Diablo 2: Resurrected is out now. The original was one of the most important games of my childhood, but returning to Tristram feels weird right now, and not just because it’s been 21 years. Activision Blizzard faces two separate lawsuits, one alleging years of discrimination and harassment and the other alleging worker intimidation and union-busting, leading to employee walkouts and the departure of several key members of senior staff. A lot has happened so far, and the lawsuits are ongoing. You can follow the latest developments here.
Diablo 2 Resurrected also faces pressure from fans burned by Warcraft III: Reforged’s troubled release, and who are wary that history will repeat itself. The original Diablo 2 is still available on the Battle.Net store at the time of writing, so that’s something.
I still need more time with Diablo 2, so my full thoughts on the remaster will come at a later time. There’s plenty to say already, but it’s important to share the above context before diving into what feel like some relatively trivial concerns and accomplishments.
The most immediate change, naturally, is that Resurrected looks superb. This is a beautiful remaster that retains the spirit of the original Diablo 2, but adds the definition and detailing that my imagination had to fill in all those years ago. If you’re looking to play a bit of history with a few modernised tweaks then Resurrected does exactly that, and any medium-spec PC should be able to run it on high settings with ease. The cinematics have been overhauled, approaching the quality we’ve seen from Blizzard’s animation department in recent years.
One significant concern is that Resurrected won’t have post-campaign support. Fortunately, seasonal ladders are at least listed, which let players play through the campaign with special rules and exclusive items, competing to reach level 99 as quickly as possible. They’re not available in the review build of the game so I can’t comment on how extensive they are, but they should add plenty of replayability. It’s also unclear right now if the seasonal ladders will follow a similar pattern to how they work for the original Diablo 2, or if they’ll follow Diablo 3’s format.
returning to Tristram feels weird right now, and not just because it’s been 21 years
Modernising Diablo 2 has also given Blizzard a chance to make it more accessible than its first incarnation. There are a range of modes for different forms of colour blindness, and sliders for each of them so you can control the intensity of different colours. Similarly, there are options for the UI’s font size and text-to-speech toggles for the chat window.
Some key sound effects are relatively quiet by default, so I’m thankful that I can tinker with the audio sliders to tone down the booming skills and amplify some of the quieter, but more important, audio prompts. The redesigned minimap is smaller and more convenient, so the whole screen isn’t obscured whenever I need to check where I’m heading. Having three storage tabs in the stash for swapping items between characters is also a welcome addition.
It’s also in the menu that I discovered something I didn’t know about the game when I first played it all those years ago: attacks can miss. You can now choose to be alerted to this by a big white cross that flashes on the screen whenever you miss an attack, rather than the muted sound effect that somehow eluded me for 21 years.
Modernising Diablo 2 has also given Blizzard a chance to make it more accessible than before
But by far the biggest boon for both accessibility and convenience is the array of customisable controls and keybinds on offer. Every single key can be reassigned on PC, so you can configure the game to a specific setup that’s comfortable for you. Resurrected is also compatible with both Xbox and PlayStation controllers. Those who can only play games with one hand with specialised controllers can configure the controls to suit their needs. I also tried an arcade fight stick and it works surprisingly well.
Shockingly, I think Diablo 2 Resurrected is more comfortable and convenient to play on a controller than with a mouse and keyboard. Yes, I know. But before you reach for the pitchforks, I want to stress I find picking up items more difficult as a Necromancer main because of all the corpses I can potentially resurrect. The mouse cursor prioritises highlighting dead bodies over the trinkets and gear I can loot, and so with a gamepad I’m no longer hindered by an assumptive UI, as I can no longer target specific cadavers to turn into skeleton friends. This means spending far less time trying in vain to pick up a gem from a pile of slain monsters, something I’m very grateful for.
It’s particularly aggravating then that all of this good stuff is undermined by what’s absent. There is no borderless window mode, and no ultra-widescreen options. It’s also no secret that Diablo 2: Resurrected is missing TCP/IP support, upon which some existing multiplayer mods depend. Instead, Resurrected requires that players link a Battle.Net account to access online characters, play with other players, access cross-progression, and seasonal ladders. An inevitable step into modernity, perhaps, and further justified by Blizzard citing “potential security risks”. But for those who remember Warcraft III: Reforged’s similar wrench away from existing ways to play, it may leave a bad taste.
So far Diablo 2: Resurrected seems like a fantastic way to play a classic action-RPG, with splendid updated graphics and quality-of-life features, though it’s far from perfect. The new accessibility options are welcome and improve the experience for everyone, but there’s not much here that goes beyond the industry baseline. Gaps also exist in its list of features, and some of these gaps are worryingly similar to those that plagued Warcraft III: Reforged. Nevertheless, as the servers go live I’ll be enjoying my return to Tristram, hopeful that there won’t be anything else that taints the experience.
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