Blizzard has officially confirmed that the Diablo 4 campaign can be skipped, but there's a catch. The latest video shared by Blizzard's Diablo 4 social media team reveals that players will be able to select an option to "Skip Campaign" when creating a new character. That will allow Diablo 4 players to leap straight into the highly-anticipated ARPG's endgame activities. It isn't an option that will be available immediately, however. Players will need to earn the option.Campaigns in past Diablo games have been inexorably intertwined with progression. In both the original Diablo and Diablo 2, for example, progression relied entirely on players completing the story and then repeating key encounters from the campaign for loot. Diablo 3's Reaper of Souls expansion changed this system, however, allowing those playing the game's seasonal content to jump directly into Adventure Mode. That's an open-play mode with no requirement to play Diablo 3's story.Outside of seasonal play, players must complete Diablo 3's Story Mode campaign before unlocking Adventure Mode. That's now confirmed to also be Blizzard's choice for the ability to skip Diablo 4's campaign. A screen capture from a recent Diablo 4 video revealed the existence of a Skip Campaign button in character creation. Blizzard global community development director Adam Fletcher noticed fans were talking about skipping Diablo 4's campaign and clarified that players, "Gotta beat the campaign once for this."
Exact details regarding the Skip Campaign functionality are not yet available, unfortunately. While Diablo 4 doesn't make a distinction between Story Mode and Adventure Mode, being set free in the game's open world without a structured story driving the action likely has some changes compared to normal. The main campaign missions may be absent, but it isn't clear if side-quests or anything else will also be skipped.
Another major question is whether this decision will carry over to Diablo 4's seasonal content. Diablo 3 allows players to dive straight into progression each season, but Diablo 4 may task players with completing the campaign first. Blizzard has previously said it will add new story-based content each season, if only to introduce seasonal feature additions, but nothing about the campaign itself.
There's still much for Blizzard to delve into before Diablo 4's launch, but this is still an exciting confirmation. Players won't be forced to replay Diablo 4's story with new characters after they've already completed it. Progression and endgame aren't wholly intertwined with Diablo 4's story. It's going to be interesting to see what Blizzard does with the freedom this could provide players.
Diablo 4 releases June 6 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
