It’s been 20 years since the release of Diablo 2, and like many classic Blizzard games, the game still has a huge fan base and an incredibly loyal community. In 2012’s follow-up (Diablo 3 and its post-launch content), there were some drastic changes to the franchise’s game loop and baseline difficulty levels, but with the launch of Diablo 2:’s resurrection, fans of the original experience is getting a major visual and aural upgrade.
Compared to Warcraft 3 Reforged, the reforged version of the 2000 game follows the style of World of Warcraft Classic more, trying to provide almost the same experience as the original, with only visual upgrades and some small quality of life improvements, But these improvements don’t take the game to the next level. easier or harder. Most of the quality-of-life upgrades in Diablo 2: Resurrection stick to improving the convenience of online and co-op play, though there’s also an option for auto-pickup gold by default. That being said, all of the game’s quality-of-life improvements can be easily turned off for players who prefer a closer-to-original experience.
The ability to quickly switch between newer and older versions of Diablo 2 is the game’s strongest feature. The one-click switching between the legacy graphics and the reworked graphics is much more fun than it should be, and switching back and forth quickly to see what a tree or the walls of a dungeon looked like in the first place makes each session fascinating to see how the graphics have changed in the last two ten years. It’s purely optional, but impressive nonetheless.
The level of entertainment that Diablo 2: Resurrection will provide depends largely on how gamers approach the game. Are they gamers who remember the game from childhood and want to relive it, die-hard fans who never stopped playing, or fans who fell in love with the Diablo 3 series and wanted to experience the first installment for the first time? This last group may have the most fun (and possibly frustrating) experience with the core Diablo game loop, but with far fewer directions and a much steeper initial difficulty curve than Diablo 3.
In terms of remaster quality, Diablo 2: Resurrection does an excellent job of retaining the nostalgia and feel of the original, while giving the game’s graphics some stunning visual updates and boosting the 20-plus minutes of cinematic cutscenes On to the quality of a modern Blizzard game. The sound of the game doesn’t need much work at all and holds up pretty well, but small improvements and remastered tracks and audio sound great. Just like the graphics, classic audio can also be turned on by switching to legacy mode with a button (or two on the console).
The exploration and combat systems in Diablo 2: Resurrection work well, and offer hundreds of hours of replayability for players who don’t mind grinding and enjoying some repetition when powering up and farming specific items. It’s hard not to get a little frustrated with some of the old systems and limitations, like the very limited number of respecs a character can access compared to modern games, so some players might lose patience with the title if they’re more used to contemporaneous titles and Enjoy that level of convenience.
At the end of the day, Diablo 2: Resurrection really does feel like a game designed for old and nostalgic gamers, and it truly embodies that experience. Whether it can build a new audience with new players is a tougher question, but the old-school experience may serve modern gamers better than it might first appear. Diablo 2: Resurrection occupies a very unique place in the franchise, allowing players to keep returning to Diablo 3 (and someday Diablo 4 for a modern experience), but now when they want more of a baseline Difficulty and Classic also have a visually modern selection experience.
At this point, the post-launch plan is a bit of an uphill battle, as the development team is only focused on making the initial launch in the best shape possible and laying a solid foundation before thinking about adding new content – about content.
NOTE: Game Rant’s reviews are based solely on the PC experience, so we do not have any feedback or opinions on controller options or cross-play available to cross-platform gamers. While reports of connectivity issues and character deletions are common, Game Rant didn’t experience any of these issues during its early access review, and has only encountered a few minor connectivity issues since launch.
Diablo 2: Resurrected is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant obtained an Early Access PC copy of Diablo 2: Resurrected for this review.
Game Rant reviewed Diablo 2: Resurrection on the Neuron 4000D for Origin PC. Origin offers a wide variety of customizable PCs to suit any gamer’s needs. Read more about neurons here. MORE: Diablo 2: Resurrection 10 Newbie Tips You Need To Know