Diablo 2: Resurrected Review

It’s been twenty years since Diablo 2 launched and, like many classic Blizzard titles, the game still boasts a massive fanbase and an incredibly loyal community. Few major changes were made to the franchise’s gameplay loop and baseline difficulty level in the 2012 follow up (Diablo 3 and its post launch content), but fans of the original experience are getting a major visual and auditory upgrade with Diablo’s launch 2: Resurrected. The remaster of the 2000 title follows more in the vein of WoW Classic than the Warcraft 3 Reforged approach by attempting to deliver a very similar experience to the original with only visual upgrades and some minor quality of life improvements that stop at making the game any easier or harder. Most of the quality-of-life upgrades in Diablo 2: Resurrected stick to improving the convenience of online and co-op play, although there’s also an auto gold pickup option that’s turned on by default. That said, all of these quality of life gameplay improvements can easily be toggled off for players who prefer an experience that more closely matches the original. The ability to quickly switch between the updated and legacy versions of Diablo 2 is the game’s strongest feature. The one-button toggle between legacy and remastered graphics is more entertaining than it should be and quickly switches back and forth to see how the original look of a tree or a dungeon wall makes each session is a fascinating look at how graphics have changed in the last two decades. This is purely optional but still awesome. The level of entertainment that Diablo 2: Resurrected will provide depends largely on how players approach the title. Are they a player who remembers the game from childhood and wants to revisit it, a die-hard fan who hasn’t stopped playing, or a fan who fell in love with the franchise with Diablo 3 and wants to experience the previous installment for the first time? That final group may have the most interesting (and possibly frustrating) experience in the core Diablo gameplay loop, but with less direction and a steeper initial difficulty curve than Diablo 3. In terms of remaster quality , Diablo 2: Resurrected does an incredible job of maintaining the nostalgia and feel of the original release while providing some stunning visual updates to the game’s graphics and bringing the 20+ minutes of cinematic cutscenes up to quality of modern Blizzard titles. The game’s sound doesn’t need much work and is very good, but the minor improvements and remastered tracks and audio sound great. Like the graphics, classic audio can also be toggled with one (or two on the console) button to switch to legacy mode. The exploration and combat systems in Diablo 2: Resurrected hold up well and offer hundreds of hours worth of replayability for players who don’t mind grinding and enjoy a little repetition while powering up and farming for specific items. It’s hard not to get a little frustrated with some of the old systems and limitations, such as the very limited number of respects a character can access compared to modern games, so some players may lose patience with the title if they have more. accustomed to contemporary titles and enjoy the comfort level. At the end of the day, Diablo 2: Resurrected definitely feels like a game designed with veteran and nostalgic players in mind and it truly understands the experience in that sense. Whether it will develop a new audience with first-time players is a tougher question, but the old-school experience may have more to offer modern gamers than meets the eye. Diablo 2: Resurrected fills a very unique niche in the franchise’s offerings by allowing players to continue returning to D3 (and someday Diablo 4 for a modern experience), but now also has a visual which is a modern option when they want a little more baseline difficulty and a classic experience. At this point, post-launch plans are pretty much up in the air, as the dev team is just focused on getting the initial launch out the door in the best possible condition and having a solid foundation in place before considering the new add-on content . NOTE: Today Technology’s review is based on the PC experience only, so we have no feedback or opinion on the controller option or cross-play available for players who own the game on different platforms. While reports of connection issues and character deletion have been rife, Today Technology encountered none of those issues during early access testing and only minor connection issues since launch. Diablo 2: Resurrected is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Today Technology was given early access to a PC copy of Diablo 2: Resurrected for this review. Today Technology reviews Diablo 2: Resurrected on the Neuron 4000D from Origin PC. Origin offers a variety of customizable PCs that can meet any gamers’ needs. Read more about Neuron here. MORE: 10 Beginner Tips For Diablo 2: Resurrected You Need To Know