Better the Devil You Know: Boss Belial and a Diablo IV Update

The Lord of Lies is back, getting into unholy mischief and challenging gamers with devilish deceptions in Diablo IV Season 8: Belial’s Return. In this latest update, redilection for chaos is in full effect. Dan Tanguay of Blizzard Entertainment—creators, as he correctly identifies, of “fantastically fun” games, including World of Warcraft, and Overwatch 2, as well as Diablo IV—stopped by Intel Gaming Access to tell us all about the Boss-heavy update that won’t cost you your soul (it’s completely free to owners of Diablo IV).

“I am the design director for Diablo IV’s live service,” Tanguay tells us, and “I develop strategies for all seasons and events, and I guide our teams as they create and build each one.” So, who better to give us the inside scoop on this latest plunge into the underworld? “Belial, the Lord of Lies, reappears in Sanctuary to conquer it,” Tanguay says. “He sows seeds of deceit by spreading horrifying apparitions across the land. Your character, the Wanderer, allies with a reclusive sorceress to harness the powers of forbidden magic to syphon all new powers from Bosses, and thwart Belial’s plans before his distorted realities become truth.”

It’s a race against time and a race to save what’s real, and the Wanderer faces a raft of challenges. “This season is all about Bosses,” Tanguay enthuses. “[It] has refreshed Diablo IV’s Lair Boss ladder, both enhancing it and adding new endgame Bosses. As players level up, they’ll also be able to steal powers from a range of Bosses, then equip these 24 all-new powers to modify their Character builds to more creatively slay any monster they encounter.”

It’s a Boss bonanza, with illicit magic and underworld alliances adding to the mix. But what else do players have to look forward to? Tanguay fills us in. “In addition to all the Boss-focused content, season eight features a new style of Battle Pass built with Reliquaries. Reliquaries are an all-new way to earn cosmetics and customizations that give both Season and Eternal realm players greater choice over their rewards.

This sounds like more than a return; we’d say it sounds like an advance. What can Blizzard Entertainment give away about the direction this game is taking that might not be common knowledge already? “We’ve made several  quality-of-life improvements,” Tanguay reveals, “and the ones I’m most excited about are the updates to the Boss Lair tooltips. Not only do they display the key required to unlock the Boss’s Hoard, they enable you to teleport directly to the Boss Lair!” Games and gamers never stand still, and Intel is there every step of the way. “We worked with Intel to update our existing Intel® X^e Super Sampling (X^eSS) implementation to X^eSS 2,” Tanguay says, “adding support for super resolution, low latency, and frame generation, to ensure our players with the latest Intel graphics hardware are able to have the best possible game experience. The Intel team tested and provided feedback on our implementation as it progressed.  We’ve worked with Intel in the past on a variety of efforts, including our original X^eSS implementation as well as CPU performance optimization and ray tracing.”

We’re obviously thrilled to continue the relationship, as Blizzard Entertainment looks forward to the next season, and beyond. Here, just for you all, is a sneak peek at their plans: “There are two more seasons planned for 2025,” Tanguay reveals. “Season nine is named Sins of the Horadrim, and it’s all about the Horadrim, the supergroup of Sanctuary’s best magic users. In it, players will delve deep into dungeons, experiencing an all-new Nightmare Dungeon activity as well as a new Dungeon Escalation system. Season ten is named Infernal Chaos. In this Season, players return to Hell with updates to the Infernal Hordes mode, and with all new chaotic magic to wield!” We can’t wait to find out what the underworld has in store for us. See you in “Hell”, gamers.

Purchase Diablo IV on Steam