For a mobile release. Put it this way, if Diablo Immortal was announced this year at BlizzCon - alongside Diablo IV - sentiment would lean towards this being a fun take on Diablo 3 for mobile. And a release to help bridge the potential long wait in store for D4.

As per the new gameplay highlights below, an updated Diablo: Immortal build was playable at the show that showcased the new location of Wortham (which looked a lot like its Diablo 3 counterpart) as well as introducing the next class to join the line-up - the Demon Hunter.

As a DH main in Diablo 3, the play-style was very much in-line with the abilities found in that game, albeit with cooldown-timers for things like Rain of Vengeance and Strafe.



The co-production between Blizzard and Chinese studio Netease is shaping up nicely with the demo across both phone and tablets running at a solid 60 frame-per-second, offering up the sort of smooth and fluid action rarely seen in a mobile release. In fact, the simple concept of Diablo 3 on mobile is one that we can get behind with Immortal - with the touch controls not quite meeting the comfort that comes from a dedicated controller but responsive none-the-less.

Playing as a Demon Hunter we had Legendary Crossbows drop from monster kills that featured powerful abilities like adding homing rockets to Strafe. Other Legendary Items we saw for classes like the Barbarian added powerful elemental AoE effects to certain skills. With the BlizzCon 2019 demo of Diablo: Immortal it was hard to see just now Blizzard might monetise the experience in a way that would seem overly predatory. Progression never felt like a grind, the maps were large and chock-full of action and quests and events, and loot drops happened often enough as to feel genuinely exciting.

It'll be interesting to see how it handles the always-online and multiplayer stuff, which sounds a lot like what we'll end up seeing in Diablo IV. With big group events, a party system, and populated town hubs.

Odds are monetisation will focus on the cosmetic side, and if things like experience boosters are on the cards then using what we played as the foundation that wouldn't be so bad for those with limited time. Diablo: Immortal is very much Diablo on a mobile device. Which is great for those of us with phones, and PCs.