Recently, Jennifer Brandes Hepler, Narrative Director of Diablo V, detailed the game's core changes. The story is set a century after Diablo's victory, when Sanctuary has completely fallen. With no safe towns remaining, the long-standing town-and-dungeon cycle has been entirely abolished, replaced by a mobile survivor caravan that serves as the player's only safe haven.
Hepler has eight years of experience at BioWare, contributing to the scriptwriting for the Dragon Age trilogy, and joined the Diablo V development team in 2025. She stated that the caravan design transplants the camp concept from traditional CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age into an ARPG framework.
The caravan travels with the player across the shattered Sanctuary, providing a place to rest, interact with NPCs, and gain experience. Members also serve as merchants and suppliers. All side quests originate from characters within the caravan; there are no random quest givers along the roads. Every side quest is tied to the personal story of a caravan survivor, eliminating irrelevant fetch quests. As the main story progresses, new survivors will continuously join the caravan, including revealed characters such as a blind nun and a lost treasure-hunting goblin.
The developers have also made a clear distinction to avoid player misconceptions: caravan companions are not customizable teammates in the style of Dragon Age. You cannot change their equipment, upgrade their skill trees, or bring them into combat to fight alongside you. Their focus is on character development and narrative presentation, aiming to move players through their personal stories rather than serving as combat tools.
Because the entire world has been occupied by demonic forces and ordinary civilians have nearly vanished, the caravan serves both as a survival refuge and the core vehicle for storytelling. Diablo V is scheduled for release in spring 2029 and is currently in early development, with no gameplay footage available yet.