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Journey to Silius

Posted by Michael Plasket on October 4, 2017

Journey to Silius / [rʌf] World (ラフワールド) - NES, PlayStation (1990)

Sunsoft is one of many underappreciated developers who rose to prominence during the reign of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Somewhere in the middle of their original and licensed releases lies  Journey to Silius , an unassuming run-and-gun game released around the mid-to-late portion of the NES’s lifespan. It’s easy to just take a quick glance at it and write it off as a  Contra  clone, adding to the glut of games which fall under the “shoot things in 2D with a gun that contains infinite ammo” genre which was quite popular at the time. To be fair,  Journey to Silius  doesn’t do anything incredibly original, but it is nonetheless a well-rounded game that has a modest cult following and an interesting development history.

Journey to Silius  begins on a dire note that is actually illustrated in a bold cutscene at the beginning of the game, though the manual further elaborates on the backstory. In the year 0373 of the new space age, world overpopulation beckons the creation of space colonies so people can emigrate to them. Jay McCray is the son of a scientist working on colony #428 in the Silius Solar System (SSS), and Jay aspires to someday become a scientist like his dear old dad. Unfortunately, the SSS colony is obliterated in a cataclysmic explosion, and all known research is lost along with the lives of many, including Jay’s father. A grieving Jay finds a disk in his father’s room which tells him about terrorists who are likely behind the horrible destruction of the SSS colony. Full of solemnity and anger, Jay decides to take the fight to the terrorists and see to it that the SSS colony can be rebuilt after all opposing forces have been crushed.

Perhaps the premise of a teenager taking the fight to a bunch of “terrorists” may be unorthodox, particularly as all of said terrorists are robots. Of course, this was the sort of logical detail that didn’t amount to a hill of beans back in the in the glory days of 8-bit technology, where single-entity armies were commonplace. (There is an explanation for the enemy forces to consist entirely of mechanical marauders rooted in the game’s origin, which will be elaborated upon later.) The game itself requires the player to guide Jay through war-torn landscapes, subterranean bunkers, and fearsome techno-bases to destroy the massive bosses at the end of each level. The action is carried out akin to most 2D platformers, as Jay runs, jumps, shoots, and avoids being killed despite the improbable odds against him.

You start out with a basic handgun and a three-way shotgun to wreck the enemy opposition. Before each big boss fight stands a sub-boss which, if conquered, drops a new weapon, eventually amounting to a total of six strong guns. This includes a quick-firing machine gun, a versatile homing missile launcher, a penetrating laser gun, and a giga-powerful grenade launcher. One could potentially just fight a way through the game with the default handgun, as it fires about as fast as the player can push “B”, but the extra firepower can be very useful in the many tight situations that ensue as the game rolls on. Each use of any weapon that isn’t the handgun consumes a bit of a blue special weapon gauge, which is naturally located below the pink lifebar. The only power-ups you ever normally find increase your weapon and life gauges, while life pick-ups unfortunately tend to be a bit on the scarcer side. Even weapon pick-ups aren’t handed out liberally, so you’ll have to be careful with your ammo.

It’s too bad that booster items are somewhat uncommon, as according to the norm for much of Sunsoft’s output,  Journey to Silius  is a danged tough game to beat. Jay’s quest is only five levels long, but while it’s short by technical definition, a good deal more time will be spent figuring out how to get through certain segments while taking the absolute minimum of damage or avoiding nefarious pitfalls which can instantly screw your game. The first stage is a bit tougher than the beginning of most games, where missiles fall down pits and can drag Jay down with them if not careful, and laser turrets that can only be hit when they pop out of the ground to attack. Later levels bring in some more painful enemies, like wall turrets that constantly spray off bullets in a clockwise pattern, domed ceiling guns that might make one rue the inability to fire upward, and intimidating jetpack robots who swoop down on the player in a manner reminiscent of the infamous Red Arremer from the  Ghosts ‘n Goblins  series.

