Diablo 4's first playtests are coming in just a few weeks

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

As part of IGN's 2023 Fan Fest, Blizzard unveiled the opening cutscene of Diablo 4 while also dropping the date of its upcoming closed and open betas. Players who pre-order Diablo 4 will be able to test it out the weekend of March 17-19, while the rest of us plebs will have to wait an extra week for the weekend of March 24-26.

The cutscene itself is full-on classic Diablo, even if it doesn't reveal much. I found it really reminiscent of the story FMVs from Diablo 2 with its presentation of a lone warrior wandering a desolate landscape, this time your player character instead of the afflicted Diablo 1 warrior. IGN's description of the trailer indicates that in-game cutscenes will feature your custom-designed player character, so we'll be able to get our Monster Factory on and get real nutty with our fits while Deckard Cain goes on about the fate of the world or whatever.

After something untoward happens to your horse offscreen and your torch goes out, your protagonist takes a little nap in a cave and has some demon-y dreams—you know, skulls, blood, flames. Just Lord of Terror things. The cutscene then seamlessly pulls back to the isometric gameplay perspective we know and love before the trailer abruptly ends.

Diablo 4 is set to release on June 2, and everything we've seen so far has left it our second-most anticipated game of 2023. PC Gamer Associate Editor Tyler Colp concluded it was the Diablo he's been waiting for based on a playtest last December.

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.