It seems like not even Diablo IV can escape rumors and conspiracies about the infamous Secret Cow Level.
In a reddit thread, one user, altnob, has put together what they think are the steps of a soon-to-be introduced secret Cow Level in Diablo IV.
Altnob’s theory refers to a fountain with four oxen on it, requiring you to “Spill their blood to be deemed worthy”.
However, whatever function this fountain serves is currently unknown, since some of the oxen can’t be interacted with just yet.
They also appear to have datamined content that they believe to be Wirt’s Leg and the Tome of Town Portal, which were required to access the Cow Level in Diablo II.
As it is, assuming these aren’t just placeholders left as easter eggs to catch dataminers, this might point to an easter egg in a future update- preferably when the community’s already done with the story and don’t have to worry about cows breaking their immersion.
This kind of fervent thinking is part of the Diablo series long running joke with its community- which started with the original Diablo game possibly having a cow level in it.
This would go on to Diablo II, where most of its mythology was established- you needed Wirt’s Leg and the Tome, and opening the portal would have you fighting Hell Bovines, upright cows with battleaxes as well as the boss, the Cow King.
Although Diablo III and Starcraft would contain jokes from Blizzard denying the existence of the Cow level, Diablo III went so far as to have two different cow levels, with one being locked behind a Nephalem Rift.
Prior to the release of Diablo IV we’d even asked Game Director Joe Shely about it, where he mentioned it was part of Blizzard’s policy to never comment on the possibility of beef-filled levels.