Diablo 5 may be set in a lonely world ravaged by a demon lord, but you'll still be able to team up with your friends like in previous Diablo games.
Senior game director Joe Shely confirmed that Diablo 5 will fully support multiplayer in a group interview with PC Gamer: "Like Diablo 4, it is a game that you can play solo or multiplayer, however you please, and you should be able to play all of the content with your friends."
Specific details about multiplayer, like if you can run into other players in the open world like you can in Diablo 4's endgame, weren't mentioned. Blizzard said that information will have to wait until we're closer to its 2029 release.
One of the biggest changes that differentiates Diablo 5 from Diablo 4 is its return to having a procedurally-generated overworld and dungeons. This is supposed to convey the shifting nature of the world as you travel across the continent with your caravan cleansing it of Diablo's corruption. It's possible that this might dramatically change how you'll interact with other players once you're finished with the campaign, especially if everyone experiences their own version of Sanctuary.
Running into a bunch of other players might ruin the illusion that you're a lone hero fighting back against the forces of Hell. Blizzard says Diablo 5 will incorporate a lot of things it learned from Diablo 4, but it's unclear if that will include things like world events and bosses. Diablo 4 is also overflowing with skins and cosmetics that, if carried forward, would suggest there must be some way of showing off your fit to the other heroes of Sanctuary.
It doesn't seem like we're going to get any concrete answers about this for a while, though. Next year, Blizzard will start to post regular updates about the game's development to see how fans feel about it. Maybe one of them will shed some light on the scope of multiplayer in Diablo 5 and whether or not it'll continue what Diablo 4 started.
