For weeks rumors circulated around what the big Diablo announcement would be at BlizzCon ’18. Diablo fans, wonder no longer — Blizzard announced today at the Anaheim Convention Center that they’ve decided to take the Diablo franchise in a brand new direction with the announcement of Diablo: Immortal, a mobile game for Android and iOS.
Introducing Diablo Immortal – the first mobile MMOARPG entry in the history of Sanctuary, coming exclusively to iOS and Android. Pick up where Diablo II: Lord of Destruction left off and slaughter your enemies anytime, anywhere. pic.twitter.com/h1Ebe1Gurb
— Diablo (@Diablo) November 2, 2018
Described by Blizzard as a “full fledged action RPG,” the new game takes place immediately following the events of Diablo II: Lords of Destruction, during the 20 year gap proceeding Diablo III.
At the end of Diablo II, Baal corrupted the World Stone, which in turn led to its destruction. At the beginning of Diablo III, Tyrael fell from heaven and joined the ranks of humanity. This game will fill in the gaps of what went on between those two world shaking events.
Immortal will feature 9 public zones at launch. Players can journey to the desert to explore Zoltun Kulle’s Library — although not quite the same area players encounter in Diablo III. While Kulle won’t be present personally, he’s left behind quite a few suitably dangerous defenses. As Blizzard puts it: “Zoltun Kulle is some kind of magical hoarder”, adding that for adventurers, it’s “[the] perfect place for you to take a vacation.”
As you wander the outdoor world you have the opportunity to come across other players in a shared environment. The interactions are designed to be organic and continually change the texture of the game.
Immortal will also feature instanced dungeons for up to four players at a time.
The Diablo devs have also taken a page out of World of Warcraft‘s book and added a capital city to Immortal in the form of Westmarch. Described by Blizzard as “the perfect choice for a capital city”, players will be able to meet other players, sell and stash gear and experience a “thriving, vibrant” capital city.
There will be six classes to play out of the gate: Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, and Wizard. Every class will have a set of 12 or more skills, and from those 12 you can choose 5 to assign to an active skill button. Blizzard stated they have plans to add more classes down the road.
Social features are important to any mobile game and Immortal is no exception. Blizzard plans to build a number of social features into the game, with the battle.net friends list being their first tackled. Once a player downloads Immortal, they have the option to link it to their battle.net account and access their entire friends list for easy communication.
There’s no release date available for Diablo: Immortal at this time. Prospective players are encouraged to pre-register at www.diabloimmortal.com for a chance at special rewards, future beta tests, and upcoming news on the game.
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