Diablo 4 Season 8’s villain should have players worried about the game’s future

Belial is back in Diablo 4 as a seasonal villain, but is his reduced role a worrying sign of things to come in the game, or does it mark a fresh start?

There are two camps when it comes to Diablo players: there are those who mostly enjoy the live service elements and return every season to make a new character, and then there are the players who like sticking to their “mains” and mostly look forward to new story content and quests.

Of course, there’s an overlap between these two camps, but generally, the game tends to cater to the live service crowd over the traditional questing camp. While Diablo 4’s seasons are fun, those who prefer to play in the Eternal Realm are rarely given fresh content.

While Vessel of Hatred was a stunning expansion that delivered lots of fresh quests and content, it was only really Season 5 that remembered Eternal Realm players. Diablo 4’s embrace of live service play, particularly the accelerated leveling, has even drawn criticism from Diablo’s original creator.

Elsewhere, other players are getting sick of needing to create a new character every season and yearn for a return to the “good old days”. These players were comfortable in the knowledge that the next main expansion would deliver the goods, but then Blizzard canceled plans to release one in 2025 and said it wouldn’t be until 2026.

This means, potentially, those who enjoy the questing and more traditional aspects of Diablo won’t get any meaningful content updates for a long time. Now, the return of the Diablo 3 boss, Belial, in Season 8, has put the game at a precarious crossroads.

Enter Belial, the Lord of Lies

In Diablo 3, Belial was a major boss who upended the story, brought a city to ruin, and was eventually brought down by the heroes at great cost. A “Lesser Evil” rather than a “Prime”, Belial is still one of Diablo’s siblings and is a major threat to Sanctuary. In short, he deserves better than just being a throwaway seasonal villain, even if he sticks around as a boss once Season 8 is over.

The last major villain who was brought back, Mephisto, had an entire expansion built around him and his schemes. The character is also still at large and is likely part of a greater battle to come. While granted, Belial is smaller fry than Mephisto, he’s still a member of Hell’s First Family and deserves to be part of a content drop that also serves as a major lore update.

What’s worrying is that this could be a sign of things to come and possibly communicates that Blizzard no longer sees any value in proper expansions, quests, and traditional content updates. Instead, having Belial return as a seasonal enemy indicates that villains of this magnitude will now be relegated to less meaningful content.

Sure, Season 8 will likely have a seasonal questline accompanying and explaining his return, but really, Belial is the sort of enemy that deserves a DLC focused on him, or at least, a series of quests in the next expansion that give him time to shine. Also, if Blizzard locks new story content behind the Seasonal Realm, those who play the Eternal Realm will be unable to take part unless they submit to starting all over again.

A fresh start

Of course, these fears could all be misplaced, and Season 8 could represent a fresh start for Diablo 4’s seasons. Belial’s inclusion as the main bad guy could be Blizzard’s way of elevating them, making them more meaty and closer to mini-expansions.

This is something the company has toyed with before, the only problem was that Eternal Realm players were usually left out in the cold. But Blizzard may be painstakingly aware of some of the criticism, and this, coupled with their plans to have fewer expansions, could see it morph seasons into something that pleases all players.

The only issue is that seasonal content is temporary, and even if Blizzard does decide to adopt this approach, it’ll still need to find a way to motivate players to jump into every new season. I’ve argued before that Diablo 4’s seasons need to evolve before it’s too late. The only question now is, what form will this take?

A lot hinges on Blizzard’s plans for Season 8 and why it has chosen to bring back Belial now. If he’s just another seasonal attraction, then this doesn’t bode well for future boss returns. Will the same thing apply to Azmodan, Baal, and even Diablo himself?

Or does Blizzard have something special planned, with Belial representing a new era where seasons become more of a continuation of the story rather than a side note? I know which one I’m hoping for. If not, and if Diablo 4 continues to revel in its status as a live service game while only catering to one audience, then it may spell the end for the traditional Diablo player.

By 2026, when the next expansion does arrive, many of us may have simply moved on from the franchise, it no longer being the game we once knew.