Diablo designer David Brevik joins the Path of Exile team

Diablo 2 project and design lead David Brevik tweeted last week that he was becoming an "adviser" on an action-RPG that "pushes this genre to new heights." The internet immediately freaked out over the possibility of Brevik coming back to Diablo, especially since Blizzard has been teasing a Diablo announcement of some sort for the upcoming BlizzCon. However it is not Diablo that he's working on, as Brevik quickly clarified, but the free-to-play indie hit Path of Exile. 

The press release announcing his participation is in Chinese, and so the Google translation is an absolute train wreck of language and syntax, but the gist of it is that Brevik has signed up to help Grinding Gear Games bring the game to China. Studio boss Chris Wilson confirmed the situation with PC Invasion, saying, "David is an advisor, primarily for our launch in mainland China, but we hope to learn from his experience as much as we can over the coming months.”   

So now we know. It's not quite as exciting as a return to Blizzard for Diablo 4, but it could still mean cool things ahead for an ARPG that's already very good—and it doesn't close the door on the potential for big Diablo news next month, either. 

Speaking of which, BlizzCon 2016 runs over the weekend of November 4-5. Virtual tickets are available at blizzon.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.