Blizzard took BlizzCon goers by surprise with the conclusion to Friday's Opening Ceremonies. The Diablo announcement for the year had nothing to do with Diablo III this time around, but it also had nothing to do with Diablo IV, either. No, this announcement was for an entirely new entry to the series, one built for mobile devices.
Fans met the announcement of Diablo Immortal with confusion. Some met the announcement with anger and rage. But once the initial reactions were out of the way, the question was, did it actually play like Diablo? Shacknews jumped on a demo station at this year's BlizzCon to give the first mobile Diablo a try.
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After selecting between the Barbarian, Monk, and Wizard. the settings look noticeably familiar. The demo starts inside a gothic cathedral within the realm of Sanctuary, where Deckard Cain offers players a quick tutorial. There's a virtual analog stick along the bottom-left corner of the screen, while the player's abilities were laid out along the bottom-right corner.
After getting the gist of the Diablo formula and bashing a few skeletons, it was time to venture out into a different area, one where I ran into other Diablo Immortal players. This is the city of Westmarch, which acted as more of a central hub area, as I wandered the vast world in search of the demo's primary dungeon. Upon finding it, a prompt popped up asking to either go the dungeon solo or party up with other players.
From here, the Diablo experience only continued to feel more familiar. Enemies would spawn in, sometimes from the depths of the underworld and other times hatching from demonic spawns. They'd attack in crazy numbers, requiring quick heals and area-of-effect abilities to keep them under control. There was no mana cost for these abilities, though they did come with cooldown timers.
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The dungeon boss was certainly a reminder of how cruel Diablo could be. The boss struck hard and struck often, bringing up minions to get the numbers advantage and striking forward with his giant weapon. I died a handful of times here, but was able to resurrect at my corpse for seemingly no penalty. Whether this will change in the final version of the game remains to be seen.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Diablo experience without loot and there was plenty of loot to be found. There were chests that housed pickups, but most of the loot I found came from fallen enemies. Loot could be picked up with a simple touch and equipped on the spot, though any stat changes were only indiated after the items were equipped.
Diablo Immortal certainly feels like a Diablo experience. The dungeon crawling elements, the abilities, the classes, the endless loot, the barrage of powerful enemies, all of it feels like Diablo. It just happens to be on a phone and I'm not going to pretend that it's going to have a universal appeal, because that won't be the case. Depending on the touch screen for movement is going to be an acquired taste, saying that as someone who frequently tried to swipe a little too far and wound up interrupting my own momentum because of it. On top of that, I noticed a few stuttering hiccups in a few instances where multiple enemies tried to spawn in. They just simply popped up in the middle of the screen out of thin air after a brief hitch. I can only imagine how much those problems would be exacerbated on lower-end or older model mobile devices. On the other end of that spectrum, Diablo Immortal does look gorgeous and gave me that sense that it'll run beautifully on higher-end devices like the Razer Phone.
At the end of the demo, I did have a few questions that were ultimately left unanswered. Beyond any penalties for dying, I was left wondering how monetization will ultimately be carried out for this game. Will it essentially have its own auction house? Also, how will multiplayer function in a real world setting, where people are using different phones or tablets? How far is Blizzard looking to support this game and will it have as long a shelf life as Diablo III? Can friends share or trade loot? I'd expect most of the questions to be answered fairly soon, given that Blizzard is looking to release Diablo Immortal before long.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't make a brief comment on the r/Diablo thread discussing whether Diablo Immortal is a reskin of other games from developer NetEase. Given that NetEase has been in the business of making Diablo clones in the past, I can't complain too much about them using their talents to make an actual Diablo. As long as it's fun to play, which this definitely was. Again, I'm not sure how much the purists will care for the touch controls, but for those who can get past that, this looks to be on its way towards being a solid entry in the series. It might even turn out to be the Diablo nobody knew they wanted.
Diablo Immortal is coming soon to iOS and Android. Pre-register on the Diablo Immortal website.
