As part of a big new Diablo IV quarterly update Blizzard has offered a look at new type of foe joining the series - The Cannibals of the Dry Steppes. At a glance they look like barbarians gone wrong - and based on the lore provided that just might be the case.

Here's a stylish look at The Cannibals and some background on their place in the Diablo universe.

“Corpses riddled with bite marks. Splintered bones scraped clean of marrow. Tongues sawed off and eyes gouged out of their skulls. These are the bloody fingerprints the Cannibals leave behind—if they leave behind anything at all. No one is certain where they come from, but some legends claim they are a former tribe of barbarians, banished from Arreat years ago. Whether their cannibalism led to their exile or developed out of desperation afterward is unknown. The outcasts brought their endless hunger to the Dry Steppes, and from there spread to the far corners of the world to prey on lonesome caravans and unsuspecting villages.

The few who have survived encounters with these butchers share the same stories. They tell of the mad fire that burns in the eyes of all Cannibals, of how eating the flesh of their victims in battle only fuels their hunger for more. They whisper of the unlucky souls spared in the attacks, hauled off like livestock for the raiders to pick clean until their next hunt. And then, they say no more. The silence speaks for them: sometimes it is better to die than to live and remember.”

—Liya Khal’tib

Apart from sounding appropriately gruesome it also sounds awesome - in that Diablo IV continues to impress with each new bit of information released. Each enemy both old and new (included the other new race or "family" of foes The Drowned) has been designed from the ground-up for Diablo IV with each family of monsters behaving, animating, and approaching combat in different ways.

The Cannibals, in their twisted barbarian-like form will offer up various melee attackers that wield various two-handed weapons in addition to a bruiser that can stun you by dual-wielding spiked clubs. Perhaps the most terrifying cannibals will be the swarmers that approach and attack via surrounding and charging at you as a group. Interestingly The Cannibal family won't feature any ranged attackers but can get in close via leaping or charging in at great speed.

It's great to see the design team using lore and character design as the means to inform combat and action.