Blizzard announces Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred ahead of The Game Awards: "Such are the visions of a reckoning, approaching with a speed that terrifies even us"

Update: As expected, the full reveal of Lord of Hatred as the next Diablo 4 expansion landed during The Game Awards, confirming an April 2026 release date and a whole lot of Diablo 2 nostalgia.

Original story: It's usually safe to expect some big announcement to leak ahead of a show like The Game Awards 2025, but usually those leaks don't come from the game publishers themselves. Blizzard has quite unceremoniously lifted the veil on Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, and while they're saving any details beyond that name for the show tonight, it sure seems likely that this is the action RPG's next expansion pack.

In a brief clip posted to Twitter, Blizzard shows a series of hearses driving through Los Angeles, the city which hosts The Game Awards. Each of the cars bears a Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred logo, and the tagline "prepare for the reckoning." Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising, since the name "Lord of Hatred" has been appearing in leaks and datamines for years now, but I guess it's finally time to pay off those rumors.

In Diablo lore, the moniker Lord of Hatred belongs to the demon Mephisto, one of the principal foes of Diablo 2. Just in case the connection wasn't obvious enough, the clip shows a close-up of a custom license plate saying "M3PH15T0 is here."

The hype material for what's likely a full announcement later tonight has certainly gotten fans excited on social media, and Blizzard is responding directly to fans asking if this is the new expansion with some cryptic messages. "A reckoning is looming," one message says. "Be ready."

Another tweet goes: "Such are the visions of a reckoning, approaching with a speed that terrifies even us."

Perhaps most enticing is this: "We just hope the body inside the casket is still dead." Now I'm going to be disappointed if The Game Awards ends without a hearse driving on stage and somebody in Mephisto cosplay emerging to demonically growl "world premiere."

Blizzard doesn't want to keep reworking Diablo 4 mechanics "just because we can," but it'll keep tweaking "some of the old things that just aren't doing their job."