Blizzard
Diablo’s latest collaboration with Berserk is a “match made in hell”
“It’s Kentaro Miura; we have to do him justice.”
Berserk is widely regarded as one of the most influential manga and anime series of all time. Its detailed style and raw, dark fantasy scenes, as well as the harsh story of its protagonist, Guts, have influenced many works of popular culture. For a game like Diablo, in which life in Sanctuary is far from a walk in the park, collaborating with the universe created by the late Kentaro Miura seemed inevitable. During our gamescom latam coverage, we had the opportunity to speak with Emil Salim, the lead artist on Diablo Immortal. He shared with us the process of adapting manga art to the world of Diablo.
A collaboration that is easy to transfer but respects the original work
Salim commented that many of the Diablo art team are fans of Berserk. They felt fortunate about this collaboration and grateful for the manga team’s openness to their ideas. “Many of us grew up reading Berserk. Well, not when we were very young, but old enough to read it. When we received confirmation of the collaboration, we had lots of ideas. Berserk is a manga with so many resources we can use,” Salim commented. “At the end of the creative process, we decided to focus on the Golden Age arc. It’s the beginning, and we feel it’s appropriate, since it’s where everything starts. I give a lot of credit to the Berserk team, as they were very open to our ideas, which allowed us to fit all of our list in there.”
For Salim, adapting Berserk to the Diablo universe was a natural fit. “Once we discussed all the details, everything fell into place. The creative process was easy because everything fell into place. Our game mechanics fell into place. For the Struggler’s Path event, we incorporated the eclipse theme from Berserk. When you play the game, an eclipse occurs every few seconds, and the environment changes to resemble the look of the manga.”
Salim stressed that the goal was not only to make the ideas work in the game but also to make sense for both franchises. “From the beginning, we came together as a team and told each other, ‘If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right. It’s Kentaro Miura; we have to do him justice.” We’re only going to do things that make sense for both Diablo and Berserk. We hope players will see how it fits naturally into the game."
The Diablo and Berserk collaboration will be available in Diablo Immortal on May 1 and in Diablo IV on May 6.
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