Blizzard has canceled a Diablo 4 roguelike with permadeath, and Batman: Arkham style brawls

If Blizzard had handled things differently 10 years ago, Diablo 4 might have been a melee brawls-based version of the Batman: Arkham games. I'm not sure if that idea is good on paper but it didn't work out in reality either. Blizzard rebooted the project to become the demon-slaying RPG we know today.

Jason Schreier tells a story of Diablo 4 in an excerpt from his Wired book Play Nice: the Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Josh Mosqueira, fresh off the Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls extension, assembled a team of developers to work on a Diablo 4 that would have strayed far from the series' hack and slash identity.

The proposed Diablo sequel codenamed Hades was inspired by the Batman: Arkham Series and replaced the isometric view with an over-the shoulder perspective. Combat would have been "punchier", and death would be permanent. Blizzard was so confident in Mosqueira, that they were willing to let him completely alter the look of one of their most popular series.

Hades was held back by critical issues with the concept. It was supposed have close-quarters battles with slow-motion effects to give hits more impact, and it was also supposed to be co-op. Nobody could figure out how to make this fun to play, and feel like the Diablo 3 that millions of people expected after Diablo 3.

The project sputtered out when Mosqueira stopped coming to the office and left the small team working on Hades floundering. Mosqueira then left Blizzard in July 2016, which led to the project being cancelled shortly after. Before Diablo 4 was created, a team held a game-jam that gave birth to the necromancer classes for Diablo 3.

I don't think people would have wanted a Diablo 3 that didn't play like Diablo. I love Batman: Arkham Asylum, but I also enjoy being a wizard in an RPG. Fighting a group thugs with fists wouldn't have impressed me.
It's still interesting to see how Diablo 4 has incorporated some of the ideas from this heavier combat. Blizzard released its first expansion Vessel of Hatred this week, and I'm still playing it because the combat is so satisfying compared to other RPGs. The visual and audio effects make weapons and magic feel crunchy when they hit enemies, much like the Arkham games did for Batman's jabs or kicks. Perhaps a little bit of Hades lingered in the developers' minds.