Diablo 4 director doubles down on Dark Citadel’s controversial forced multiplayer

Despite the controversy surrounding Diablo 4’s multiplayer-only Dark Citadel mode, the Vessel of Hatred Director has said he’s sticking to his guns.

A raiding activity added in the Vessel of Hatred expansion, Dark Citadel offers an endgame experience packed with interesting mechanics and robust rewards.

Diablo 4 players were skeptical of the mode even before its release, due in no small part to the forced multiplayer component. As the first mode in Diablo history to require group play, Dark Citadel has left many solo players feeling underserved.

Blizzard developers have acknowledged the upset, but the cooperative dungeon will remain as is for the long haul.

Diablo 4 dev addresses backlash about Dark Citadel’s forced multiplayer

When asked about the co-op component in an interview with Polygon, Vessel of Hatred Director Brent Gibson said, “I am absolutely sticking to my guns.”

Players crossing their fingers for a solo version of Dark Citadel probably shouldn’t hold their breaths. Still, Gibson doesn’t want D4 users to feel like they have to play Dark Citadel. The sheer variety of content ensures everyone finds something that speaks to their preferences.

He told the publication, “We’ve designed it in a way where, to be the most efficient in the game, it’s not required to have to go through that multiplayer content. I love the fact that we have this huge, rich game that has a bunch of different activities that give you alternate paths in the same loop.”

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Diablo GM Rod Fergusson echoed this sentiment, calling out how much Diablo 4’s endgame content has evolved since its launch.

“The thing that’s been great about our endgame evolving over time is there is quite a diverse set of experiences now… There’s a lot of choices. I could go to Kurast Undercity and target some runes. I could go to the Citadel, I could go to the Pit…”

It should be interesting to see how the D4 endgame expands even further as time presses on.