Diablo II: Resurrected (XSX) Review

Stay Awhile and Listen…again

Diablo 2 will always hold a special place in my heart; while I remember playing the original it wasn’t until I started the sequel that I became enamored with the world of Sanctuary. Improving on almost everything from the original this game burst onto the scene in 2000 and was quickly heralded as one of the greatest games of all time. Built from the ground up for multiplayer with Blizzard’s then new Battle.net system; Diablo 2 was responsible for me being late to work many times back in my youth due to the late nights with friends.

Fast forward twenty plus years and while Diablo 2 is still heralded as one of the greatest games, the folks at Blizzard decided they could bring that classic into the modern age with an impressive facelift. The team has done an outstanding job in bringing this aged game into the modern 4K age. Blizzard has long been the king of cinematics in their games, and these in Diablo 2 are a sight to behold in glorious 4k. Graphically the game as been built from the ground up. Everything looks new but instantly feels nostalgic at the same time. Lighting from the various sources in the world are amazing, and add to the immersion of being in a land overrun with foul and loathsome creatures. Seeing the Sorceress lighting spell dance around a battlefield illuminating as it goes is almost mesmerizing.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch,PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

As good as this game looks and even sounds (as the audio has been brought into the modern age as well) a lot of the pain points from 2000 remain; and that’s because this is intended to be a remaster. All of the original systems, characters, armor and etc. remain untouched. Do they look better, sure but everything functions just as fans remember, the addition of the shared stash tabs is wonderful for playing multiple characters. This can be a blessing and a curse, if one never experienced Diablo 2 and only played Diablo 3 then a lot of things are going to feel as though you have gone backwards. However, controversial the inventory changes between D2 and D3 is probably the most drastic change. Having to play “Tetris” with your items was fun (ish?) back in 2000 but now it just annoys me; not as much as the stamina bar but I’ll get to that.

In Diablo 3 inventory is split into bags, there is a bag for gems, for weapons, trinkets and the like, well the reason that system doesn’t quite work in Diablo 2 Remastered is because of special items known as ‘charms’. Players can only utilize the special function of these items when they are in the players inventory. So, players will have to put consideration in organizing their inventory as well as how to build their characters to ultimately be successful in Diablo 2 Resurrection. As to the stamina bar… or the bane of my existence it is frustrating to have to limit how fast I can move unless I spend gold or spots in my inventory for stamina potions to keep it up. Admittedly this will become less of an annoyance as the player levels up but some of the other design decisions are really questionable.

As I said above the team kept the majority of the original game intact; unfortunately, this includes the lack of quest markers or any sense of direction on where to find things. This was fine and dandy back in the day; but either my gaming skills have dimmed (which really is EXTREMELY likely) or I have just become so accustomed to those quest markers that I have been conditioned to see them. On more than one occasion I came back to my game and had the vaguest of instructions for a quest. “Kill Blood Raven”, no indication of where that person is, how to find them, who to talk to…nothing. As a word of advice, when players enter a new area; seek out the area’s waypoint. It will make returning to areas a lot easier as Diablo 2 also randomizes maps. So, what once was in one location could now be totally separate.

I know I sound very frustrated with this game and in a lot of ways I really am; but none of them have anything to do with the game. It has to do with my own issue of just really missing all the more modern-day conveniences that Diablo 3 brings to the table. Diablo 2 Resurrected is a masterpiece in its own right; it evokes a freshness all the while hitting players with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. The sheer joy that is had when delving into dungeons to destroy the Lord of Terror and by extension is brothers (the expansion Lord of Destruction is included in this release with all of the classes/items and fixes that it brought back in the day. But players can play vanilla Diablo 2 but its not recommended for beginners) is indescribable. I am getting a giddiness just thinking about returning to the game, and not too many current video games can evoke that kind of feeling; and that’s where Diablo 2: Resurrected shines brightest.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • 4K graphics are beautiful
  • Looting is still a lot of fun
Bad
  • Stamina Bar…why?!
  • Lack of modern conveniences (quest markers etc.)
9
Excellent
Written by
Terrence spends his time going where no one has gone before mostly. But when not planning to take over the galaxy, he spends his time raising Chocobo and trying to figure out just how the sarlaac could pull Boba Fett’s ship with its engines firing FULL BLAST into it’s maw with relative ease; yet it struggled with Han Solo who was gripping *checks notes* SAND!