Marking just over 21 years since its original release, Diablo II is still regarded as one of PC’s best video games of all time. Especially for me, perhaps generally one of the best games ever. It’s with a heavy heart that this is the first game to be released after multiple lawsuits against Activision Blizzard have started from the California legal department of fair employment and housing. Being sued over frat boy culture, harassment, and other things I can completely understand if there are many people out there boycotting the company and their products. As a reviewer for this game, I will say that I am appalled by the actions and I hope justice is served to the right people. However, I review video games, and reviewing this one will be no different. Biases will be set aside. Back to Diablo II: Resurrected!
I’m happy to learn that the core gameplay is completely intact here. The changes made have all been quality of life type improvements. There are more helpful tutorials, reminders to use your skill points, and an auto pick-up button so you aren’t constantly clicking the screen to pick up all that gold. If you don’t want any of these improvements and want the original experience you can shut them off in the settings. While the game has also been completely redesigned beautifully in a 3D engine, you also have the option to switch back and forth to the original look in real time with the touch of the legacy button.
One of my favorite things as a kid was watching the cinematics to Diablo II, for whatever reason, I just thought they were cool as hell. It was really awesome to see the same cinematics I grew up enjoying being redone, but also being very true to the original source. It feels like they just hit a magical “up-res” button. Blizzard didn’t work alone on this game, they brought in Vicarious Visions to help bring this remaster to life. With their track record of remastering classic games such as, Crash Bandicoot: The N’Sane Trilogy and the recent Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, this company has proven that they have the magic sauce to remaster a game to make it look as good as it can be, as well as keeping all the original gameplay and overall vibe intact from what you remember.
Diablo II: Resurrected really feels like a complete package. I should note that it also comes with the original expansion, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, all of which built in seamlessly. Online multiplayer is also back, I haven’t gotten a chance to fully experience it, but you can still group up in teams of eight. I can’t forget to bring up another fantastic quality of life improvement, that of the shared stashbox. In the past you would have to go into a server with a character, drop whatever items you wanted to leave for one of your other characters and then log into that same server with that other character to pick up all of your dropped items. A very tedious and annoying way of going about it, but now we have a chest that can be shared throughout all your characters. It may not seem like much, but this would have been super handy when I played a ton of this in the early 2000s.
This also marks the very first time Diablo II will be playable on consoles. If it’s anything like the Diablo III version, much fun will be had on there as well. While there is no cross play among console and PC, if you still have your old save file from the original game, that save will port to this new remaster. Diablo II is a gaming experience I’ll always cherish, and with this Resurrected remaster I’m happy to report that this classic will continue to live on in glorious fashion.
9/10
For more information, please visit: https://diablo2.blizzard.com/en-us/
PC Review
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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