Will Diablo 4 have a hardcore mode?

Yes it will. See you next BlizzCon!

OK, I am not crackin’ wise about so serious a topic as Diablo Hardcore mode. I enjoy playing in Hardcore mode, for all that I am perpetually terrified I will end up dead after tangling with something stupid — looking at you, Khazra Shaman. But with many calling Diablo 4 the “spiritual successor” to Diablo 2, the question had to come up.

Luckily, today’s D4: Systems & Features panel at BlizzCon featured a short Q&A period after the meat of the panel was finished, and Hardcore mode made the cut from questions submitted by the community. Hardcore also came up with one-on-one interviews. Never fear, Diablo’s devs know their community — the immediate answer across the board “of course, it wouldn’t be a Diablo game without Hardcore!” We could not agree more, guys.

Hardcore mode was introduced in D2 and rapidly became a distinctive option in the Diablo franchise. Hardcore characters are identical to Normal characters in every way except one: Hardcore death is perma-death. No res, no return to town, do not collect $200. It’s an option that does not play well with things like connectivity issues and requires a different mindset when approaching gameplay. Player focus is more on toughness features: health, regen, and resistance.

Hardcore characters also cannot interact with normal characters, and BlizzCon details did not indicate this changing. Lead Systems Developer confirmed in a Twitch streamer interview that D4’s Hardcore is intended to work like D2’s. Hopefully, the devs will hold to D3‘s decision not to have permanent character death from PVP. Both these calls have interesting ramifications when considered in the context of a new open world environment.

What do you think — would it be a Diablo game without Hardcore? Are you happy to hear it is an included play style, or couldn’t care less?

Update: corrected D2 PVP not perma-deathing to D3. Thank you for catching this error, readers!