In a game that focuses on an epic battle between Heaven and Hell, in which the major players are demons and the undead and the entire backdrop is dripping with viscera, there are going to be some scary quests. That's how the Diablo franchise made a name for itself, and Diablo 4 continues the proud tradition.
The quests in Sanctuary can be horrifying for several creative reasons, but some of them are much worse than others. It's not always about gore, either, but the imaginary terror of the unseen and the misunderstood.
7 Picking Through The Bones
Anything that involves the Whispering Tree is going to send a chill up the player's spine. "Picking Through The Bones" is part of the campaign quest chain and it's closer to the end, as part of Act V: Secrets Bartered, Fates Sold, so the horror level has been ramping up to this point. This is the quest that comes after "A Cold And Lifeless Shore," and it's followed by "Beneath The Wine Dark Sea."
The whole thing is a dance macabre that includes whispering heads, haunted shipwrecks, and a ride in a coffin. A coffin that doesn't float. Most players would opt to be torn apart by demons as opposed to enduring this kind of horror.
6 Cries Of Innocence
There are several quests that players can find while wandering through the countryside, and "Cries of Innocence" is one of them. It's easily attained by taking the road west from Kyovashad and crossing a small bridge. This is where Vendral Trost is waiting, and he's haunted by the ghost of his dead son.
That's not the scary part. The scary part is when the ghost appears, wailing that his father never should have left him in the dungeon now known as the Black Asylum. This kind of place is always haunted, and it looks more like an old church or castle than an asylum. Players have to clean out every ghoul, skeleton, banshee, and various other types of ghosts, including the child Corik Trost himself.
5 Desperate Remedies
This quest is more like a mystery thriller as the player has to follow a set of creepy clues and decipher the riddle of a cursed amulet. The first part of the quest consists of some simple investigative tasks, followed by a gruesome quest to search some funeral pyres and bodies for the remains of a journal.
The journey leads to a nearby dungeon, Light's Refuge. Although it's not required to complete the dungeon to find the amulet, it is necessary to open the door that leads to the second half of the dungeon where Aldara awaits.
4 Malady Of The Soul
This is the notorious exorcism quest chain, and it plays out like an occult thriller. It's actually a chain of three quests in which the player aids Mother Octavia as she attempts to cure those afflicted by demon possession instead of killing them. The alternative, being burned alive at the stake, hasn't exactly been winning hearts and minds, and Octavia is looking for a third option. She's waiting on the southeastern side of Kyovashad.
The first exorcism seems to go off without a hitch, even though things do get rather gruesome as exorcisms do, but the second ends badly when the victim that Octavia was trying to save freezes and shatters into a thousand icy pieces. In the third and final quest, she's the victim that needs to be saved and the player is the exorcist.
3 The Woodsman Of Nevesk
Another short quest chain that already has a reputation for making players jump, this gruesome story of a possessed axe starts as what seems like a simple tale about a serial killer but takes the player by surprise. The axe itself is haunted, and the spirit of the dead woodsman possesses the body of anyone who picks it up.
Find the first step in the chain with an NPC called Magdelena and a quest called "The Woodman's Axe." The player finds the axe and returns it to Magdalena, but the story isn't over. It continues with "Chain of Possession" and "Legacy Unmade," the last of which sees the Woodsman defeated for good and the player with a nice new axe.
2 Unyielding Flesh
Lilith left all kinds of pain and agony in her wake, tempting humans to indulge in their darkest and most sordid desires as she traveled across Sanctuary. "Unyielding Flesh" is one of the side-quests that tells one of these stories, and it starts with a jilted wife and an unfaithful husband.
For those that are familiar with the Hellraiser movies, there's a lot from this quest that references back to that iconic horror franchise, but it's still a chilling quest even without those details. Find this quest in the small town of Yelesna, southeast of Kyovashad, in Gale Valley. Krystyna is in the southeastern side of town, her husband has gone missing, and she thinks he's run off with another woman. When he's found, his fate is much worse than death, but there's a new dagger in it for the character.
1 The Dread Martyr
"The Dread Martyr" starts with the player randomly finding a dying knight in the tundra, making this a cold mix of both the tragic and the macabre. Wander around in the Frigid Expanse until stumbling over Sir Cromwell dying in the snow.
That's scary enough, but now the player has to visit a place called the Hallowed Ossuary, a dungeon where the bones of Lord Avitus were laid to rest before they rose again as a revenant. The quest is automatically completed when Avitus is defeated because there's nobody left alive to give the reward.
Diablo 4 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.