New "Blood Marsh" area teased from the upcoming Diablo III expansion.

With Diablo III: Reaper of Souls just around the corner Blizzard has given the community a quick look at one of the new playable zones, called the “Blood Marsh”. The post describes the history of the zone this way:

“Enveloping a large portion of the western reaches of Khanduras, the Blood Marsh is a massive, swampy stretch of land, split by rivers and tributaries often utilized for passage and trade. Despite its current inhospitable nature, it was not always a dread-inducing locale and in fact was once the home of one of Sanctuary's greatest civilizations.”

Corvus, a city of “untold glory” once stood in this now inhospitable area. The city was said to be filled exclusively with nephalem, and under their rule the city flourished. After the Purge, the nephalem, blinded by their ignorance, became mortal and so inevitably the city fell. After the city had fallen, corruption spread across the land and Blood Magic became a common practice among the denizens of the swamp.

All lore aside, Blizzard seems to be keen on crafting a gloomy marshland with blood as the overarching theme.  The post elaborated on how the blood theme fits within the context of the lore:

“When thinking of a sinking, festering marshland, the idea of exploring ruins of an ancient civilization hidden beneath the grime and muck became too tantalizing to pass up. Not only did this setting pair well with the physical representation of blood (in terms of palette and textures), but it also allowed the designers to touch on the environment's theme in perhaps a less obvious way—blood in terms of lineage.”

This new zone seems to be of a much darker premise than many of the zones in vanilla Diablo III, which is something diehard fans have been clamoring for. The sinking city of Corvus, slowly being consumed by marsh driven by Blood Magic definitely creates for a compelling area that has the potential to be full interesting subplots and menacing creatures.  Perhaps the influx of new Crusaders will be able to purge this marsh of its unholiness; until then I will be grinding Paragon levels and enjoying the new itemization with Patch 2.0.1!

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Ian Nowakowski

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