Diablo III Nintendo Switch Hands-On, A Worthy PC Competitor

What happens when our resident "PC Master Race" gamer gets her hands on the Diablo III: Eternal Collection for Nintendo Switch? Beautiful things, friends, beautiful things.

We recently got our hands on the highly anticipated port during PAX West this year in a sit down with the team over at Blizzard. Firmly situated on a couch with joy-cons in hand, it was time to see how well the latest port held up against its PC (and later Xbox and PlayStation) counterpart.

Unsurprisingly, it did really well! When looking back at previous ports such as Skyrim, Wolfenstein II, DOOM ... the transition from mega platform to hybrid console was shockingly smooth. Diablo III was no different and - bear with me as I disgrace my PC name - almost better.

Though the Nintendo Switch version wasn't the first to implement the roll mechanic, it's still glaringly missing from PC. With games of this particular niche, console ports are usually looked at from a convenient perspective, not necessarily optimized. Convenience, though definitely a part of the Switch port, was not its main goal. Instead, the Eternal Collection offers an impressively smooth gameplay experience that handles both the docked and remote settings like a dream.

The way the controls map out the game are incredibly fluid, making it so much easier to jump back into a Rift with your favourite main. Donning those familiar Demon Hunter boots, I once again took to familiar terrain and couldn't help but to be enthralled by the entire gameplay experience. Diablo III was meant for the Switch and the portability, accessibility, and successful integration with the hardware supports that notion one thousand percent. I was genuinely sad to give up the joy-cons by the end of my time with the game which made me super excited to triple dip once more into the world of Diablo.

Another aspect about this port that I loved is that if you take the game offline, you won't lose any of your XP, loot, or progress made. Take it up in the air with your for travel, take it on a road trip - wherever! That time put in won't be for nought and the nifty cloud save feature makes it even easier to pick up right where you left off.

But you want to know about specs, right? Since the biggest appeal of the hybrid console is its portability, the undocked and on the go means a native resolution set at 720p. When docked, it will run at 960p at 60 framers per second for both docked and undocked play styles. Though there is a gap there, it's hardly noticeable and I can attest to that personally because my hands-on time featured both modes of play.

Want to learn even more about Diablo III Eternal Collection for Nintendo Switch? Here's what Blizzard had to say about the latest arrival, "Diablo III on the Nintendo Switch takes full advantage of the console's flexibility and versatility with multiple intuitive and ultra-responsive controller configuration options. Whether you prefer dual-wielding Joy-Cons, sitting elbow-to-elbow on the couch with your friends using a single Joy-Con each, or entering the fray armed with a Pro Controller, you'll be able to slay your way. Up to four players can embark on grand cooperative crusades to cleanse Sanctuary—side by side in front of a single Nintendo Switch screen or linking multiple consoles together wirelessly."

It also comes with some amazing exclusives including, "The Legend og Ganondorf cosmetic armor set, Tri-Force portrait frame, Cucco pet, and Echoes of the Mask cosmetic wings." We don't have a release date quite yet, but we know it's coming soon!

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