Game On: Immortal carries forward Diablo’s uniqueness

By Aditya Deshbandhu Diablo Immortal is the free-to-play (F2P) game from the iconic Diablo franchise and I have spent the last three days playing the game across three platforms (Android, iOS and Windows). As I jumped across platforms the game transferred my progress smoothly as long as I was logged into my Battlenet account. In […]

By Aditya Deshbandhu

Diablo Immortal is the free-to-play (F2P) game from the iconic Diablo franchise and I have spent the last three days playing the game across three platforms (Android, iOS and Windows).

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As I jumped across platforms the game transferred my progress smoothly as long as I was logged into my Battlenet account. In my twenty hours with Immortal, I couldn’t help but notice how it is a pure and undiluted Diablo experience just like Diablo III and, in many ways, more advanced.

I started my review on my PC as I wished to play the “beta” Windows version and found that the game was smooth, and bug-free in its early sequences. A while later I moved to my gaming laptop and found the experience filled with stutters and glitches and the only way to overcome them was to play the game by constantly plugging in my laptop and letting the system perform at full capacity. Seeing this, I was seriously concerned if I could even play the game on my mobile and iPad as the demands of Immortal seemed too much. However, as I did make the move to my mobile devices, I found that the game worked without too many hitches.

In fact, I noticed how Immortal has been designed as a touch-based game first and thus was a lot easier to navigate with my fingers rather than a controller. The controller support for this game is generally bad and at times simply shoddy. There were times when I stepped away from the game for a few minutes and when I re-connected my controller the joysticks simply wouldn’t work unless I restarted the game; at this stage, the PC version of Immortal needs a lot of work and refinement. The Android and iOS versions though are well done and offer smooth gameplay experiences.

Immortal begins a lot like other Diablo games as you are expected to save the world and stop the forces of destruction from accessing ancient powers. Here the mythical object the game expects you to save is the Worldstone and you navigate the map collecting its shards. The story is well told and character development is fine. Similarly, Immortal also carries forward Diablo’s unique class system and as soon as I picked my favourite Wizard class, I was off blasting spells into the wild.

However, where Immortal varies is its F2P mechanisms and soon you realize that leveling up becomes increasingly difficult. I began to slow down at Level 30 and then became quite frustrated by Level 40 as I realized that this is a game that I need to log into everyday to progress. If I don’t wish to pay for better gear and level boosts then I will have to play the battle pass and level-up strategically – a form of play I have never associated with Diablo. I feel that the grind can soon get frustrating and unrewarding here but the time required to spend in-game doesn’t reduce and that for me is a major flaw.

All in all, a potentially great game that needs better balancing, Immortal is on the cusp of being a game that did everything right but for its pay2win mechanics.

Give it a try in a few days, it may be better balanced and more fun after its updates.