Diablo Immortal Review: A Bridge Between Diablo II and Diablo III

It has been more than a couple of months since the release of Diablo Immortal, which portrays the series of events between Diablo II and Diablo III. This free-to-play version of the role-playing game released by Blizzard Entertainment was initially targeted for smartphones, but has been upgraded for PC and controllers as well. Overall, Diablo Immortal is enjoying mixed reviews from the fans, which is quite rational considering the positives and the negatives of the game.

The game was released in June in countries outside the Asia-Pacific region, which includes the US and Canada. Canadian fans, who are hyped up for the Diablo IV release next year, can keep following our site for the latest updates on games and online casinos offering Cash Cabin 100% bonus up to $900.

The Plot

The game features a demon named Skarn, who rises into power after the fall of Diablo and Baal in Diablo II. The player chooses his character based on either of the six provided classes – Necromancer, Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Wizard, and Monk, to destroy the hidden shards of Worldstone in order to prevent Skarn. Characters like Deckard Cain make a return, alongside newly added faces like Jin and Rayek.

Multiplayer Features

Diablo is essentially a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game, designed for smartphones. Players encounter other real-time human players during the adventures and can form 8-player warbands or 100-player clans for tackling dynamic events together, although you can choose to proceed alone as well.

The game features story acts, each having a dungeon that one can choose to complete alone or in a tie with up to three other players.

Diablo Immortal lets you form clans, supports cross-platform play for players on the same server, and provides a voice chat option for effective communication between the players.

Player vs Player Combat

Immortal also comes up with competitive PVP features in special events like collecting respawned treasure chests on a time basis, which can only be opened by the last player alive. The ‘Battleground’ is also a PVP feature in an 8 vs 8 mode.

Simplified Gameplay

Immortal’s gameplay is quite simplified as compared to the previous Diablo games. You don’t have to manage the stamina of your chosen class to use abilities, relying only on cooldowns. Each ability follows a single upgrade path, which scraps some of the features as seen in Diablo III.

Another thing noteworthy is the ‘class change’ feature. It allows you to switch the class of your character without requiring you to reset the progress. Class change is completely free, but can be accessed only once a week.

The touch controls have been designed specifically for smartphones, with the usual on-screen analog stick on the left side and skill buttons on the right. You can either attack your enemies using auto-aim or resort to manual aiming to test your precision.

The Loot System

Loots are the collectible items acquired throughout the game which can be used to transform your character. However, the loot system has been subtly modified in Immortal much to the dismay of the fans. The main quest of character progression has been removed from the center stage while side adventures like collecting bounties and random rifts take up the dominant role. The system of transferring the ranks from one item to another wastes the drops while the legendary gems required to upgrade the character are quite a rare find.

The Bottomline: Microtransactions Fuel the Game

The game, despite being free-to-play, focuses on microtransactions as the main source of income. This is evident from the higher number of side-quests and low drop rates of five-star gems and legendary crests as the players end up buying them directly for 2-3 dollars. The fans may be critical of this feature, but the isometric graphics, vivid visuals, error-free controls, and an interactive storyline balance the grievances. Overall, the game looks like a prequel to Diablo III, and a decent version to play on smartphones.