Greyhollow Island Delivers Horror, and a Dark Souls-Stye Narrative to Diablo Players

Blizzard recently announced that Overwatch will be free-to-play after purchase (Which is an odd thing to be happy about--how this medium has changed!) with maps and heroes being available upon release for free for everyone who owns the game. Sweet deal, and not unlike what Blizzard is already doing with Diablo III. While Diablo III is no stranger to expansions or real-world currency, it does have a habit of releasing free content to the general public, such as The Ruins of Sescheron back in 2.3, and now with patch 2.4 on it’s way, we’ve got a brand new zone to look forward too: Greyhollow Island!


 

Miles off the coast of Westmarch lies an island that many believe to be little more than legend. Cut off from the rest of Sanctuary’s developed civilizations, Greyhollow was once the center of a grand empire. Often times, such isolated societies grow and advance at incredible rates, and Greyhollow was no different. Its citizens devoted their cause to a mysterious and, as is often the case in Sanctuary, completely evil being. For reasons still unknown to this day, this unimaginably advanced society collapsed, leaving ruin, chaos, and a lingering curse behind.

Yep, looks pretty swell--and a nice little shift away from ‘demonic hordes’ into the field of ‘monstrous wildlife’. Reminds me a bit of Torchlight 2, actually… no, let me rephrase: it reminds me a LOT of Torchlight 2. And I mean that in the best possible way. But what’s more exciting is that from a narrative angle, it seems Blizzard has taken a page or two from Dark Souls, which is always, always, always a good thing.
 

Grasping the story of Greyhollow is a more complex endeavor than a jaunt through the zone. As you explore the island, you’ll begin to unravel the mystery that’s threaded through each journal entry and event you stumble upon. Not every player will experience the story in quite the same way and may not even draw the same conclusions as a result; it’s truly the choice of each adventurer how much they want to focus on what’s unfolding or just blitz through and check a bounty off their list.

Quintessential Dark Souls stuff right there. Consider me pumped.