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Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Diablo Immortal hands-on preview from BlizzCon 2018: Loot on the go
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Oh sweet, open beta is available (name + title screen not final):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netease.z3.android
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/crusaders-of-light/id1206328878 -
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"I'd also be remiss if I didn't make a brief comment on the r/Diablo thread discussing whether Diablo Immortal is a reskin of other games from developer NetEase. Given that NetEase has been in the business of making Diablo clones in the past, I can't complain too much about them using their talents to make an actual Diablo. As long as it's fun to play, which this definitely was. Again, I'm not sure how much the purists will care for the touch controls, but for those who can get past that, this looks to be on its way towards being a solid entry in the series. It might even turn out to be the Diablo nobody knew they wanted."
that might be the most political way of saying it all :-) not a bash - made me nod and smile. Well done Ozzie. -
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No. I think most fully understand the why. Money. But I really hate mobile gaming. I hate the business model most games use. I'm good with paying $50-60 for a fully featured game. I'm not ok with being pushed to spend money for in-game currency that only exists for the purpose of speeding up my progression due to a needless barrier that only exists to sell what's being sold lol.
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Blizzard is significantly more stubborn these days. Ignoring the canceling BFA has not been good either. With them claiming users didn't give feedback during beta when they did and then they nuked their own forums to pretend they never got feedback and then act surprised when people were upset with their terrible systems. They absolutely double down on bad mistakes until the community seems to get up in arms.
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Did you see the number of likes vs dislikes on this video?: https://youtu.be/RtSmAwpVHsA
I'd say that is overwhelming.
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On the same day that they announced a mobile phone Diablo game they released Diablo III for Switch.
On the same day they announced people could have mobile Diablo on their phones they released the real honest to god Diablo III on Switch.
On the same day they announced what is in all likelihood some sort of F2P MMO thing, they gave us the actual, road tested Diablo III on the Switch.
So I don’t understand what the big deal is. If you want to play Diablo on the go you can do it today. Like, right now.
Don’t like this mobile thing they’ve announced? Fucking ignore it.
I mean does anyone think they’re not working on Diablo IV? Of course they are.
Maybe they should have done like Bethesda and acknowledged they’re working on Diablo IV, given a ten second pointless teaser, and then people wouldn’t be so butthurt. Bethesda announced TES6 also announced a mobile TES game no one cares about. -
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You can’t really compare a single design decision - one that actually launched, and then was patched out later - to canceling an entire game that they’ve gone so far as to open pre-registrations for.
“A bunch of people whined at BlizzCon and it’s all over Reddit” is not a good enough reason to cancel an entire game.
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Hearthstone has shown that isn't the case. Blizzard will make things as expensive as the market allows. Hearthstone is still a very expensive digital ccg. Not sure if it is the most expensive popular one now that Magic is out. But the recent shift towards some "free" hearthstone content is only because they are facing some more competition in the space.
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I suppose you could argue that’s what they did.
Franchise Name: Spinoff Name.
Fallout: Shelter
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
Diablo: Immortal
Fallout: Shelter set an odd precedent for this since it was distinguishable from the main series due to the use of the cutesy cartoonish characters. Everyone’s got that same goofy grin as the fallout guy.
This Diablo game is supposed to take place between 1 and 2, and they’re clearly trying to make it look like 3.
Granted we don’t know if it’s going to be F2P or what.-
I'm talking about a genre spinoff, something that's more unique to mobile. Rather than just playing an ARPG on a phone. That's why Fallout: Shelter was great, it's perfectly suitable to a mobile UI and doesn't step on the toes of the franchise at all. Blades on the other hand is similar to Immortal, and is not going to resonate with Skyrim players because it's just that game but much worse to play.
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I totally agree. I played it and it’s... fine? Its fine, nothing I feel strongly about either way except I’d rather play it on PC and Switch. It controls fine but it would make even more sense on mobile if it didn’t rely on software buttons and thumb sticks. Like you I’d also like something more ground-up for mobile (swipes and gestures) rather than something mapped from console, but I’m also not the market for this.
PUBG is ten times larger on mobile than it is on Steam, so stuff like this clearly isn’t made for me. -
I wouldn't even mind another ARPG if it were actually radically different from Diablo 3.
There are a few new things but so damn much of it looks exactly the same as what we've already played to death: Same classes, enemies, dungeons and art, but from an inferior presentation with inferior controls. Nothing about all that is compelling or interesting to me, but I'm not really a mobile game fan so it's not for me anyway.
