Diablo 4 shows off Mercenaries for the first time and it looks like we are getting a demon sidekick

What you need to know

• Today at Gamescom 2024, Blizzard released a new trailer for Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, the game's first expansion, which launches on October 8.
• The trailer showed the 'Pale Hand' mercenaries, which appear to be a choice of 4 player support characters, including a demon 'Vengeance' character.
• We'll also be hearing more about The Dark Citadel, a new endgame PvE activity later this week.

As we neared the end of the Gamescom 2024 opening night, I feared I'd hallucinated the promise of a new Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred trailer , but alas, they saved the best till later, with this new offering near the end of the show, showing the new Mercenaries mechanic and a suspiciously pointy-eared and tailed Mercenary in particular...

Mercenaries will aid our player character in the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion and are not a new concept to the franchise. We've had mercenaries in Diablo 2: Resurrected and 'followers' in Diablo 3 , but what is surprising is the direction Diablo 4 seems to be going with its take on the Mercenaries. This one line in the trailer gave away something new immediately, "we were left with only our inner demons, but the return of Hatred has pulled us back into the light."

Following this, we see some of the mercenaries in action, named 'The Pale Hand.' They are split into 4 archetypes: Guardian, Redemption, Vengeance, and Rage. Vengeance appears to be a full-blown demon, with the other mercenaries taking on a more traditional class role, but the premise appears to be the same: are these previously corrupted inhabitants of Sanctuary? The developers have described them as "ordinary people with extraordinary skills to help you in battle," but the new trailer seems to indicate there is a bunch of new lore to discover here.

The Dark Citadel

Game Director Brent Gibson came on stage following the trailer to reveal more of what's to come in the new expansion, including The Dark Citadel, a new co-op PvE endgame activity that will run us through the ringer with a bunch of cooperative puzzles and mechanics that "gives you control over the challenges you will see and the types of rewards you will get." Additionally, the Kurast Undercity will be an intense new activity that will challenge everything we think we know about Diablo 4 combat, running us through another gauntlet of multiplayer mechanics and puzzles.

We'll be seeing more of the Mercenaries and the new PvE activities in the days to come at Gamescom 2024 , and I'll be getting my hands on  the new Spiritborn class while I'm at the show. Stay tuned to tomorrow's Xbox Broadcast for more info at 6 am PST / 9am EST / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST.

Free wings for pre-purchasing the DLC

The base edition of Vessel of Hatred costs $39.99, and for that, you unlock access right now to a new Pet, Alkor the Snow Leopard. However, this being Blizzard, there is, of course, an Ultimate Edition for $89.99 , which gives you a bunch more stuff. Namely, access to another two pets, a cat mount, a bunch of armor, and some cosmetic wings, to name a few. Tonight at Gamescom, Blizzard hit us with another boon for ordering the Ultimate Edition, these Demon Wings, and a month's worth of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate . Is that enough to tempt you over to the dark side? Or will you be waiting for more information on Vessel of Hatred?

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

Unlock a new entry in the story campaign, a new Nahantu region, and the first-ever new class for Diablo 4 — the Spiritborn. Purchase today to unlock cosmetics you can use up until the launch of October 8 and beyond, from armor to pets to a cat mount!

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