Diablo II: Resurrected – Preview
Follow Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5
Tested on: PS5

Diablo II: Resurrected – Preview

Good: Visuals, Decent remaster
Bad: Very clunky control scheme, Ancient bugs still present
User Score
7.0
(1 votes)
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Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)

If you have played the original Diablo II (D2) when it was released, you may feel old when it starts sinking in that the base game is already 21 years old. While D2 could perfectly be played as a solo experience, many found themselves on the old Battle.net servers in order to play with friends, or complete strangers, to progress quicker, obtain shinier loot, or even fight to the death when engaging in PVP. Now, 21 years later, we have the opportunity to try out the Diablo II: Resurrected beta, which also includes the content of the Lord of Destruction expansion that was released in 2001. Keep in mind, this game offers the experience from after the 1.10 patch of the original game, which kind of changed all the original mechanics, because of the newly added items and skill synergies.

Let’s immediately get some sentiments out of the way that may be an issue for those that were not pleased with the WarCraft III: Reforged release. In Diablo II: Resurrected, the visuals are great, are fully remastered, and all the cinematics have received a new lick of paint. The old-school base is still very visible, but that is not really an issue. We did very much enjoy the enhanced graphical quality, even with the somewhat gloomy new character skins. The original characters all looked a bit ‘clean’, while the new skins show proper battle-hardening. The sound design has remained the same and sounds very crisp. The original soundtrack and voice acting are still used to the letter, which is awesome. This game has withstood the test of time very well, especially in terms of its design.

In the beta of Diablo II: Resurrected, we were able to try out all classes, except for the Assassin and Necromancer, and we had the opportunity to play through Act 1 and 2. And; to keep things simple, we can state that this is literally the same Diablo II experience we have come to know and love since its release in 2000. The gameplay has remained the same, the quests are the same, the overall feeling and atmosphere when playing this title has remained the same, and we love that this title is getting a new lease on life. Purists may still prefer to fire up their old PC copy, but this is basically as good as it gets for Diablo II lovers.

Then, sadly, we also have to address the elephant in the room. It’s clear that Blizzard intends to make a buck or two by rereleasing this old-school title. This is most noticeable because the game is getting ported to almost every platform out there. We do love that this title is now also going to be released for console gamers, but we have to say that the port is not handled that well. The control scheme feels awkward and unresponsive at times. We even noticed bugs that were present from when we were playing the original via dial-up internet over two decades ago. You do not have the same responsiveness as when you play the game on PC, and inventory management feels awkward and annoying when playing with a controller. We did get stuck a lot behind small obstacles, and for console players, it would perhaps be easier for smaller destructible items (such as vases, pots, …) to break upon contact, rather than having to aim and do a button press. Picking up items is also quite awkward, as you often cannot properly select which item you actually want to pick up when a cluster drops. We also noticed that certain chat commands do not work yet, and it’s quite hard to communicate on console (when playing with strangers).

Conclusion

We find that Diablo II has aged incredibly well, especially considering the minimum amount of work that has been done to this port. The QOL enhancements are barely noticeable and are actually pretty much undone by the very poor optimization for console play. We do believe that this game is still a stellar experience, but we think it’s best to play this one on PC; if you have the opportunity to play it on one. We did like the nostalgia-induced trip through both Act 1 and 2 of Diablo II: Resurrected, with remastered visuals. We hope that playing the game on console will become a bit more intuitive, as for now, you’ll find yourself stuck behind a lot of obstacles, without having the same finesse and responsiveness than a keyboard and mouse setup.

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Diablo II: Resurrected - Preview, 7.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating
Ibuki


Aspiring ninja.

1 Comment

  1. […] weekend, Diablo II: Resurrected held its Early Access to Open Beta weekend for anyone who pre-ordered or who received a key through […]

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