In between the destructible enemies lies a number of increasingly fatal traps, which the latter levels pour on thick. Mechanical presses, steel claws that drop down when getting too close to them, and blocks that plunge into a void the instant they’re stepped on; these are all jeopardies to watch out for. The final stage is impressive for having no actual enemies but bombarding you with many environmental hazards instead, all while the level keeps on auto-scrolling, forcing you to react quickly. If you think the levels are murderous, just wait until you get a load of the bosses, all of which are massive and quite impressively designed. Heck, even the sub-bosses fought before the big ones can be annoying, like an iron golem, which can only be hit in its head before it walks all over Jay, or a trigger-happy mech reminiscent of ED-209 from  Robocop .

The end bosses are all really vicious affairs; a helicopter drops annoying leaping robots before facing you directly, a tank with a humanoid upper body and an extending claw to strike with, and a bizarre laser cannon that looks more like it belongs in the  Alien franchise. Checkpoints are stringent and losing all lives will send you back to the start of the level, even if it’s during one of the boss fights. You only get three continues total to beat the game and three lives for each continue with no way to earn any extras. Running out of continues stings a lot less than it does in Blaster Master, but with how brutal the final stage is, seeing the end of the game will require a lot of effort and persistence.

Now while the bosses are the most impressive-looking parts on the whole, the overall quality of the graphics cannot be denied. Journey to Silius is one of the finest looking games on the NES, just as most of Sunsoft’s other titles from  Blaster Master  onward looked marvelous. The backgrounds are usually rendered in different hues of the same color to create a monochromatic landscape, but they always fit the atmosphere and never feel bland. Enemies have neat technological designs with a few even appearing more akin to aliens, and as mentioned before, it’s hard to believe the game’s bosses fit into 8-bit design. While not the most outwardly colorful game, it never looks garish with its consistent dark science-fiction design.

In addition to looking grimly gorgeous, the music is some of the best ever created with the NES’s sound capabilities. Composed by Naoki Kodaka, the same musician behind many of Sunsoft’s other NES titles, it strikes the right balance between intense action and dramatic fervor, producing a memorable tone that isn’t quite like any other game on the NES, even compared to Sunsoft’s other releases. The real standout piece is the second-level music, a low-key tune that resonates with a hint of sorrow to create an oppressive atmosphere for the stage in question, which just so happens to be an underground bunker.

Journey to Silius  has incredible production values, and the gameplay itself is pretty solid too, if nothing too groundbreaking at the time. It’s a tough game that feels rather imposing at times, but never completely impossible as one learns when to jump and what to shoot. The addition of new weapons for beating nearly every stage is also a cool mechanic, even if it’s not too different from how the  Mega Man  series rewards players for beating the bosses. While the game has a good amount of substance, the style is what really sets  Journey to Silius  above much of its ilk. It could even be said that the game looks and feels like an action movie, and such a sentiment would be closer to the truth than one would think. It’s a fact that this game was initially planned as Sunsoft’s adaptation of James Cameron’s classic 1984 sci-fi action thriller,  The Terminator . While Sunsoft lost the licensing rights during development, the overall appearance to the game gives sufficient evidence to what it could have been as a movie tie-in.

It’s not hard to imagine Jay as Kyle Reese fighting his war against the machines in the future, though perhaps his sprite could do with a bit more stubble to better resemble Michael Biehn. The first level is ripped right out of the scenes which depict the future with Terminators and Hunter-Killers having laid waste to all around them, and the second level is familiar to the underground bunkers where T-600s hunt down humans in hiding. While the third and fourth stages don’t really bear much parity to any known scene, the final level takes place in a factory akin to the setpiece for the showdown against the T-800. The biggest evidence is the final boss, a tall mechanical humanoid that bears a significant semblance to the T-800’s metal exoskeleton. Furthermore, an early set of screenshots in a  Nintendo Power  exclusive show what the game was going to be like, naturally with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the eponymous Terminator at the title screen. The other screens show the first level with the background clad in a hushed dark blue shade, which makes it appear even more grave than its final incarnation.

Journey to Silius  had the potential to join up with  Batman  as one of the few NES games that would have defied the notion that all licensed games had to be crap. As it stands, even without the approval of the Hemdale Film Corporation, it’s nonetheless one of the best action games on the NES, standing head and shoulders above the games that actually received the Terminator license on the system.

In Japan, it was given the bizarre title  [rʌf] World , but with the exact same gameplay as its Western counterpart. The only notable difference besides the title screen is the sprite of the main character: Here the protagonist’s head is obscured by a helmet and his bodysuit looks slightly different. [rʌf] World  was released in Japan in a PlayStation compilation titled  Memorial Series: Sunsoft Vol. 5 , which also featured  Hebereke .

