If you’ve been to my house any time over the last few weeks you’d have probably found me in the same place I’ll be tonight, behind my PC replaying Diablo 3 with friends. As we get closer to Diablo 4 the excitement is mounting and not only for gamers but for the team behind the game as well.
We are also living in 2023 which means marketing budget and stunts go hand in hand with the development of games and while this latest stunt by Blizzard doesn’t come close to that time when Sony used a dead goat to promote God of War 2 it is equally, if not more memorable.
To cut to the chase, The Diablo 4 developers have gone out and filled the entire inside of an abandoned French cathedral with the most stunningly Diabloesque art depicting the game’s battle with Lilith, Queen of the Succubi.
Now there are promotional stunts and then there are promotional stunts and this one is one of the best. There is something so incredibly beautiful and striking about what’s been created here that I think the image will stay in fans’ minds long after the hype surrounding the game has died down.
The cathedral used for this project is the Chapelle des Jésuites in Cambrai, and it’s a Baroque-style 17th-century church in northern France. Now before everyone gets all up in arms here, the building is deconsecrated, meaning it is no longer an active sacred site but it is still a monument of historical significance so instead of painting the five character classes from Diablo 4 as they clash with the powers of evil onto the interior, Blizzard opted to do the 20 paintings on canvas and then just instal them.
All in all, the art comprises of a giant 49-meter mural that took over 30 days to paint. Blizzard has also turned this masterpiece into a sweepstakes. Players can follow this link to opt-in, and then they will need to reach the max level in the Diablo 4 open beta happening later this month.
All the players who fulfil this requirement will then have a chance to have their likeness added to the mural and be immortalised in the cathedral of Diablo, as Blizzard puts it. This is a prize with no real monetary value but winners will get a photo of the team painting them into the scene, which is pretty damn priceless.