The announcement of the mobile-exclusiveDiablo Immortalwas met with mixed reactions from fans when the newest title in Blizzard’s dungeon-crawling franchise was revealed during BlizzCon. AfterdelayingDiablo Immortal’s release windowinto 2022, Blizzard has been running alpha testing throughout 2021 and recently announced the official launch of the game’s first closed beta. Alongside the game’s first beta testing phase comes a feature that fans of the franchise have been requesting for years.
Diablo Immortalhas accompanied a bounty of releases, both already out and upcoming, for the long-running series of dungeon crawlers.Diablo 2 Resurrected, a full remake of the popular second title in theDiablofranchise, released earlier this year and a proper sequel inDiablo 4was announced a year afterDiablo Immortal’s reveal.Diablohas seen a resurgence in recent years after the lull in content followingDiablo 3and its expansions and, now, the mobile title’s first closed beta testing will feature something fans have been asking for: Full controller support.
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The first closed beta will feature full controller support forDiablo Immortal’s navigation and combat, allowing players an alternate control scheme to the standard touch screen control offered in most mobile titles. Production director Caleb Arsenaux explained that while controller support wasn’t something theDiablo Immortalteam intended to look at, the team reconsidered following the significant fan feedback related to controllers. It should be noted that the first closed beta will not feature controller support for the game’s menus, still requiring players to use the touch screen for menu navigation.
The closed beta test will feature support for several controllers including the Dualshock 4, Razer Kishi, andXbox Elite Series 2 controllers, among others. Players can use the dual analog sticks to move and aim abilities while basic and ultimate attacks will utilize the controllers' face buttons. Skills will be assigned to the bumper and trigger buttons by default. Beta testers can also re-assign the layout of the game’s controls to better suit individual preferences.
Diablo Immortal’s first closed beta will also feature another new class for players to test out during the testing phase. Alongside thepre-existing classes like Monkand Barbarian which were featured withinDiablo Immortal’s alpha, the beta also features the addition of another classicDiabloclass in Necromancer. The beta test will begin as exclusive to Canada and Australia before expanding Korea, Japan, and China in the coming weeks. While fans will likely remain waiting for the next true main-seriesDiablogame,Diablo Immortallooks to be a worthy successor to hold fans over untilDiablo 4.
Diablo Immortalis scheduled to release in the first half of 2022 for mobile devices.
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