Nintendo Power

As for how  The Terminator  fared for games after  Journey to Silius , two years later appeared an actual  Terminator  game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Mindscape. Lamentably, its muddy graphics and infuriating controls dropped it into the typical licensed dreck cesspit where most tie-in games at the time were trapped. Perhaps it was an unwise move to revoke the license from Sunsoft in retrospect, but a slightly less embarrassing (albeit still terrible) title based on the then-recent  T2: Judgment Day  was developed by Software Creations and published by LJN. While that game at least had decent music, its level structure was awful and it was often horribly unfair. An actually okay game based on the first  Terminator  was released to the Genesis with a much expanded version for the Sega CD, and much later there were some genuinely good games in the franchise, even if not based on any specific film installment, like  Terminator: Future Shock  and  Robocop vs. The Terminator . But when it comes to the NES,  Journey to Silius  is easily the best  Terminator  game on the platform without even the license.

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Journey to Silius - Take the Fight to Them!! ~ Title Screen / Stage 1 & 5 theme (Remix)

SMW Music → Journey to Silius - Take the Fight to Them!! ~ Title Screen / Stage 1 & 5 theme (Remix)

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Journey to Silius – Guide and Walkthrough

Guide and Walkthrough (NES) by snazzyhoppy

Version: 1.0 | Updated: 07/22/2012

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Revolutionizing Thrills: Six Flags Sets New Standards in a Digital Transformation Overhaul to Elevate the Guest Experience

April 29, 2024

ARLINGTON, Texas --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX), the world’s largest regional theme park company and the largest operator of water parks in North America , proudly unveils a complete digital transformation to revolutionize every facet of the guest journey. AI has been a cornerstone of our strategy, enabling us to introduce groundbreaking enhancements that improve guest experiences and streamline park operations.

"Our guests are at the heart of everything we do, and this digital transformation is a testament to our commitment to providing unparalleled experiences where technology meets fun and excitement," said Selim Bassoul, CEO of Six Flags. “AI allows us to enrich and personalize every guest touchpoint.”

The technology enhancements are spearheaded by The Digital Alliance, a first of its kind in the theme park industry that brings together best-in-class companies to identify the best solutions for our guest enhancement journey.

"We are transforming Six Flags into a technology-centric entertainment company. With the formation of the largest global digital alliance in the theme park industry, we are setting the foundation to lead with innovation and digital excellence," said Omar Jacques Omran, Chief Digital Officer of Six Flags. “Six Flags is reinventing amusement, making every moment more personalized and efficient."

Noteworthy advancements include:

AI is at the forefront of elevating our customer engagement, pre-visit planning and personalizing the guest experience.

• Our new website, set to launch this year, will leverage AI to revolutionize the guest experience, including personalization and a new upcoming loyalty program.
• Missi Six, our new digital concierge powered by Generative AI, will debut on our app and website.
• Revamped mobile app to include interactive maps for easier park navigation, mobile food ordering, and upcoming customized recommendations based on user’s preferences.
• New Six Flags Digital Wallet, soon to launch, will enable guests to access their loyalty benefits and use their favorite payment methods via the app, smartwatch, or wristbands across all our theme and water parks, eliminating the need for physical wallets.
• Rolling out new integrated, state-of-the-art, real-time video, and photo-capturing technology on our roller coasters, enabling guests to relive their exhilarating moments with instantly accessible, high-quality imagery that captures the thrill of each ride.
• Introducing a new endeavor to expand the digital entertainment frontier by launching the largest e-gaming initiative in the theme park industry and a new metaverse gaming platform designed to merge the thrill of our theme parks with the immersive world of online gaming.

Introducing new innovations to expedite access to rides, food, and retail

• Food and beverage self-serving kiosks provide a seamless selection process while maximizing the benefits of guest passes.
• Guests can swiftly order food using QR Codes or NFC technology at tables without having the need to download the app.
• Our upcoming retail self-checkout options, available via kiosks or the app, will allow guests to quickly purchase merchandise without waiting in line.

Leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency and excellence

• We are implementing Live Ride Wait Times across multiple parks, featuring new sensors that provide accurate wait times, making every minute at Six Flags a minute well spent.
• Speedy Parking, a new toll plaza automated entry, uses computer vision and AI to recognize registered license plates, allowing automatic car entry within 3 seconds.
• The rollout of the world's most comprehensive AI drowning prevention system across our waterparks.
• We are revamping our Point-of-Sale ecosystem with 3,200 new devices and the introduction of 1,000 handheld POS for quicker transactions.

About Six Flags Entertainment Corporation

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is the world’s largest regional theme park company with 27 parks across the United States , Mexico and Canada . For 63 years, Six Flags has entertained hundreds of millions of guests with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks and unique attractions. Six Flags is committed to creating an inclusive environment that fully embraces the diversity of our team members and guests. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com .

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Galvanize your Legend in Season 4: Loot Reborn

The forges burn with renewed vigor, stoked by braziers to hone the steel of Sanctuary’s finest. Across the land, Hell’s expanded Legions gather and multiply, marshalling their strength to ambush wanderers that fall prey to their Helltide.

Fresh from our first Public Test Realm in Diablo IV, Season 4: Loot Reborn begins on May 14 at 10 a.m. PT . Use the Itemization overhaul on new systems, Tempering and Masterworking to change a noteworthy blade into a force to be feared. Across all World Tiers, Helltide is reborn: slay monstrosities to fill your threat meter, marking you as prey for the Hellborne . Prepare to fight side by side with the Iron Wolves —a seasoned mercenary company of brethren aiming to quell the demons.

Itemization Reforged: Masterworking, Tempering and More

Helltide reborn, andariel joins the fray & tormented echoes, your greatest challenge: the pit of artificers, fight with the iron wolves, earn rewards with the season journey and battle pass, acquire fabled threads from tejal’s shop, community guides for season 4, stay up to date with diablo iv news.

Seasons within Diablo IV bear their mark on Sanctuary in the Seasonal Realm, unearthing new quests and fresh mechanics to explore and master. Season 4: Loot Reborn takes on a new theme, overhauling many core game systems to refresh how items are earned, how they function, and how they improve as you level through World Tiers during the season.

Unlike previous Seasonal themes that affect only the Seasonal Realm, with Season 4: Loot Reborn, these Itemization changes persist beyond the Seasonal Realm and affect the Eternal Realm as well. Read on to learn how Itemization will change the way you loot and reap your way across all of Diablo IV.

All updates to our new items, Classes and Skills will be available in our Season 4 Patch Notes, which will be available here following our Developer Update stream on May 2.

General Item Updates

One of our several goals for the Itemization changes is to make it easier to understand which items are upgrades when they drop. We reduced the number of affixes on items (down to 3 on Legendary items, 2 on Rare items) and made these affixes more effective. Instead of seeing an affix that relies on conditional values (+10% damage on non-injured Elites), you'll see affixes such as base increases to your Movement Speed, Max life, or single ranks of a Core Skill. Dropped Items are now simpler to evaluate, and we've moved their complexity and customization to our new crafting systems, Tempering and Masterworking, which we will describe in more detail below. We've also increased the overall values of these affixes, so they should feel more powerful!

This screenshot displays an item under the Itemization changes with a Greater Affix.

Item affixes after Itemization changes, with Tempering and Masterworking applied.

By making items more individually impactful, we’ve significantly decreased the number of items that drop when slaying Monsters. The goal here is to spend more time obliterating and less time sorting through the many items that drop. The result is that fewer items will drop overall, but those items will be more likely to be valuable. To compensate and stay on par with the norm, materials gained from Salvaging and Crafting have been adjusted to match this change. Also, Forgotten Souls can now be earned from Whisper bounties and are a rare drop from all Elites. The Gold cost to re-roll items when Enchanting now has a maximum, and we’ve cut down on the materials needed to perform all activities when at the Blacksmith.

Additionally, which World Tier you play in will directly affect the rarity of the items you earn. Sacred items or higher only drop in World Tier III, and only Ancestral items will appear in World Tier IV. Similarly, Legendary items dropped from enemies over Level 95 will always have a value of 925 Item Power.

However, keep an eye out for Uniques—some have a chance to appear starting in World Tier I and II. All Uniques have a chance to drop starting in World Tier III, and Uber Uniques can start appearing as once you’re killing monsters that are Level 55 at max Item Power level.

