Diablo II: Resurrected has now been reborn from the ashes that it once came from. I know a lot of people were excited for this to come out. But I was a little hesitant because of the fact that it’s another remake. Let’s find out though if the remake is worth replaying.
Long time fans of the Diablo series knows what this game is about. For the sake of you people who were not yet born during the era of the Diablo II craze, let me provide you a brief description of the game.
Diablo II: Resurrected is the remake to the most popular game of the Diablo Franchise. Diablo II swept the nations as it awed us with its gameplay and capability of having co-op with your friends offline.
Diablo II centers around a character who finds theirself in the middle of impending doom. Diablo has been resurrected and it’s up to your character to fight the hordes of evil and Diablo himself.
The original Diablo II was broken into two parts: The Diablo II main game and the Diablo II: Lords of Destruction expansion. Diablo II introduced us to five main playable classes: the Barbarian, the Paladin, the Necromancer, the Amazon and the Sorceress. Diablo II: Lords of Destruction then introduces us to two additional classes in the Druid and Assassin.
Diablo II: Resurrected brings all of these classes together into one full game. No additional classes were added. At the beginning of your game, you can also choose whether to play the classic Diablo II game or the Expansion. Keep in mind, if you choose to play the classic game, you won’t be able to use either the Druid or the Assassin as they were expansion- only classes.
A key feature introduced in the game that was not available in the original game, is cross progression. It means that you will be able to bring your character progress and loot across different platforms. It’s because the game allows you to create an “online” character. The “online” character gets save Battle.net’s cloud save allowing you to access it wherever you may be playing.
The game doesn’t really utilize any of the PS5 feature so anyone playing on the PS4 is not missing out on anything. However, the 4k resolution at 60 fps looks really smooth on the PS5. I played it on the offline mode, and I had little to no input lag. The online version is a different story however but it’s just probably because I was playing on an NA account which connects me to the NA servers.
For those who wants to go for the nostalgic factor, you can toggle into the game’s Legacy mode. In this mode, you get to play the game in its original graphics. Switching between the two modes really lets you understand how far along this game has gone and how impressive technology is nowadays.
All the cinematics of the original game has also been re-made shot by shot from the ground up. Which makes watching them again beautiful to look at. It even feels like you’re watching a movie.
What makes this game better than the original is the quality of life and accessibility features that they have added to the game. For example, you are now able to auto pickup gold. You can even auto-sort your inventory with just a push of a button. Accessibility features including colorblind mode makes the game even more accessible to a wider audience.
My only complain of this version of the game is that the attack animation is only fixated to one specific area that your character is facing. It does not auto-snap to the nearest opponent in its range. It was very frustrating seeing my character flailing wildly in the air not hitting any enemies. I do understand this is probably because the base core mechanics are still the same to that of the original.
Overall, Diablo II: Resurrected is back and stronger than ever, reuniting veterans to the game they loved and introducing the new players to this dearly beloved game. I recommend this for all players who has played Diablo III or for those who have been dreaming of playing this game again in our current technology.