In Diablo 4 you will search in vain for glowing elite enemies. The action RPG is the first to do without this interface feature, which has been present since the first part.
Thousands of monsters fall victim to our blades or magic in Diablo. Even unique enemies can easily get lost in the masses. But until now, Diablo has always had a way to draw our attention to such special enemies.
Already since the first part, Diablo had a form of colour coding that allowed us to distinguish the standard skeleton from the skeleton king. Diablo 4 will be the first part of the series to do without this coding. Game director Joe Shely and general manager Rod Fergusson explained this in the now more third part of their video interview with IGN.
That’s why there are no coloured monsters in Diablo 4
The colouring of monsters could always differ a little bit in Diablo, but was present in the game from the beginning. In the first Diablo, there was a distinction between white monsters and unique ones whose names were coloured gold and which could even already be recognised via a cone of light.
In Diablo 2, blue was added as a new colour. Here, a distinction was made between white normal monsters, blue special monsters or unique golden monsters. In Diablo 3, yellow monsters were then rare and unique ones were coloured purple. In Diablo 4, there will be no more colourings of this kind, but special monsters still have unique affixes such as dreadful.
The developers justify this omission by saying that the monsters should be more grounded. In general, Diablo 4 tries to make the world more gloomy again and the golden, blue or purple names were probably in the way. In detail it says:
One thing you don’t see is the colour coding for champions or elite monsters. They don’t glow yellow or blue, everything is much more grounded in the world. So it feels different in the sense that it’s more grounded.
– Rod Fergusson
At the same time, they continue to look for ways to highlight when and how to highlight monsters.
You mentioned that elite monsters are not colour coded. It was very exciting for us to find areas where we can anchor the monsters more in the world. But at the same time to recognise where clear communication is important. For example, there was a point where the monsters were hiding behind pillars and the like. It would be more realistic not to have that displayed. But it was also very frustrating.
