Diablo 5 senior game director says the game will tell 'three stories,' including the past, the present desolation of Diablo's takeover, and the future 'terror forming' of the Sanctuary

Biomes will look different depending on which Dread Commander is in charge

by · TechRadar

News By Demi Williams Contributions by Rob Dwiar Published 16 September 2026

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

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  • Diablo 5 will tell stories of the past, present, and future, the latter of which Blizzard calls "terror forming"
  • Players can visit biomes that are taken over by Diablo's Dread Commanders
  • Narrative director Jennifer Hepler says these biomes can change depending on who's in charge, and "it's a whole new experience" every time you revisit them

Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo 5 will tell stories involving the past, present, and future of Diablo's takeover of Sanctuary, which will visually affect explorable biomes.

The next installment in the isometric dungeon crawler series has been announced and will find players back in the mortal realm of Sanctuary. However, humanity has fallen into an apocalypse and the land has been conquered and reshaped by Diablo and his army.

Speaking to TechRadar Gaming at BlizzCon after the game's reveal, senior game director Joe Shely shared how different Sanctuary will look to players and said they will travel across the Western continent, seeing all different biomes that have been overrun.

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Shely said Diablo 5 has "three stories that we're telling" within this changed world: the stories of the past, the time when Diablo took over and when he and his Dread Commanders emerged into Sanctuary, and the "desolation" of the present.

"There are no people around," he said. "There are very few survivors. Occasionally, you may find a human to add to your caravan, and they can bring something to support you."

There's also the future, which is being actively turned into an outpost of hell by Dread Commanders, something that the team has dubbed "terror forming."

"We call it terror forming because these Dread Commanders will actually transform the environment, transform the biome into a version of hell that relates to personal powers and powers at station," Shely explained.

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