All Screenshots Were Taken Directly On My Phone
Despite the initial negative response fans had to the announcement of a mobile-only version of a Diablo game, Blizzard Entertainment never backed down from creating the game. Now, the Diablo Immortal game has been in closed beta for some time in order to gain some initial user feedback before fully releasing the game in 2022. Playing on my Google Pixel 3 showed the game functions well on mobile devices, even when they aren’t the latest version in the series, but the main question remains to be, is the game worth even playing?
Gameplay
Taking a more mobile-friendly approach, the controls are kept fairly simple. You have your touchscreen joystick on the left and all your action buttons on the right. Along with the direct character controls, you can interact with the various aspects on the screen, such as quest log, inventory, and menu buttons. For instance, you can open the menu or inventory by simply tapping the icon, but you can also close or open the quest log by sliding to the left or right on top of the quest list.
When you are setting out on a quest, the game defaults to giving a guided path view to the player so they know where to go. If you would prefer to be a more adventurous player and figure out where to go on your own, you can simply tap on the active quest and it will turn the directions off. I personally liked using the directions because there wasn’t a big enough mini-map to use and perhaps I am spoiled by Diablo II, but I usually always have a large map to refer to while playing these games.
A big part of the game is doing the quests, but in order to proceed through them, you will sometimes have to interact with NPCs. This could be quest givers, the blacksmith, a shopkeeper, and many other options. They simplified how to interact with everything by adding a yellow icon that appears next to your action buttons on the right side of the screen. The location of this action button will be the same when you are trying to pick up dropped loot, interact with an NPC, and pretty much do anything other than move around and fight.
Moving on to the combat and skill section of the game, this is where the simplicity of design is at its peak. To pull this off, players will automatically aim at the enemy that is closest to their character. I played as the Demon Hunter, which is pretty much the Amazon in Diablo II, and experienced the auto-aim system in full swing. Granted, this auto-aim was only used when it came to my standard attack. Using skills that would do a spray or targeted type of damage had the option of control by simply holding down on the skill option for a second and then directing the attack where I wanted it to go. An example of this is when I would use my arrow attack and launch a wide spray of arrows, I would hold down on the skill for a second and then swipe my finger in the direction I wanted the attack ray to go to.
There isn’t a skill tree in this game, so don’t start planning how you want to build your specific character. As you level up, you will simply unlock skills while also leveling up other skills you already have. This is all done automatically. You get four skill slots to pick which skills you want to use and place them in their action slot for use in battle. These skills can be swapped out at any time.
After landing enough kills and doing enough damage, you will unlock a rage-like mode. This will give you a super-powered attack for a few seconds. I always tried to save these moments for the boss battles because they never fought alone and my super-powered attack was a strong, widespread ray of arrows that I could spam for a bit. It helped clear out a lot of enemies and take down bosses myself.
This game does offer multiplayer, a text chat, and even a voice chat system. If you want to use this, you simply party up with a fellow player and you will both start completing quests, doing dungeons, and taking on challenge rifts together. You can have up to four players in a single party, so make sure to keep the character types diverse to best work together. If you are not partied up with another player, you will have moments where quest enemies appear for you and no other player around you will be able to see them, let alone fight them alongside you.
Expectations
With the Battle Pass system I was seeing already in the beta, I did think it was fair for those that would want to maximize their mobile Diablo experience. They even included level-restricted tasks that could be accomplished to level up the battle pass faster. However, it seemed to level up really slow when you just focus on completing quests and going through the main sections of the game. I hope they don’t make it feel punishing to want to stick to the lore until you beat the game before moving on to optional events like the challenge rifts and bounty board.
I saw that there is going to be a PvP option to this game. With the skill trees being automatically leveled up as the player levels up, they are open to this possibly being strictly based on which character was designed best. Balance in character’s strengths and abilities will be vital for this aspect of the game to survive. Otherwise, they could also be looking at the PvP being purely based on who has the best gear, which would be more fitting yet still frustrating at the same time. All-in-all, the PvP aspect is a section of the game that is highly viable for player complaints and lack of balance.
Verdict
Diablo Immortal plays like a simplistic version of a Diablo game, making it a perfect introduction into the Diablo game series! The world is pretty well fleshed out and there are a lot of returning characters that many would consider a main part of the Diablo universe. Seeing Charsi, Cain, and Akara in this game with their own quests, troubles, and dialogue was a nice touch and I look forward to seeing many more. While I would say that this is the best version we could expect from a mobile game, it is still the lowest tier game in the series. It does the job it was developed to do, but for a true Diablo experience you will have to head to the PC and console titles - at least, with what I can see from the beta.
