Diablo 5 looks to Dragon Age: Jennifer Hepler and a caravan instead of cities

Blizzard has given a very clear hint of where it wants to take Diablo V: more role-playing and more narrative weight. According to Vandal, the narrative director of the new chapter is Jennifer Hepler, a BioWare veteran who spent eight years at the Canadian studio and wrote for Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. During a BlizzCon 2026 panel, Hepler explained that this experience is shaping the design of some of the game's core systems.

The detail that stands out most is the caravan: a group that will accompany the player permanently and draws directly from the camps in Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate. It's not just a cosmetic choice. This entry is set in a Sanctuary where Diablo has already won, so the familiar cities and safe zones are gone. For a series that has lived on frantic action and loot, this represents a shift in philosophy that affects all of us who pour hours into Diablo.

What you need to know

• Jennifer Hepler is leading the narrative of Diablo V after eight years at BioWare and three Dragon Age games under her belt.
• Blizzard wants to significantly expand the RPG side of the series, not just tweak it.
• The caravan that travels with you takes ideas from the camps in Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate.
• The world starts from a harsh premise: Diablo has won and there are no more traditional cities or refuges.
• The statements were made during a BlizzCon 2026 panel, as reported by Vandal.

What changes compared to previous Diablo games

In any classic Diablo, the town is the anchor: you go back to sell, identify items, talk to two or three characters and head back out to fight. It's a functional space, not a place where things happen. BioWare's or Larian's camps are the opposite: that's where relationships between characters develop, decisions are made and the emotional arc of each quest is wrapped up. If Blizzard brings that concept to a moving caravan, the resting point stops being a menu on legs and becomes part of the story.

The world's premise reinforces that reading. A Sanctuary where Hell has won leaves no room for stable refuges, and that forces the player to carry their community with them. It's a very interesting shift in tone: Diablo has always sold darkness, but it has rarely presented a scenario of total defeat as the starting point.

Who it affects

Everyone, but in different ways. For the story-focused player, it opens the door to a Diablo with real characters. For the competitive player, it raises a fair question: how much of a session will go to conversations and how much to killing things. And for the content creator, it delivers fresh material, because companion systems tend to generate memorable moments that work very well in clips and streams.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz editorial team, we see it with cautious optimism. The hire makes sense: if you want your game to feel like an RPG, you hire someone who has been writing RPGs for years, and Hepler's track record on Dragon Age is hard to argue with. The caravan idea strikes us as the boldest decision the series has made in a long time, precisely because it goes after the heart of the formula, the town, instead of adding a layer on top.

That said, we have reservations. Diablo is played in loops: seasons, farming, builds, leaderboards. A companion system with dialogue and decisions is wonderful the first time around, but on the twentieth run of a season it can turn into pure friction. If Blizzard doesn't design the caravan to be quick to skip once you already know it, the more competitive community will see it as a toll. And there's another risk: looking to Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age raises the bar enormously, and the comparison will be inevitable in every review and every Discord thread.

Our position is clear: the RPG turn is welcome, as long as it doesn't break the pace that makes Diablo what it is. The story mattering is good; the story getting in the way is not.

What do you think?

We want to hear from you, someone who has spent years going in and out of Sanctuary. Are you excited about a Diablo with companions and Dragon Age-style decisions, or would you rather the series stay pure, unrestrained action and loot? Let us know in the team chat or on our Discord.