Original Diablo 2 Devs Talk Darkhaven and Competing With Their Own Legacy

With Blizzard recently breathing new life into Diablo 2: Resurrected by adding the all-new Warlock class and bringing the game to Steam, the original creators of the 25-year-old classic are watching with a mix of pride and pressure.

Several key figures behind the original Diablo 2—including lead character artist Phil Shenk, programmer Peter Hu, and designer Erich Schaefer—have reformed under the banner of Moon Beast Productions. Their current focus is an ambitious new action-RPG titled Darkhaven, a project that now ironically finds itself competing for attention against their very own, decades-old creation.

Pride and Pressure

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Shenk expressed astonishment at the enduring legacy of his former work. "Just the fact that people are playing this 30-year-old game, that it's worth it for them to introduce new content, is amazing to me," he said. "I'm very proud, I guess is the word, just at the fact that it has so much legs."

However, going head-to-head with the modern Diablo machine is a daunting prospect for an indie studio.

"There's tons of conflicted feelings there," Peter Hu admitted during the call. "We're an indie company in a way, going up against a giant, and that's a tough hill to climb." Shenk echoed the sentiment, noting, "We feel the pressure, but I don't hate them for it."

Regarding the new Diablo 2 DLC, Reign of the Warlock, Shenk completely understood Blizzard's decision to add a class rather than a full new Act. He pointed out the massive workload required for a new Act and the narrative nightmare of retroactively altering the lore that subsequent Diablo games were built upon.

Darkhaven: A New Vision

Rather than trying to beat Diablo 4 or Path of Exile at their own traditional ARPG game, Moon Beast Productions is taking Darkhaven in a radically different direction.

Shenk pointed out that their new title blends classic isometric hack-and-slash mechanics with modern survival game elements seen in titles like Valheim or Enshrouded. Darkhaven promises an open-ended, procedurally generated sandbox world featuring:

• Fully deformable terrain (digging and mining)

• Base building and settlement construction

• Broad movement options, including swimming and double-jumping

• Robust mod support (a world editor is already present in the demo)

The game will support solo play, small co-op groups, and even massively multiplayer server environments.

Moon Beast has currently released a playable demo on Steam to prove their concepts work in practice. The studio is concurrently running a Kickstarter campaign to secure the final funding needed to cross the finish line, having already raised $200,000 of their $500,000 goal with nearly a month remaining.

For ARPG fans, the genre's current landscape offers the best of both worlds: the chance to revisit a legendary classic with fresh content, and the opportunity to see its original architects attempt to redefine the genre once again.