Diablo II: Resurrected – Review
OUR SCORE: 9/10
Diablo II: Resurrected by Vicarious Visions has successfully recaptured that magic. Right off the bat, the visual remaster that Diablo II: Resurrection has received makes it look exactly like what you thought it looked like way back when you played it. It’s a remake of one of the most influential games and does a phenomenal job of bringing it to the modern era.
Diablo II is deeply cemented as one of the greatest gaming experiences by a majority of gamers who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s. Gamers have been chasing that high ever since then and nothing has really ever come close to the original experience. Well, that was the case until Diablo II: Resurrected.
The Devil’s in the Details
Diablo II: Resurrected has a lot of great additions and changes that add such a fresh, modern coat of paint to a classic masterpiece. As mentioned before, it’s exactly what you imagined the game to be like. They’ve done a great job to materialize what only existed in your nostalgia. And then the best way to do that? An actual fresh coat of paint.
The graphics are now in 4K and similarly, the UI and game elements also scale up to match the visuals. And you might think to yourself that it doesn’t look too different from what you remember. Until you actually swap to the old graphics. The game features an option to toggle between the old and new graphics at the press of a button, similar to Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
The new visuals are incredibly faithful to the original art design and in my opinion, is the best way to experience the game now. Oftentimes during such remastering efforts, there’s quite a big change to the art design and style but thankfully that isn’t the case here.
Resurrection Buffs
Another great addition to Diablo II: Resurrected is controller support! You can now play Diablo II with a controller from the comfort of your couch or bed. It’s also a great option for folks who can’t use the keyboard and mouse for long hours because of wrist issues. And the implementation here is great and might tempt you to switch on over from KB/M for a more comfortable experience.
Besides the big upgrades, there’s also a few quality of life changes. Gold can now be auto-picked up by walking over it which is fantastic! Dropped items also show up on the ground now. And another good change is how swapping items works between characters. It’s as simple as sending it to a shared stash from where your other character can take it. Quality of Life changes like this don’t change the original Diablo II experience but improves it for modern gamers.
Final Verdict
Diablo II: Resurrected is a great remaster. Vicarious Vision has stayed true to the roots of the original and built upon it instead of trying something radically different to modernize it. The gameplay is still that authentic Diablo II experience but this time with so many fantastic improvements and upgrades to the other parts that it’s kinda hard to see that this is a remake of a 21-year-old game.
Diablo II: Resurrected is out now and available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One S|X, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.
