Diablo: Immortal Preview

Back in December of 2020, we had a chance to check out a number of hands-on previews for Blizzard’s mobile action-RPG Diablo: Immortal. And the most surprising thing about them was just how positive they were, considering the game’s initial reception.

With that in mind, we can now also read this fairly detailed WCCFTech preview that once again seems to be quite impressed by what Diablo: Immortal has to offer in its current alpha state. For example:

On your character itself, you’ll find your skills can be impacted by certain equipment, but the rune system from Diablo 3 is gone. What does return, however, is the paragon system, though tweaked. The four skill trees are different from that of Diablo 3, with one such tree being Treasure Hunter. Fortunately, as you grow and develop, you’ll be able to switch between these depending on the build you need. From what I’ve seen, it all seems to work well.

So much of what I’ve been saying boils down to this: Diablo Immortal is actually enjoyable, except for having to control the game on a touch-screen mobile device. Even in this alpha stage, It feels like a Diablo game. A good one at that. Featuring strong combat and the addictive item-roulette found in all similar games tie perfectly into good character customisation, all in an unmistakably Diablo world and not something pretending to be Diablo.

Will the result be like this? I have to hedge my bets because Activision-Blizzard tends to pull defeat from the jaws of victory with some terrible moves. There’s still the chance to ruin the balance, push grinding too far and promote real-money options. There’s still the chance of them completely messing up the launch and, like with Diablo 3, making it so people can’t access this always-online game. There’s also the chance they’ve learned from mistakes made with Diablo 3 (auction house, launch issues), so time will tell.