We always knew that Diablo 4 was a cruel world, where good and evil are locked in an endless struggle that drags the innocent – and not so innocent – denizens of Sanctuary into their swirling path of destruction and death. We even saw that for ourselves, as one of our favorite moments from the beta was a carefree pony frolicking among the chaos, with no idea that it was about to become collateral damage in our sworn quest to lay waste to Mephisto.
Poor Rainbow Dash. He was just minding his business and enjoying his moment in the sun, unaware that he was moments away from his tragic, untimely death. We felt a bit sorry for him, and there’s no doubt that Diablo 4 is full of those moments – you can’t drop a hellgate on the equine equivalent of Squamish and not expect any harm to come to the neigh-sayers.
Blizzard is keenly aware of our horse-hating sentiments, and has taken them head on – with Diablo 4 Endangered Species. Yes, one of the hallmarks of the series is the occasional wildlife that you can’t help but feel bad about slaughtering as you raze a sector, and for the first time, Blizzard has turned that empathy into one of the most cruel achievements I’ve seen in a game.
“Defy extinction and hunt down all the endangered species in Sanctuary.” That’s the blurb accompanying the achievement, which gives you a list of some of the many wildlife in the game that you have to hunt down and kill. It’s not just one or two – once you complete the task, you’ll get a reward screen wherein Diablo 4 shares its estimates on just how many animals you killed to complete the task.
Within hours of Diablo 4 releasing to the public, sheep, roosters, goats, and donkeys were slaughtered by the truckload, with players trying to see which among them could rack up the highest animal bodycount.
But of course, there’s a way to avoid detection – the aforementioned thread on the subreddit tracks the survivors that have managed to stay off the radar, with the last currently in the form of a horse. For about 23 hours, Diablo 4 players collectively held their breaths, imagining a majestic beast calmly grazing out of eyeshot, with nary a Cold Mistress or elite Cultist in sight.
It was all for naught, as less than 24 hours ago, disaster struck as the horse was discovered: one of the deadliest min-maxers in Sanctuary set their sights on the defenseless creature, and the race for the achievement began.
Ordinarily, I would gloat about the discovery getting out – information is power, after all. But this is far from a situation where anyone involved has any real avenue to dodge the grim reaper. The horse is locked in a stable, with nowhere to run, and the players I saw on inHunter’s Diablo 4 Discord are nothing short of merciless in their pursuit to kill it, as per the achievement requirements.
So far, two Diablo 4 Sorcerers have hit level 70, and are using the Unstable Current and Arc Lash combination, which electrocutes the opponent and player-made lightning simultaneously, then sends an electrical pulse down the line and electrocutes any enemies it comes into contact with. Alternatively, they can use the DruidShockwave Aspect skill, which creates a shockwave at their feet that damages any enemy caught in the blast, as well as knocking them back and immobilizing them for a short time.
There is also a Necromancer using Blood Wave – most players probably know this skill as being the one that electrocutes the opponent and causes splash damage. In this case, though, the initial damage of Blood Wave electrocutes their horse, then the follow-up damage sends an electrical pulse down to any enemy caught in the blast, and does the same amount of damage inflicted on the primary victim.
The Diablo 4 horse will die either way, there’s just about a zero percent chance that it will go unnoticed. Blizzard, of course, is ultimately responsible for what gets put in the game – tasking players with the goal of killing an innocent animal as a primary in-game achievement is a macabre representation of what the company considers acceptable in its design.