REVIEW: Diablo Immortal is a decent game filled with indecent polemics

Diablo Immortal is an extremely ambiguous game. On the one hand, it is extremely fun and its proposal entertains, but some practices of Activision Blizzard, its producer, are beyond controversial, especially in terms of monetization of the game.

The world of Diablo Immortal

The story seen in Diablo Immortal serves as a bridge between Chapters 2 and 3 of the franchise. Tyrael is dead, or so is believed. Fragments of the World Stone have been discovered and they are corrupting everyone and everything. In the shadows, Diablo's minions are lurking, waiting for the best moment to snatch that power and revive the fearsome Dreadlord.

During the course of the journey, we meet several classic characters from the franchise, such as Deckard Cain. This nice gentleman will guide us in search of a solution for the stones, as well as Charsi, Kashy, Akra, Xul and many others.

I confess that, at first, playing Diablo Immortal on my Galaxy S9+ screen was shocking. I've never seen a game with such graphic quality on my small smartphone. Using the screen to press buttons became very functional and easy to use, and even moving the character with the “analog” was intuitive. If you're a console gamer like me, you can still plug in your favorite controller, as the game was built to be played that way natively.

leaving for combat

As always, the missions are nothing more than a pretext for us to turn the world upside down and kill everything that comes our way. And this is extremely fun. We can choose one of 5 classes available: Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, and Arcanist. Each of them has a different focus and skill types: some use spells, like the Arcanist and the Necromancer, others are more violent, like the Barbarians and Monks, and have a mix of the two, like the Crusaders and the Hunters.

In games of this genre, my choice is almost always for the warrior, which came in the form of the Crusader. He takes a lot of hits and manages to destroy the enemy in lots of easy way and almost nothing clean. The difference between Diablo Immortal and the other games in the franchise is that we don't choose which skills to improve. This happens automatically when we level up.

What we can do is choose which skills to use, and the game encourages that too, as we can set up selections for sections against monsters and also for the war between players.

One thing that Diablo Immortal doesn't have are those caves and exploration locations scattered across the map. As we all walk around sharing the same space, I believe it was not so feasible to put these things around. But to fill this gap, we have the Ancient Rift and Challenge Rift. The first can be modified using Crests, which can be rare or legendary, while the second is by level. The two can be faced alone or in a group, pleasing all types of players.

Participating in these Rifts is crucial for obtaining new gear and items, and is a great place to level up.

The controversial monetization

First of all, it's possible yes, have a lot of fun with Diablo Immortal without investing a penny, but, after a certain point, things start to get much more complicated. Getting to level 30 was almost like a breeze, but after that, especially until reaching 35, it took me a lot longer.

The game gives you the opportunity to buy a Battle Pass in two versions: the first for only R$27,90, which includes a weapon and an outfit, which vary according to the character's class, and the second, which costs R$84,90, and brings the aforementioned items, plus 10 degrees, an avatar frame, and a cosmetic.

When purchasing the Pass, instead of receiving Scrap (used to improve equipment), we receive other items, such as the Aspirant's Key, which opens chests, Legendary Crests and many others. As stated above, it is possible to have fun without having to make any payment, but there is still a aggravating.

One of the things that modify, and a lot, the attributes of the characters are the Legendary Gems. They have levels, which vary between 1 and 5 stars, and are most easily obtained from Ancient Rifts, but with a catch: you must wear a Legendary Crest in order to receive one of these gems. If you want to participate and have a better chance of getting Legendary Gems of higher levels, then you are obliged to participate in these adventures using the Crests.

In the Free Pass, we receive only one of these coats of arms and two others with the purchase of the pass. The other ways to earn Crests is using real money. Either buying the Diablo Immortal currency, the Eternal Orbs, which range from packs of 60, for R$4,90 and 7.200, costing R$549,90. You can also buy packs at varying prices or use Orbs to get more Legendary Crests.

In short, if you are interested in playing Diablo Immortal seriously and participating in PVP tournaments, know that whoever pays will have a tremendous advantage.

A layered adventure

Since its announcement, Diablo fans have not been happy. Now with all these monetization controversies, we can see who was right in the end. Still, it's completely possible to have fun without investing a single penny, just enjoying the story present in the game and, if you have someone to play with, adventure through caves with friends. Diablo Immortal is available for cell phones and there is also a PC version. The player can move between platforms without fear of losing their progression.

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