Codex of Power Updates

Extracting Aspects from Legendary items now stores them in your Codex of Power to be used indefinitely. Instead of taking up space in your inventory, the Codex of Power is a library that stores your most-powerful extracted version of that Aspect, which can be used as many times as you want.

The Codex of Power displays all available Aspects, so you can spend more time seeking the highest Aspect rolls possible. Once the Aspect with the maximum potential value is extracted, a specific border indicates the Aspect has been completed.

Aspects can now be favorited within the Codex of Power, and a tooltip will denote whether you already have that Aspect equipped when searching within the Codex. Note that in the Seasonal Realm, when the Season ends, your Codex of Power will reset and retain those learned affixes for the Eternal Realm. If you already have the same Aspect learned in the Eternal Realm, the Codex of Power will keep the higher of the two.

Tempering: Sharpen your Steel and make it Sing

As you find and learn Tempering Manuals, Blacksmiths across Sanctuary will be able to use these manuals of craftsmanship to shape the qualities of your equipment. Tempering allows you to add potent affixes to your item.

Crafting Manuals can be found as a regular item throughout the game. Once learned, they can be used as many times as desired (like the new Codex of Power changes). Each Crafting Manual contains a small number of affixes, and typically correspond to six different categories: Weapons, Offensive, Defensive, Mobility, Utility and Resource. Simply head to a Blacksmith to Temper your item and add one of the available affixes, greatly reducing the time it takes to ensure your weapon has the affix you desire. Note that Ancestral items can have two Tempered affixes from different categories!

Remember, the Tempering Durability indicates how many times you can Temper an item…even the most battle honed blades can lose their edge. The manuals you learn on the Seasonal Realm last until the end of the season, and manuals learned on the Eternal Realm will be known permanently.

Masterworking: Refine your Weapon to Untold Prowess

Using the rarest of materials found within the deepest mines and caverns, improve your weapons to the absolute pinnacle of their potential. Masterworking is an end-game crafting system, using materials earned from The Pit of Artificers to upgrade your weapons.

Masterworking improves the overall strength of all affixes on your weapon, and at every 4th tier, massively upgrades one of your equipped affixes. The affix that receives the bonus will turn Blue. If the same affix is improved again, it will change to Yellow, and in rare cases, it will turn Orange if improved a third time.

If you hit the max level of Masterworking on a given weapon and you’re unsatisfied with the improvements on your weapon, you can reset and begin the process again.

Greater Affixes

Appearing only on Ancestral Legendary and Unique Items, Greater Affixes are 1.5x more powerful versions of normal affixes. Items with Greater Affixes drop with a distinct audio cue, alerting you to their presence, and have a unique icon both in the world and within your inventory. Each affix on an item has a chance to be a Greater Affix in World Tier III and IV. You cannot Enchant an affix into a Greater Affix—their awesome power may only be discovered.

Gems are simpler, streamlined and more effective across your Character’s journey. Crude Gems have been removed, and crafting levels have been shifted back. Normals Gems are available at Level 51, Flawless at 71, and Royal at 91. Diamonds have had their All Resistance values increased. Topaz now provide increases to Intelligence, and Sapphires increases to Willpower. Amethyst increases your Strength, and Emeralds now provide bonus Dexterity.

Back to Top

The legions of the Burning Hells regroup to coordinate a most formidable display of force in a Helltide reborn. Inspired by the Vampiric Blood Harvest in Season of Blood, your ferocity in combat draws the attention of increasingly dangerous foes. Only the strongest and most well-prepared can survive this potent onslaught. Unless otherwise noted, these Helltide changes affect both Eternal and Seasonal realms and persist beyond the end of Season 4: Loot Reborn.

Threat Levels and Becoming Hell-Marked

As you cleave your way through Helltide, you will now generate Threat. Threat is earned based on the difficulty of the monsters you slay and how often you’re opening Tortured Gifts within Helltide. There are three Threat Levels in total, with each level increasing the danger and frequency of ambushes. Once you hit Level 3, you will become Hell-Marked.

