As its makers wanted
“Each monster will have multiple graphic deaths.”
Condor, the studio that became Blizzard North, in its Diablo pitch, 1994
“We wanted it to be gritty and gory.”
Erich Schaefer, Diablo's lead designer and art director, to IGN, 2017
The game that shipped in 1996 gave every monster one death and kept most of its blood in the Butcher's room. Brutal Diablo is the game they described: the same game, only bloodier. How we made the blood →
Every death is different
Every monster has several ways to die. They split, burst, lose their heads.
Same zombie, same sword, ten different kills.
Gib Burst Pop Bisect Split Rend Decapitate Dismember Eviscerate Shred
In Development: deaths from 3D models
Today every death is made from the game's own 2D sprites, frame by frame. Now we're trying to recreate the monsters' original 3D models, so the deaths can be worked out from the models themselves: a new way to fall every time, and much cooler to watch.
Blood that stays
Nothing in the Cathedral gets cleaned up. The blood pools on the stone and slowly dries, splatters the walls and creeps down in drips. Walk through it, and the dungeon remembers where you went: your bloody footprints lead the way.
A pool spreads, then dries Wall blood, with drips Footprints across the pools
Fire
Fire kills in its own ways. Monsters burn, explode, turn to ash. Cast a Fire Wall over a bloodbath and the whole room lights up, the Warrior's shadow stretched long across it.
Ashfall Torch Detonate
Press H for 1996
Diablo (1996) never stopped running. It's right there under the blood, swing for swing. Drag the divider to peel it back. In the game, H does the same, anytime.
Work in progress
This is a mod in development, so what you see here is not final. The deaths so far cover the Cathedral's monsters and are made from the 2D sprites; the 3D versions are in development. The rest of the dungeon follows, level by level.
Tips
Brutal Diablo will be free once released. Throw a coin and it goes into dev time, GPU hours and coffee.
This mod is a love letter to the original game, so nothing here is for sale. But every tip really helps us keep the development going. Thank you.