Diablo Immortal is a simplified Diablo – perhaps too simplified

At first glance, the next mobile game Diablo Immortal looks a lot like Diablo III. Similar classes, similar environments, similar art, similar abilities. In the demo I played at BlizzCon, however, much of the resemblance was only superficial.

After a short tutorial led by the one and only Deckard Cain, the 15-minute multiplayer demo took place in two main environments: a dark and gloomy swamp and a ruined cathedral leading to a boss fight. Both zones were rather linear, probably with the aim of channeling BlizzCon participants directly into the action.

On the upside, knocking down enemies until their engorged bowels of gold explode is surprisingly pleasant. I've crushed a virtual "button" in the lower right corner of the screen for my main attack and I needed only to slightly lift the thumb to press smaller buttons in order to 39, get skills that each character had four. Each skill can be targeted (or, in the case of things like the wizard's meteor spell, positioned) by holding my finger on the button of this skill and moving it, which would in turn move an arrow or circle indicating the path of the skill. If I decided not to do it, the skills did not usually target the nearest enemy. This system was intuitive, although it was sometimes slow to respond to my inputs. For better or for worse, this is a proven interface, as, as some fans point out, it is directly derived from the previous games of the Chinese publisher NetEase, with which Blizzard s 39 ; associates. Diablo Immortal.

During the first 15 minutes of play, I had the honor of dealing with the brains of zombies of half-rotten swamps. But once I went to the wizard and the barbarian in subsequent games, I started to notice everything that was missing.

I only had access to four abilities and I could not trade them. There was also no mana or resource system, just recharge time skills. As a result, some characters felt better than others. The barbarian was able to sneak hordes after hordes by combining charge attacks, basic taps, glowing hammer blows, and spinning attacks that turned him into an unstoppable murder mixer for several seconds. I could also use the charge attack to quickly escape danger, which was very useful against the boss, a gigantic undead knight who often loaded on the top of his horse. In comparison, the wizard 's kit seemed more disjointed, with powerful lightning and meteors that took a long time to launch, and whose cooldowns overlapped – often letting me project airborne because of the fact that I had to wait. Other people in my party had already spared the enemies by the time I was ready.

The loot system of the demo was also a big step forward compared to traditional systems. Diablo Games. The loot dropped and I could equip it with just a push of a popup button without leaving the action. However, this did not visually alter my character and only contributed to the creation of basic attack / defense stats. There was an inventory screen, but it was locked for the purposes of the demo.

The demo was also extremely easy. Regular enemies hardly fight and, although the boss modifies things with his hindsight and the aforementioned charge, he also falls without too much trouble. I never died and I was never in danger of dying. Of course, the developers sometimes control the players during demonstrations like these, so I do not read too much in that.

The good news is that some of these changes are subject to change. In an email, senior designer Wyatt Cheng explained to Kotaku that characters are limited to five skills (including their main attack) at any time, but you can select them from a group of 12 per class that will unlock "slowly over time." capabilities of each class has Diablo III, but some customizations are better than nothing.

As for loot, Blizzard and NetEase are still trying to figure out how it will work. "The loot system is a work in progress, which is why inventory is disabled in the demo," Cheng said. "We are still working on the details of how the [will] work, but there are some strong values ​​we have. First, we want there to be depth for hardcore players. Second, there should be a customization (including visual). Third, we want to make sure that legendary items allow you to further customize your build with game-defining effects. "

So there will be one degree of depth for both the skills and the loot, but maybe not the amount that lasts for a long time Diablo the fans are used to it.

If nothing else, Diablo Immortal feel good enough to be able to imagine contentment during the daily commute or while waiting for the screens to be loaded on the PC and Switch versions. Diablo III. I fear, however, that he does not have much resistance.