When you’ve been Hell-Marked, you’ll be besieged by a frenzy of densely packed monsters. If you make it out alive, a Hellborn will come for you: one of Sanctuary’s most formidable fallen warriors, now an immensely powerful agent of Hell. The Hellborn can embody one of the classes in Diablo IV. Your Threat Level resets once the Hellborn ambush has been activated, or if you succumb to the overwhelming forces of Hell and perish.

Unholy Blasphemy: Accursed Ritual

At a scene of shocking gore, the Accursed Ritual is the ultimate testament to the disturbing lengths these manic Cultists will go to appease their dark desires. It is here where you can begin the Accursed Ritual.

Baneful Hearts can be earned by opening Tortured Gifts throughout Helltide and by defeating Hellborn enemies. Deposit three Baneful Hearts to begin the ritual, which will commence with a swarm of demonic enemies. This ambush will end with the arrival of the formidable Blood Maiden, an immensely powerful demon who offers great reward upon her death.

Contributing any Baneful Hearts to initiate this dark ritual will grant you increased rewards as a contribution bonus.

Helltides in World Tier I and II

To get your feet warmed up to the awesome threat of Helltide earlier on in your character’s journey, Helltide is now available in World Tier I and II. The overall Monster density will be suited relative to these World Tiers, and no roaming bosses will be present.

Additional Hellish Changes

For the wanderer that want to push the limits of Helltide, an exceptionally valuable new elixir called Profane Mindcage is available to up the ante. Consuming a Profane Mindcage increases the level of Helltide Monsters by 10 and boosts Cinder drop rates. These are a guaranteed drop after killing Hellborne. You will see diminishing returns on boosted Monster levels closer to level cap—keep progressing in World Tiers to retain the same benefit from this potent elixir. The Profane Mindcage will only last until the end of Season 4: Loot Reborn.

Fresh demonic events have been added to Helltide, including new encounters with the fabled Iron Wolves. Stay vigilant for these encounters of demonic treachery.

As a recent change since our Public Test Realm for Season 4: Loot Reborn, Doomsayers no longer drop Chests of Doomsaying. Instead, they now drop the equivalent rewards that a Chest of Doomsaying would have granted on death—entirely removing the Cinder cost it previously held.

There are rumors that there are strange varieties of ore deep within the network of dungeons crisscrossing the north of Sanctuary, perfect for crafting exceptionally-made armor using secret Horadric techniques. However, the horrors that lay in wait for intrepid wanderers seeking to unearth these riches are unspeakably terrible.

Upon entering World Tier IV, you’ll receive a priority Quest to complete a Tier 46 Nightmare Dungeon. Upon completion, you’ll begin to collect Runeshards by playing through different Endgame activities. They’ll appear when you encounter Helltide Chests, World Bosses, Legion Events, Nightmare Dungeons and Whisper Bounties.

Collect Runeshard to activate the Obelisk in Cerrigar, allowing you to descend into the beckoning depths of The Pit. Your task is to slay enough monsters before your 10-minute time limit runs out to summon a final boss. Each player death removes time from the clock: first death removes 30 seconds, second death removes 60 seconds, third and subsequent deaths will remove 90 seconds.

After enough monsters are slain, a portal materializes, transporting you to the boss’s arena. Slay the boss before the timer expires to earn coveted Masterworking materials… and the next brutal tier of The Pit. If you can manage to kill the boss with time left on the clock, the benefit increases. With 4-6 minutes to spare, you skip a level and unlock an additional Tier of the Pit. Killing the boss with 6 or more minutes to spare grants you two additional Tier unlocks. The Pit has 200 total levels of difficulty to try and conquer, if you dare face the challenge.

The Pit can be entered in groups of up to four players, with the player who spends the Runeshards to open the Pit earning the lion’s share of materials. Only the player who opened The Pit has the chance to receive tantalizing Stygian Stones used for summoning Tormented Echoes—Level 200 variants of the summonable bosses found in Diablo IV. The further you descend into levels of The Pit, the more frequent these Stygian Stones will appear.

The Maiden of Anguish has returned in all her tormented glory. She joins the boss ladder at the same tier as her brother Duriel, with the same Uber Unique drop rate. With a mix of Shadow, Fire, Lightning, and her iconic Poison attack, Andariel stands ready to face all who dare fathom to bring about her demise.

