The last attempt at remastering a Blizzard game, Warcraft III: Reforged, was by all accounts a disaster. It was marred by budget and management issues and plagued with bugs—and, to the horror of many, it locked players out of playing the original Warcraft III. It was such a mess that it resulted in Blizzard offering full refunds to players.
Given that experience, many players were rightfully apprehensive about a remaster of Diablo II, the best of the series and perhaps the defining entry in the action role-playing game (ARPG) genre. However, fears have been abated with the release of Diablo II: Resurrected, in large part by an interesting design philosophy: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Resurrected features content from the base game as well as the Lord of Destruction expansion, plus all seven playable classes (barbarian, necromancer, amazon, sorceress, paladin, druid, and assassin). What makes the remaster interesting, and perhaps so vexing, is that it is extremely faithful to the original 2000 release. It has kept nearly everything that defined it on release back in 2000—even systems that are archaic by today’s standards. The tedious potion management system is still there, because who doesn’t like having a screen-obscuring inventory open mid combat as you frantically try to juggle health and mana potions? While some modern ARPGs bless players with a stacked Hotbar for your abilities, here you’re still limited two just two at a time.
There are, however, some new additions. Most noticeable, of course, is the new coat of paint. The updated graphics hit the mark in capturing Diablo II’s mood, and whether clearing out the dim, demon-filled ruins of the Rogue Monastery or scouring the sands of Lut Gholein, the game’s foreboding, the hopeless world has never felt better. The cut scenes have been redone in Blizzard’s beautiful CGI engine, as well, and are always a treat to watch.
If you yearn to go back to a simpler time and play Diablo II in glorious 800×600 resolution, with one press of a button the game will seamlessly transition between new and old-style graphics. You may not get much mileage out of it, but it’s a neat addition nevertheless to see how far graphics have come in two decades.
Not only the sights but the sounds are a real nostalgia trip—a majority of the sound effects have been kept the same, and the jingling of gold falling to the ground or the frustrating sound of a shaman just offscreen resurrecting enemies will definitely bring back some memories. The original in-game voice actors are present; they vary in quality but tilt to the schlocky side. Deckard Cain, as always, is ready to identify your loot and dole out exposition dumps in equal measure. There are also a few small, but welcome, quality-of-life improvements, most importantly gold piles now being automatically picked up. Also added are needed accessibility features, such as colorblind modes and the ability to increase font size.
More annoying is that, as of this writing, Diablo II has been experiencing server issues. The causes were outlined in a forum post in October, which partly blamed them on “legacy code” that was unable to adapt to modern behaviors and play styles. In response, Blizzard has had to implement a queue system to join the game during times of increased player traffic. Characters can be online permanently (to play co-op or participate in season ladders) or offline permanently. If I only have a short time to play, it’s frustrating to be smacked with a queue to access my online character, my only other option being to start a new character offline. The queues have been getting better recently, so hopefully, it is something they can get a handle on sooner rather than later before the issue is solved by the player community quitting.
If you’ve never played the original, Diablo II: Resurrected may feel like it was better left dead, with features that are markedly out of place in 2021. Newer games in the genre, like Path of Exile and Diablo III, are faster, sleeker, and more intuitive. Diablo II is like a classic muscle car: yes, new cars are technically superior, but the old ones can’t be beaten. Just the simple fact that I’m not presented with a real-life
Diablo II: Resurrected Runes shop on the main menu is a breath of fresh air.
Blizzard has done an excellent job of capturing the feel and bringing it to the modern age, and Diablo II‘s gothic horror is still unrivaled. I don’t think Resurrected is necessarily trying to reel in new fans, but it is still a worthy ARPG even given its weary bones. If you played Diablo II, it will be like meeting an old friend.
Diablo II: Resurrected is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
