Diablo Immortal | We tried the Closed Beta
In fact, in a few months, the definitive version of Diablo Immortal will be released and for the occasion Blizzard has provided the possibility, to a limited number of users, to test the Closed Beta of the title in order to receive the feedback needed to finish filing all game mechanics.
Diablo Immortal is a project designed and built to be played and enjoyed in full mobility. It is not the first time that the brand arrives on portable platforms, just think of the last two chapters landed on Nintendo Switch, but in this case we are writing you about an experience mainly relegated to smartphones and tablets and therefore a game that everyone (or almost) could, and should, approach easily. If in our last test we had praised the ability of the developers to guarantee the total compatibility of Diablo Immortal even on those slightly less performing devices (in May we tested it on a One Plus 6t from three years ago), this time we want to focus on another new feature introduced in this Closed Beta: full support for controllers compatible with smartphones and tablets.
We tested Diablo Immortal using both a Dualshock and an Xbox Series X | S controller and in both cases the gaming experience was even more galvanizing than in the past. The controls are fully configurable to allow the player to regain that muscle memory, gained in the hours spent with the chapters for home consoles. The gaming experience turned out to be solid and convincing even if in full mobility we are not yet convinced that carrying around a controller, and a smartphone holder, could prove to be the most practical solution for short forays into Sanctuary. We are, however, delighted that both experiences developed by Blizzard for Diablo Immortal turn out to be well done and able to leave very few glimmers for criticism. We are undoubtedly curious to experiment with the "controller + tablet" combination as soon as possible to understand how close it comes to the domestic experience to which the Diablo series has accustomed us over the years. Finally, wanting to make a small criticism of the support for the controllers, the absence of an automatic pairing function seemed slightly strange to us. Not that it is a disabling criticality, mind you, but having to activate the relative option every time seemed to us cumbersome, and anachronistic, without reason to exist.
Considering that Diablo Immortal's gameplay hasn't changed substantially in its mechanics since last May, we wanted to try out the new character introduced in this Closed Beta: the Necromancer. As per tradition for the series, it is a ranged character who acts on the distance by summoning legions of the undead to do the dirty work for him. The Necromancer has always been a character known for his being "overpowered" and in Diablo Immortal his fame is not in the least touched as in addition to the hordes of dead with which to inflict offensives over distance, this peculiar character will have a couple of close attacks decidedly powerful and able to "mow down" those poor enemies who will have the recklessness to get close to him, as well as he can change into fog to move safely on the game map, looking for a new safe position where to summon the undead.
The Necromancer, in Diablo Immortal, however, turns out to be a very fragile character and a handful of hits will be enough. Sign to definitely send it to the creator. A shrewdness that we undoubtedly appreciated in order to guarantee a fair balance to the character. However, we are curious to understand in the final version of the title how the difficulty level will be managed, considering the free to play nature of Diablo Immortal, and how the various characters will be balanced to allow players to choose based on their style of play more than to the real power of one or the other warrior.
If the PVE game modes seem to be full of things to do, also thanks to an endgame that seems to offer a truly substantial plethora of content for a free to play title, the PVP sector is no less thanks to the peculiar Challenge of the Immortal, an asymmetrical competitive multiplayer mode where one player will wear the robes of the immortal and 30 other users will do their utmost to take him down. The peculiar element of Diablo Immortal's PVP mode lies in the ability to go from an asymmetric multiplayer to a battle royale in a matter of minutes since if the Immortal is taken down, the remaining players will be called to fight against each other until that will not remain just a winner.
Regarding the technical qualities of Diablo Immortal we had already spoken to you in our last test but we can only underline the excellent impressions that Blizzard's free to play title has also transmitted to us in this second test. The ability to configure every graphic aspect of the game is an excellent system to make it usable on a practically immense number of devices but when all the parameters are raised the title does not look bad in front of other today's productions present on gaming machines, definitely, more performers. Polygonal models, environments and the artistic sector are first-rate as well as the variety of settings and enemies is no less, managing not to disfigure this chapter, considered by many to be "apocryphal", when it is placed close to its more famous brothers. .
There is nothing left to do but wait for the release of the title in the next few months to understand how Blizzard’s entire system of microtransactions and updates will be handled. Two decidedly vital aspects for a title of this magnitude which, while managing to convince more and more people from the moment it was announced, will now have to be able to prove its true domination of the mobile market in the long run.
