14 DAY TRIAL // 
Diablo II was released 21 years ago, to the delight of the fans of action-RPGs. It managed to cement the legacy of the first game, that made RPGs accessible to a large audience. Without having to focus on long dialogues, make moral choices and follow character build up, you only had to worry about hacking and slashing everyone around you. Diablo was the game that created this genre, but Diablo II was the one to claim the throne of the genre forever.
Blizzard and Activision are lately known more for taking central stage in various scandals rather than releasing actual video games. Long gone are Blizzard North and the rename of a studio that made animations pushing the borders of what we thought possible. But since it is trending to bring back the dead and the forgotten to take financial advantage of our nostalgia, it is not a surprise to see the crowned king of the hack and slash genre return.
Diablo II is an evergreen, a fact uncontested even by the most elitist RPG fans. The sequel continued on the path of stripping the genre of the elements that made it inaccessible to most, focusing on the combat and a story that was more than permissive with the intelligence and imagination of players. More characters, more weapons, more mayhem and in general every fan-favorite from the first game was improved, making Diablo II one of the best-known video games in history.
Diablo II: Resurrected was put together by the Vicarious Visions team, that also brought us the Crash Bandicoot NSane Trilogy. So, we have a legendary raw material, a team with a proven track record and the inclusion of the critically acclaimed add-on, Lord of Destruction. What could have gone wrong?! Well, if you are relying on your memories and haven’t played the game in a while, you will see that your mind can play tricks on you. Beyond the looks the game contains only a handful of updates to yank it into modern times, and some of the mechanics did not age that well.
Most annoying will be the Stamina management – you will get surprised by the need to manage it in order just to be able to run around. The small inventory is also as enticing as a fish left in the sun for a few days. And, to make things worse, the console version feels inferior to the PC release, although the hardware is more than capable to handle the challenges of the game. Diablo II: Resurrected feels old despite the updated looks, especially if in the meantime you have been spoiled by Diablo III.
But, despite the technicalities there is something oddly satisfying about confronting the eerily familiar hordes of monster. If you have played the original you will discover that you will not even have to think about the tactics, you muscle memory will kick in automatically. You will know just by the noise of the dropped loop if it is even worth checking the nametags, just as you will know if a chest is boobytrapped just by the sound it makes when you open it.
Unfortunately, the sweet reverie of nostalgia will be interrupted again and again by reality. You will have to be very careful with how you invest your skill points because you can only redistribute them once if you made a mistake. That means that you can mess up the evolution of your favorite hero and most likely everyone will go for the tested and proven builds. Just as is the case with other remasters, for an unexplainable reason, the bugs of the original game are also back. It makes you wonder if the developers know about the patches launched after the release of the game.
If you think Diablo II: Resurrected looks just as you remember it, you can make a reality check by activating the original visuals. Yes, our minds can play tricks on us. But what is not a mirage are the framerate problems you will experiment. Choosing a necromancer and summoning his menagerie of skeletons and golems will drop the framerate considerably even in performance mode. This can be attributed only to poor optimization. Also, if the game crashes, and it will on several occasions, be prepared to find yourself dead on return in town, having to replay quite a big chunk since the game saved quite some time ago.
Diablo II was released 21 years ago, to the delight of the fans of action-RPGs. It managed to cement the legacy of the first game, that made RPGs accessible to a large audience. Without having to focus on long dialogues, make moral choices and follow character build up, you only had to worry about hacking and slashing everyone around you. Diablo was the game that created this genre, but Diablo II was the one to claim the throne of the genre forever.
Blizzard and Activision are lately known more for taking central stage in various scandals rather than releasing actual video games. Long gone are Blizzard North and the rename of a studio that made animations pushing the borders of what we thought possible. But since it is trending to bring back the dead and the forgotten to take financial advantage of our nostalgia, it is not a surprise to see the crowned king of the hack and slash genre return.
Diablo II is an evergreen, a fact uncontested even by the most elitist RPG fans. The sequel continued on the path of stripping the genre of the elements that made it inaccessible to most, focusing on the combat and a story that was more than permissive with the intelligence and imagination of players. More characters, more weapons, more mayhem and in general every fan-favorite from the first game was improved, making Diablo II one of the best-known video games in history.
Diablo II: Resurrected was put together by the Vicarious Visions team, that also brought us the Crash Bandicoot NSane Trilogy. So, we have a legendary raw material, a team with a proven track record and the inclusion of the critically acclaimed add-on, Lord of Destruction. What could have gone wrong?! Well, if you are relying on your memories and haven’t played the game in a while, you will see that your mind can play tricks on you. Beyond the looks the game contains only a handful of updates to yank it into modern times, and some of the mechanics did not age that well.
Most annoying will be the Stamina management – you will get surprised by the need to manage it in order just to be able to run around. The small inventory is also as enticing as a fish left in the sun for a few days. And, to make things worse, the console version feels inferior to the PC release, although the hardware is more than capable to handle the challenges of the game. Diablo II: Resurrected feels old despite the updated looks, especially if in the meantime you have been spoiled by Diablo III.
But, despite the technicalities there is something oddly satisfying about confronting the eerily familiar hordes of monster. If you have played the original you will discover that you will not even have to think about the tactics, you muscle memory will kick in automatically. You will know just by the noise of the dropped loop if it is even worth checking the nametags, just as you will know if a chest is boobytrapped just by the sound it makes when you open it.
Unfortunately, the sweet reverie of nostalgia will be interrupted again and again by reality. You will have to be very careful with how you invest your skill points because you can only redistribute them once if you made a mistake. That means that you can mess up the evolution of your favorite hero and most likely everyone will go for the tested and proven builds. Just as is the case with other remasters, for an unexplainable reason, the bugs of the original game are also back. It makes you wonder if the developers know about the patches launched after the release of the game.
If you think Diablo II: Resurrected looks just as you remember it, you can make a reality check by activating the original visuals. Yes, our minds can play tricks on us. But what is not a mirage are the framerate problems you will experiment. Choosing a necromancer and summoning his menagerie of skeletons and golems will drop the framerate considerably even in performance mode. This can be attributed only to poor optimization. Also, if the game crashes, and it will on several occasions, be prepared to find yourself dead on return in town, having to replay quite a big chunk since the game saved quite some time ago.
The Good
- Familiar gameplay brings back nostalgia
- Updated visuals
- Tremendous fun in multiplayer
The Bad
- Technical issues, including unacceptable framerates
- Outdated game mechanics
- Inconsistent autosaves
Conclusion
If you feel nostalgic for Diablo II: Resurrected is the best way to scratch that itch. If you felt that it was overhyped back then, the new release will do nothing to change your mind. And if you are new to videogames, you better start with Diablo III, since you will not miss anything story wise, and the experience will be much more satisfying.
Diablo II: Resurrected is a mixed bag of treats. On one hand it has the sweet allure of nostalgia, on the other hand it often feels outdated, with mechanics that evolved quite a lot in the last 21 years. The multiplayer is tremendous fun and will cause a lot of discord over splitting the loot and stealing the gold dropped by the dead players.
If you feel nostalgic for Diablo II: Resurrected is the best way to scratch that itch. If you felt that it was overhyped back then, the new release will do nothing to change your mind. And if you are new to videogames, you better start with Diablo III, since you will not miss anything story wise, and the experience will be much more satisfying.
Review code provided by the publisher.
