It’s official, the first season of Diablo 4 is coming on July 20. Blizzard Entertainment officially pulled back the curtains on the dungeon crawler’s inaugural season, Season of the Malignant, at the most recent developer livestream.
Following the end of the Diablo 4 campaign – Blizzard still hasn’t addressed the “secret” post-credits scene, by the way – Season of the Malignant will introduce a side story that sees players dealing with a malignant corruption sweeping through Sanctuary after repelling the main forces of evil, led by Lilith. This insidious curse birthed a new breed of monstrosities to deal with, Malignant Monsters, which are essentially Diablo 4 enemies morphed into grotesque worm-infested beasts.
At the start of the season, players are summoned to the capital city of the Fractured Peaks, Kyovashad. There, they meet Cormund, a new character and former priest of the Cathedral of Light. Cormund urges players to capture these corrupted hearts from the Malignant Monsters to enhance their power, an essential strategy to cleanse the land from this spreading blight.
This new premise comes to life with fascinating game mechanics. Players, while engaging with the regular season 1 gameplay, might stumble upon a Malignant monster. These creatures, though more challenging, drop a special Malignant Heart item when defeated. Interacting with this heart will respawn the enemy, now tougher, and summon additional foes. Overcoming this menace yields a Caged Heart, a powerful tool that significantly enhances your prowess throughout the season.
The Caged Hearts house their own Legendary-level powers, such as causing critical hits to electrify enemies, and can be socketed into players’ jewelry items. Throughout the season, all rings and amulets will drop with a festering socket that’s either red, blue, or yellow, corresponding to different colored heart powers. However, there’s a catch – players can only match like-with-like, so a blue heart cannot be slotted into a yellow socket. A fourth heart color, though rare, is universally applicable across the three sockets.
Players can expect a suite of 32 new powers exclusive to the Malignant Heart system. Tim Ismay, Diablo 4’s lead producer for seasons, teased these new powers as “stupid broken,” predicting their potential to enable innovative and intriguing builds during season 1.
To tailor the experience further, players seeking specific Malignant Hearts can dismantle existing hearts they encounter for a special crafting currency. Accumulating enough of this currency allows them to venture into Malignant Tunnels, a new activity space teeming with Malignant monsters. Here, a special enemy lurks at the end, guaranteed to drop a Malignant Heart of the player’s chosen color upon defeat.
Aside from these enticing mechanics, Season of the Malignant promises new story content separate from Diablo 4’s main plot, including new boss monster Varshan the Consumed, new Legendary Powers, and new Unique items.
In terms of accessibility, all non-seasonal characters living in the Eternal realm will have the chance to use the new powers and items. However, to access the season-specific content or increase their season pass level, players must create a fresh seasonal character from scratch on July 20, something that Blizzard confirmed already, much to the chagrin of newer fans.
Importantly, Blizzard maintains a staunch stance on the integrity of gameplay. All seasonal purchases will remain cosmetic, with players unable to buy in-game power with real-world cash – a significant shift from Diablo Immortal.
To ensure a fair and balanced experience, Blizzard plans to regulate patch releases during Diablo 4’s seasons. Despite rapid adjustments to overpowered builds and items after Diablo 4’s launch, Blizzard aims to minimize the nerfs and buffs each season, barring major emergencies or game-breaking issues.
If nothing else, Blizzard has already done an excellent job fine-tuning the Diablo 4 experience with the latest patch. We can expect the Season of the Malignant to be more of the same if not better.
As of the time of writing, Diablo 4 players will have a fortnight to ready themselves for the upcoming season. For now, the list of things to do and enjoy in Diablo 4 remains as long as ever, from completing the single-player campaign, looking for the Secret Cow Level, figuring out whether rats really do know where the good loot is, and discovering all the Altars of Lilith.
