Diablo Immortal

Game : Diablo Immortal

Platfrom : PC & Mobile

Launcher : Battlenet

Price : Free (with Microtransactions)




DIABLO – Lord of Terror, one of the 3 Prime evils. For millenia the battle between heaven and hell had ravaged existence and has claimed many casualties, with the humans stuck in between. Diablo was finally defeated by the lone wanderer the original hero of the game and trapped in the soul gem that he plunged into his forehead. Alas the essence of such great evil is too much for a mere man, even a great and powerful man like the lone wanderer. Diablo escaped his bonds once again and terrorized the world of Sanctuary anew until he was stopped again for the 2nd time. But peace was short lived as a new threat loomed over the horizon.  Welcome to Diablo Immortal.


The Review

Today I’ll be talking about Blizzard games controversial freemium  Diablo Immortal, specifically the PC version.  Taking place chronologically  5 years after the events of D2 and 15 years before D3, you take the role of an adventurer guided by destiny to stop this new evil.

There are multiple classes to choose from. You have the brute force barbarian, the Holy warrior crusader, the long range and trap expert demon hunter, control your own personal army of the under with the necromancer and more. Each class comes with their own unique look and skill set. All to fit any combination of play style.


Gameplay


If you’re  a Diablo veteran, the controls will feel familiar from the get go, with a very minor learning curve. You go around killing monsters, raiding dungeons, killing the boss and along the way collect resources and better equipment, so that you can repeat the whole process in a place with higher difficulty to get even better equipment and resources. At its core, Diablo is a shooter/hack slash looter game so expect to grind to get the best of the best gear.

One way to make the grind easier is by teaming up with other players. Be it your friends or random strangers through the games match making system. This is essential, especially for areas that are particularly difficult to do solo. Multiplayer is seamless for the most part and definitely adds to the experience.

The Best news for this is that, if you are on different platforms, you can still play together. Doesn’t matter if you’re on PC or Phone, teaming up is still possible.



Microtransactions



Now as I mentioned before, this game is a freemium game. Meaning it comes with all the bells and whistles of a full on AAA release but its free. So how do the developers make money? They have the microtransaction system installed.  Basically what this means is, you pay for items in the game with real money.  And this is where the game divides the players. In order for you to reach full power for your character and have the best and most powerful equipment, you will have to pay for the resources. And from what I’ve gleamed so far, some gamers have spent north of 40K USD to level up their characters.

So where does this leave the free players? Well While you can still play and access all the areas in the game, you will eventually hit the paywall. You will notice that you are just not as powerful as the paying players and this will somewhat hamper your progress as some areas are just too much for your character.

So is microtransaction a bad thing? That debate is still up in the air. Some people hate it and some apparently don’t mind spending stupid amounts of money on virtual items.



Conclusion



Is Diablo Immortal a bad game? No, its actually pretty fun to play. Its your classic Diablo that everyone knows and love.  With top class voice acting, returning characters from previous games and a solid story to go along with it, it’s actually pretty decent. The only chink in it’s armor it’s the microtransaction. For me, who’s an old school gamer, having my progress be nullified and not be able to progress as far or as fast as some kid with a  near infinite debit card, it’s a heart breaking thing. 

I give it a 6.5/10

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