![]() Your stats get higher, the numbers get bigger, the enemies get harder, and so the loot gets better, and your stats get higher … and so on and so on, forever.ĭiablo 2 also introduced me to the mechanics that still make games addictive for me - and many other people - today. The animations and sound effects that play when you kill each enemy have been fine-tuned to elicit a pleasure response, as is the case when you collect gold pieces and armor strewn all over the ground, shortly before you equip it (or break it down and sell it for more gold, for more loot with higher numbers). Combat simply involves clicking around to attack or reposition your character, then clicking to collect more loot. ![]() That’s the real reason to keep playing Diablo 2, or any other Diablo game, if we’re being honest with ourselves: It’s fun to collect more and more gear, to get a piece of armor with a higher number on it than the one you’re wearing, and to keep watching your character’s stats climb higher and higher. The only significant variation lies in the randomness of the loot. Of course, you can play however you want and still have a good time - but if you want to play tactically and efficiently, there’s not much variation in how the game will unfold. Diablo 2’s RPG mechanics have been thoroughly analyzed since its initial release in 2000 players are so familiar with the numbers under the hood that there are agreed-upon recommended builds for every character class. I’d already gotten an inkling of it when I played Diablo 2: Resurrected this past year. My realization didn’t come out of nowhere. Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon That’s when I realized how wrong I’d been about Diablo all along. When I heard that news, I felt relieved that I’d be able to play the game on PC after all, but when Diablo Immortal launched a day early on mobile, I installed it on my iPhone 11 out of curiosity. This past April, Blizzard made another concession to the burned Diablo fan base by announcing Diablo Immortal would launch on PCs as well, despite that it was clearly created with mobile phones in mind. This history of not-unfair assumptions about mobile games resulted in a vitriolic response at BlizzCon 2018 - enough so that Blizzard issued a public defense of the game’s existence. Mobile games also have a reputation for embracing the worst kinds of money-grubbing and addictive design, using microtransactions and mechanics that border on gambling ( in some countries, they’re legislated as such). Even the best mobile games are often shallow experiences, designed to be played in brief bursts while waiting at a bus stop or dentist’s office. ![]() The mobile game market does not have a great reputation among people who willingly use the word “gamer” to refer to themselves. Diablo was made to be a mobile game all along, and Diablo Immortal proves it. I’ve finally played Diablo Immortal, and it’s completely changed my mind. How dare Blizzard do this to a game series I remembered so fondly? That was how I felt when I heard the announcement. The screaming, the crying, the foaming at the mouth at the very idea that the next installment of the hardcore RPG series would be a mobile game. We all remember the announcement of Diablo Immortal at BlizzCon in 2018.
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