Found east of Tasarak, in Hanged Man’s Hall, you’ll need summoning materials from both Lord Zir and Beast in Ice to fight Andariel.

Tormented Echoes

All summonable bosses are now available at Level 200 as Tormented Echoes. Summonable with their regular summon Materials alongside Stygian Stones—which can be found deep within The Pit—these bosses cost more to summon but drop far more rewards. To summon a Tormented Echo, simply go to their typical summon location and select the Tormented Echo variant. Note that to summon the Beast in Ice, you’ll need to craft a different Nightmare Dungeon Sigil.

All items dropped from Tormented Echoes will be Item Level 925. Defeating your first Tormented Echo drops one Resplendent Spark as a first-time reward (account bound).

Seek out the battle-hardened and stalwart Soudeh the Anvil, a stoic field commander of the Iron Wolves. The Iron Wolves are a band of noble Mercenaries in the South, seeking to protect the common people of Sanctuary and hold themselves to a higher code of honor than other mercenary companies of similar mettle. Mysteriously, members of their ranks have been dying under suspicious circumstances—seek out the source of this slaughter to earn the Iron Wolves’ favor.

Meet Soudeh in Khejistan to start your journey to uncover this deadly plot. Working with the Iron Wolves will earn you several Tempering Manuals, which are key to unlocking the potential of your items in Season 4: Loot Reborn.

Any Iron Wolf Events that occur in Helltide will persist past the end of Season 4: Loot Reborn.

As you fight side by side to vanquish demons with the Iron Wolves, you’ll earn rewards from the Season Journey and Battle Pass.

The Season Journey is broken into Chapters with tasks to complete. As you progress through the Journey, you’ll earn rewards befitting Sanctuary’s defenders, such as new Legendary Aspects, and 3 Scrolls of Amnesia, which provide a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset. The Journey also provides Favor—the resource used to climb through the Battle Pass’ Tiers— also earnable simply by playing aspects of the game.

The Season 4: Loot Reborn Battle Pass begins on May 14, 10 a.m. PT and hosts 90 Reward Tiers (28 Free Tiers and 62 Premium Tiers).

If you get the Premium Battle Pass , not only will the rewards of the Free Tiers be yours to wield, but Awoken Demigod Armor Sets , Platinum, and more also await you, including the Awoken Demigod Plating Mount Armor , Purified Demigod Thoroughbred Mount , and Divine Banner Mount Trophy , which unlocks at Tier 90 .

The Accelerated Seasonal Battle Pass also contains 20 Tier Skips and the Wings of Hell’s Legion Emote.

Smoldering Ashes earned from the Free Tiers can be spent on Season Blessings that provide helpful bonuses to beat back Hell’s armies. There are three new Blessings for Season 4: Loot Reborn:

• Urn of Nightmares: Boost Paragon Glyph XP earned in Nightmare Dungeons.
• Urn of Iron: Boost your reputation with the Iron Wolves from Helltide activities.
• Urn of Burning Obols: Boost the amount of Obols you can find in Helltide chests, which contain Obols during this season.

The bonuses gained from the five Season Blessings only last until the end of Season 4: Loot Reborn.

We’re dialing up the heat in the Shop with new Equipment, Armor, Accessories, Mount and Mount Armor bundles that will have you slaying in style. Starting on May 14, pay Tejal a visit to browse her wares—remember to check back often, as she’ll update her stock throughout Season 4: Loot Reborn. One such rarefied find from the far reaches of Sanctuary is the the Demon’s Heart Bundle for the barbarian, which contains the Demonheart Armor Set and 2 Demonheart Weapon Cosmetics.

If you need sage guidance in your Character’s journey throughout Season 4: Loot Reborn, look to our Community guides for tips and insights on builds for every class. From levelling in World Tier I, all the way to end-game builds for The Pit.

Visit our trusted Community resources here:

On May 2 at 11 a.m. PT , there will be a Developer Update Livestream, which will take a deep dive into Season 4: Loot Reborn. Join community director Adam Fletcher and members of the development team as they discuss the many learnings from the Season 4 Public Test Realm, system features, balance updates, and more.

Watch the Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream on our Twitch or YouTube Channels on May 2 .

Master the forge and flame to conquer emerging threats in Season 4: Loot Reborn!

-The Diablo IV Team

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