My mod has reworked essentially every Act IV map. The level topology was re-routed so Act IV's length matches the other acts, while also restoring what the designers originally intended.

Draft as shown; still tentative.

Maps:

1. Enable Act IV's cut lighting system.

The current Act IV lighting is dropped. Act IV's sky becomes more otherworldly and chaotic — and dark, oppressive.

2. A special weather effect is planned for Act IV.

3. Rework the Outer Steppes, Plains of Despair, City of the Damned, plus a new map

The Outer Steppes, Plains of Despair and City of the Damned are reworked so their individual character and the designers' intent come through more clearly.

A new map, the Withered Steppe, is inserted between the Steppes and the Plains of Despair.

Game maps are assembled from tiles, and right now these areas reuse far too many of the same ones, so they don't feel distinct.

The City of the Damned will be expanded, because it has very few tiles of its own (23); the plan is to design at least twice as many. The images show some of its current tiles.

The image shows one new tile designed so far.

4. A new Chaos Sanctuary

The new Chaos Sanctuary is an entirely new map embedded inside the City of the Damned: a cathedral with a cross-shaped footprint at the city's centre.

See the minimap: the Chaos Sanctuary is the only embedded map in the game.

The Chaos Sanctuary is still in progress…

5. Transition map — the Abyssal Descent

The Abyssal Descent is a small transition map: dark, silent, with no monsters.

The small map is reached through a portal at the centre of the Chaos Sanctuary and connects to the entrance of the River of Flame maps. The route between the City of the Damned and the inner Hells changes: City of the Damned -> Chaos Sanctuary -> Abyssal Descent -> lower Hells.

The City of the Damned waypoint was adjusted accordingly, and several new tiles were made.

6. River of Flame remade

The River of Flame is remade and split into five distinct maps.

The original end-of-act Chaos Sanctuary is renamed the Sanctum of Terror. Its layout stays, because I don't want to change the classic boss run.

Monsters:

Area monsters and fixed uniques both get adjustments:

• Doom Knight AI fixed — it can now cast Bone Spirit properly.
• Oblivion Knight AI fixed — it can cast Bone Armor and a blessing skill that heals other monsters.
• The Gorgon, which Blizzard never finished, is coming back.

Blizzard's gorgon animations are incomplete. I rebuilt the model from the concept art; the model and the petrifying curse skill are basically working, with more tweaking to come. I also plan to restore the six-armed caster variant shown in the concept art.

• The cut fixed uniques will be retuned around the new level flow.
• Fallen wolf-riders are also in the plan

• Diablo's elite knights — the Doom Knights — have returned