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Initially I was kinda onside with the mob on this but you know, i've actually got a couple FTP diablo-alikes on my ipad that I've given a small amount of time too (Demomhunter 5 and... Eternium(?) I think...) Both were basically poor games but not due to the platform. I remember actually thinking that a 'diablo-like' could do well on a the platform if it was treated like a real game from a real company. So I'm actually at least curious to see what the blizzard touch instills and how this turns out. If its handled like Civ6 on the ipad (fantastic game) then yea i actually might be interested,,,
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i hope they come here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICvV83ZkD_E&feature=youtu.be&t=28 -
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The conversation about F2P nickel and diming being fine because arcade games were ruthless about quarter sucking bosses doesn't totally make sense to me.
F2P micro-transactions shouldn't be criticized because we're not criticizing arcade game quarter sucking? Not criticizing arcade game quarter sucking isn't the same as condoning it. Arcades and arcade games aren't in the conversation because they're almost entirely dead. This is basic whataboutism.
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People are being such babies about this.
Same thing happened when they announced Diablo on consoles, Blizzard was betraying the PC community and blah blah blah, but look how that turned out. D3 on Xbox/PS4 is fantastic.
I actually played the game yesterday at the show, it's already quite good. Should be amazing by the time they release it.
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Meh, it might be a "good" mobile game but it's still a mobile game. They've got 22 years of PC heritage in Diablo so it makes sense that if the thing you do after 6 years of nothing is a mobile game that the PC folks are going to be upset.
What would have probably gone over better is if they had released a new PC game and then followed on its heels with a mobile game. That would be a good way to grow the brand.
But I don't have a horse in this race, I don't like any of the Diablo games. -
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I AM NOT DEFENDING THE DIPSHIT FANS
but...
Something to remember is that they charge $199 a ticket to go to this thing. And they said something Diablo would be announced.
Again, NOT DEFENDING the dipshits, but I can see why it might send someone in the developer q&a into a barely contained frothing rage.
This is kinda like when they canceled Duke Nukem Forever and said don't worry we're still working on the Nintendo DS game.
Which, ironically, did get released before DNF did - by like a week - and it made DNF look like Citizen fucking Kane.-
Lol bringing up the cost of Blizzcon as part of this argument is ridiculous.
Blizzard could charge $500 per ticket and it would still sell out in (literally) 2 seconds.
The $199 they charge now is a pittance for what you get, and I'm saying this as I'm attending my 7th or 8th Blizzcon. It's worth far, far more than what they're charging
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i guarantee this shitty game is going to make them fuck tons of money. the nice thing about blizzard is that they don't have to actually make something good-- they just have to tie it in to their other games enough to incentivize their playerbase to shift around so even shit stain games like HOTS will stay "alive"
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They said a few months ago that they had four big Diablo related things in the works. One was D3 on Switch, one was this mobile game. The community assumed that all four would be this huge epic OMGGGGGG thing at Blizzcon even though Blizzard themselves never said that. They even came out to say “Hey, don’t get too crazy about Blizzcon,” and yet people are still being whiny. “Blizzard isn’t the same!!! They’re ruined!” Yeah no shit, no company is the same as they were almost 20 years ago. It’s called evolving to changes in the market. They expanded to consoles and mobile, and now are expanding more into mobile. They also went into the FPS market and made one of the more popular shooters in recent years.
Blizzard is barely even working on this title, Netease is. The main Diablo team is almost assuredly working on Diablo 4. Everything is going to be fine.-
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Yeah, I know. It’s a shame though, apparently the folks who have played the game said it’s pretty decent, but it’ll forever be marred by memes and manufactured outrage. I won’t deny that the timing of the announcement was poor. If they wanted to announce at Blizzcon, they probably should have sandwiched it between the HS and SC2 stuff as a minor thing, and let Overwatch with its huge auditorium of screaming fans close the show. But acting like assholes and actually hoping that the game fails because Blizzard didn’t announce what they wanted is just stupid.
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For the last several amounts they’ve been hyping a new Diablo project — everyone is excited for Diablo 4 or maybe a Diablo 3 expansion, something big — then comes around BlizzCon and (iirc) the final big reveal....is a mobile game. So the problem was that people got all hyped up and excited for something big and were severely disappointed when what was delivered fell far short of the expectations that blizzard has been building up.
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