Impressions of Diablo Immortal: A good smartphone game peppered with F2P nonsense

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The best thing about Diablo immortal is that it’s a fun, professionally designed action RPG that lives up to the Diablo name. The new Activision Blizzard game, releasing later Wednesday for iOS and Android and Thursday for Windows PC, immediately impresses as one of the better smartphone-first ARPG games out there. And my 10 hours in his universe have allayed my earlier fears about his production values.

The worst part Diablo immortal is its economy. My pre-release testing of the finished game was characterized by menus and in-game characters selling me new types of “balls”, “stones”, gold and other confusing microtransactions. At best, the game can be enjoyed despite this nonsense.

But the bean counters at Activision Blizzard aren’t ready to offer a one-time purchase Diablo immortal for fair, nagging-free adventure. (Worse, as of press time, the publisher appears to be doubling down on a famous 2012 fiasco.) That’s doubly tragic, because the game is otherwise a fun, smartphone-friendly option for addictive dungeon delving — which put me between recommending one perfect leaves fine smartphone adventure and warning of its grossest aspects.

Driving a crack between the fans

I’ll start with the content of the microtransactions as at least two nations have been banned Diablo immortal from their pre-launch marketplaces. However, the game actually contains “loot boxes” which violate regulations in the Netherlands and Belgium Diablo Immortal’s system differs from popular examples such as the map packs from EA Sports or Fourteen days‘s “Llama” system.

Enlarge / Cash for clothes: a F2P classic.

Activision Blizzard

Everything below is related to shopping Diablo immortal‘s gameplay and mechanics, not cosmetics. If you like the idea of paying $10 to $15 to dress up your favorite warrior in fancy garb, that’s here too. I believe this type of purchase is aimed at kids, who equate flashier cosmetics in social video games with real-world social impact, but that’s tame compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen in Diablo immortal‘s economy.

At first glance, Elder Rifts (no, not “Elden Rings”) seem like classic Diablo stuff. They add interesting modifiers to a randomly generated dungeon run and reward cool, unique loot. But…
…the best loot requires spending “legendary crests” which either take forever to grind via in-game mechanics or can be bought instantly with real money.

The game is linear Diablo III-like introduction eventually takes players to a central city, and its storefronts advertise the entire list of in-game purchases. The loot boxiest of them is the “Elder Rift”, a randomly generated dungeon delve. Players can “guarantee” the number and quality of rewards from each dungeon run based on the number and type of “crests” they throw in the entrance. (When I say “rewards,” I mean things your character can equip for special offensive or defensive abilities. The first one I earned gave all my attacks a 10 percent chance to add an electrical spark that chains to hit other enemies nearby. Stuff like that.) Lower level crests can be earned in-game, while “legendary” crests have to be bought with real money (after players are forced to burn through a free legendary crest).

Imagine a loot chest that requires a 5-10 minute challenge to see the randomly awarded loot inside, and you’ve nailed legendary crests. In honor of Activision Blizzard, if a player elects to use a crest and then either fails an Elder Rift challenge or disconnects from the game’s always-on servers, the crest will be refunded.