bones and spiny rocks! Thin membranes underneath it all hold back the hellish, fiery core from below.
Skarn’s domain is bloated with activities, and you can expect the same kinds of wilderness gameplay present in Immortal’s other zones: lairs, bounties, events, quests, and plenty of loot.
Zones in Diablo Immortal are vast spaces packed with enemies, events, hidden lairs and treasure. As a point of reference: in red, the map outline of Diablo III’s Fields of Misery; in blue, the Realm of Damnation.
There are also unique challenges you’d only find in Hell. Demon Gates appear multiple times per day in random locations throughout the Realm of Damnation. To bolster his armies, Skarn has opened his doors to demons from elsewhere in the Burning Hells. Demons arrive through portals throughout the zone on a timer—with a party of three, you can hunt down where they’ll emerge, enter their gateways, and kill them before they lend further power to the legions of Damnation. These fights are kinetic encounters with significant rewards, and you’ll be able to earn bonus loot from three per day.
New Dungeon – Pit of Anguish
Similarly vital to Skarn’s plot are the Pits of Anguish—spawning pools for Abyssal Gargantuans buried deep in the Hells. One pit in particular serves as our dungeon for the zone; when you set foot on its shores, you’ll battle blade-wielding demonic cultivators and tackle a screen-filling boss fight with the most blood by volume of any in the game.
Zaka is one of the more memorable enemies you'll run into in the Realm of Damnation. One thing that isn't instantly clear in this illustration is his size; there’s also a twist to this boss battle we're excited to see players react to.
In every Diablo game, your journey takes you from landscapes that are bleak and seemingly real to places that are truly otherworldly. We’re excited to show off a new facet of the Burning Hells, one that’s got a couple twists on the lava and horns you might expect.
Don’t let that statement worry you. We still love lava and horns—you'll see. On behalf of the Diablo Immortal team: we hope you are ready for Hell!