With shake-ups to how Diablo 5 handles towns and procedurally generated areas, Blizzard revealed that Baldur’s Gate 3 inspired a key feature of its upcoming ARPG. Diablo 5 is confirmed to be set in a version of Sanctuary where the Lord of Terror has already won, leaving cities and villages in ruins and players in constant danger of demonic attacks. To give players a place of respite when cities aren’t an option, Diablo 5 is adding the Caravan system, taking a page from Baldur’s Gate 3‘s book.
Diablo 5 was officially announced during the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, and GameRant got the opportunity to speak with the developers at a media panel and go into more detail about what players can expect from this next entry. On this panel were Executive Producer Matt Zitterman, Production Director Tiffany Wat, Game Director Joe Shely, and Narrative Director Jennifer Helper. While the team couldn’t go into too many specifics, they did reveal some interesting sources of inspiration for Diablo 5‘s new gameplay features.
Diablo 5’s Caravan System Takes Inspiration from Baldur’s Gate 3’s Campsite
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Regarding Diablo 5‘s new Caravan system, Narrative Director Jennifer Helper likened this mechanic to other RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dragon Age that allow players to take a break from the action and meet with their party in the safety of a campsite that is separate from the rest of the game’s world. As Helper puts it:
“The caravan, I think, brings some of the best elements of traditional RPGs into Diablo‘s ARPG format, giving you that sort of Baldur’s Gate or Dragon Age campsite where you can interact with your followers. They’re not going to be Dragon Age followers where you level up their skills and give them clothing and stuff. But they will be followers with personalities. So I think that my experience with traditional RPGs has definitely been a strength in building that out. “
Helper has a storied legacy of writing for RPGs, with some of her most popular works including:
- Dragon Age: Origins – 2009
- Dragon Age 2 – 2011
- Star Wars: The Old Republic – 2011
- Game of Thrones Ascent – 2013
- Dragon Age: Inquisition – 2014
- Unavowed – 2018
This history with traditional CRPG narratives allows Helper to bridge the gap between Diablo 5‘s APRG formula and narrative mechanics like Dragon Age: Origins or Baldur’s Gate 3‘s campsite feature. This feature is used in games like Baldur’s Gate 3 as a vessel for interaction with party members, where players can dive deeper into their stories, adjust their gear and stats, and store items in an instance of the game separate from the rest of the world.
Diablo 5, on the other hand, won’t include all of these same features, but will act as a home base for players to forge gear at the blacksmith, refill potions, and make other preparations before venturing back out into the demon-infested Sanctuary. The developers also teased that this Caravan will act as a sort of progression check for Diablo 5‘s story, starting small and growing into a bustling site for companions to gather as the Wanderer recruits more NPCs into the fight against Diablo.
Helper also notes that Diablo 5‘s much more dangerous iteration of Sanctuary needed to be balanced with something like Baldur’s Gate 3‘s campsite feature to give players a space away from the action to rest while also fitting into the theme of impermanence and travel as players act as a beacon of hope in a bleak world. With Diablo 5 not launching until 2029, it remains to be seen exactly how this campsite will work and how closely it will follow Baldur’s Gate 3‘s version of the mechanic.
