I couldn’t get very far in Diablo Immortal because I don’t have any mobile devices with sufficient storage space to download all the required stuff, and that’s all right. While a mobile version of a popular action RPG franchise is certainly something that could be fine and not something I would be opposed to in principle, I still am staunchly opposed to free to play games that blur the design line between playing for fun, playing as a replacement to paying money and playing as a vehicle to extract money from players. You’ll understand that Diablo Immortal is one of these games.
As usual, with free to play games from these big companies, it’s a shame, because Diablo Immortal is technically sound. It looks like Diablo, has mechanics like Diablo, you recognize characters and skills from Diablo. The controls work okay on mobile and the oversimplified systems aren’t my cup of tea, but it still could’ve worked as a smaller Diablo experience on the go.
But this is where the niceties end, this game is still a deluge of free to play monetization gimmicks. Battle passes, paying to get access to powerful gems, a ton of different currencies, this just sours the whole experience. I’ll never be able to enjoy a game if there is a voice at the back of my head whispering about how they just want me to spend money and the possibilities of play are being obscured by capitalism. I can’t get excited about skill trees, stats and theorycrafting if ultimately, there’s some money to be paid that is not upfront and is not carefully designed not to impact the core experience of the game.
And Diablo Immortal is 200% that game I can’t enjoy.
