Diablo 2: Resurrected, the review of a great polished classic

The role of those who make remaster it is usually quite simple: to make a product with a few years on its shoulders attractive so as to involve a new audience and, perhaps, win back old fans by exploiting the nostalgia effect. This is a low-cost operation compared to the development of a new intellectual property, with relatively easy sales and players happy to be able to take back something they loved in their youth: it is a solution that seems to make everyone happy.


To achieve this, some development studios just make pretty brutal copy and paste, while others, like Vicarious Vision, they try to take several more steps, leaning on the original works and faithfully reproducing the game mechanics, but also refreshing the entire technical sector in a meticulous way. It is more of a giveaway than a simple copy. Wanting to look at these operations with more romanticism, we could say that what fans yearn for is to be able to replay the most loved titles exactly as memory has preserved them all these years; a mental process that has canceled the woody animations, the low resolution and has wrapped everything in a mystifying patina that has made them almost perfect, despite the thousand flaws.


With Diablo II: Resurrected lo studio di Activision Blizzard has thus decided to wave the changes in the face of the players in an abrupt way, to make it clear, in case there was really the need, that in the end the memory tends to be too benevolent, simultaneously underlining the productive effort lavished to allow them to play in 2021 in comfort to a title with more than twenty years on his shoulders.



In Diablo 2: Resurrected review we will find out if it is worthwhile to return to save Sanctuary once again.

Diablo II is resurrected but without dying

Diablo 2: Resurrected, the review of a great polished classic
In Diablo 2: Resurrected all seven classes are available, to the delight of fans!

The curious aspect of this remaster is that, first of all, it completely subverts the concept that a title is revisited only after many years, that is, when no one is playing it anymore. The original Diablo IIInstead, he resurrects in this version without ever being dead: his community is still full of diehards who are constantly looking for perfect builds. Diablo 2: Resurrected then wants to make itself available for those who, like us who write, have not played the second chapter so assiduously for all these years, perhaps abandoning it in favor of Diablo III. Going back today, thus represents a nice dive into the past, a very successful nostalgia operation for those who really loved the title and who can only feel a leap in the heart when the old logos of a flaming Blizzard appear on the screen, sparks that ignite a passion dormant, but never completely erased.

Diablo II: Resurrected welcomes you as if nothing had happened and, just like twenty years ago, everything is in its place. We venture through the lands of Sanctuary as if not a day has passed since the last start, perfectly reminding us of the missions, the statistics of the objects, that cursed Rakanishu hidden among the mystical stones to protect the entrance to Tristram and the mighty Diablo waiting for our hero to give life to a legendary fight. The animations, the spells, the soundtrack, everything is tremendously perfect.



Diablo 2: Resurrected, the review of a great polished classic
The inventory of Diablo 2: Resurrected in all its beauty

Except that with a simple combination of keys you can remove the veil of magic and return to the Legacy version, with its resolution impossible to propose today and those sprites with gigantic pixels that we just can't understand how we managed to remember them so sinuous and intriguing. In short, memory has updated the memories, as we said in the opening words and Vicarious was perfect to create a new version able to take our memories and bring them back to the screen faithfully. So the spells leave blinding light trails and the torches illuminate the dark dungeons to perfection, while we quickly return to the most modern resolutions so as not to affect too much love for the original Diablo II.

Diablo II: Resurrected is an Edgar dress, to make a cultured quote, capable of wisely masking the old visual flaws while respecting all the pillars of the gameplay that support it. Before we get to talking about the game, however, give us a few more moments to make you understand how much the visual impact has positively impressed us, with sublime 3D models and with our druid shapeshifter literally reinvented in its bear and werewolf versions. We spent minutes just walking around admiring the work on the fur, the fluid movements, even looking at the reflections in the puddles as the claws dig into the mud. But all seven classes present have received this treatment and if barbarian and amazon come out slightly more scaled, the enchantress now makes the game shine thanks to her fiery hydras and ice bullets.


The dreadlord is here with us

Diablo 2: Resurrected, the review of a great polished classic
Again this awkward inventory is the only part we really hate about Diablo II

We're talking about seven classes because, of course, the expansion of Diablo II - Lord of Destruction and all related balance patches. You will then find the runes among the drops, the new recipes of the Horadrim cube, the enchantments to keep in the backpack and all the adjustments that have taken place over the years, without any other tweaks, already knowing what objects to look for and which boss runs to face to equip yourself better.


In case you have never played Diablo II, but you were younger and you were approaching Diablo III as an opening chapter, know that here the tones take on much darker tints and that the race to the increasingly higher level of difficulty is exchanged towards the painstaking refinement of the character, with the possibility of course of exchanging equipment with other players and being badly beaten in PvP. There are some changes to the balance due to some new animations and wide screen screens, two elements that could change the balance in the field, to be evaluated then when the servers are full and the mechanics of the combat between players will be gutted properly.

However, you can also throw yourself into the game by disabling the new expansion to play the old Diablo with simplified drops, in case you wanted to retrace the past in all its former glory. In addition to the aesthetic ones, big changes have also been made to the kinematics, created from scratch, but, even in this case, still very faithful to the originals, dubbing in Spanish inclusive.

Diablo 2: Resurrected, the review of a great polished classic
The graphical changes in Diablo II: Resurrected are notable

L'audio deserves a separate chapter since in addition to the wonderful soundtrack, Diablo II carries some of the most iconic effects of the hack 'n' slash genre such as the gurgle of potions and that of gold that opens a drawer of memories with every jingle . Staying on the subject of gold, many of the new tweaks have been directed towards a more practical rendering of the inventory, while leaving that damn tight backpack that has always made us damn.

It is easier to compare objects, in the options menu you can activate the automatic collection of gold either with the mouse-over (on PC) or by simply passing by it (on console) and now we will have a chest with a common slot for all our characters. This means that, if we want, we will no longer need a mule to transfer items from one character to another. Also present a comfortable automatic inventory reorganization and the potions belt plus lots of other tweaks to make Resurrected much more than just a job done to bring home the paycheck. In short, we are on our hands a work that is extremely respectful of the original but updated to modern standards and we can only be completely happy about this.

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (22)

8.3

Your vote

Diablo II returns to PC and consoles with truly excellent remastering work. There are small smudges dictated by the new animations and the resolutions of the larger monitors, but they are small things in the face of such great artistic beauty and such respect towards the original work. In short, if all remastered were like this we would be much more likely to have a market invaded by this type of productions as well. In addition to the graphical improvements, we certainly cannot forget the possibility of playing cross gen between platforms (but not cross play) and also of a cross progression that literally drives us crazy, Nintendo Switch included. Hats off to Vicarious Vision who has been able to rightly pay homage to the king of hack 'n' slash for twenty years now.

PRO

  • Incredible visual work
  • Excellent sound
  • Extremely faithful to the original
AGAINST
  • Console inventory remains awkward
  • Some not exactly perfect skill animations
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