Diablo 2 Resurrected is the remastered version of Diablo 2, the 2000 action RPG classic, brought to more modern standards for today’s gamers to enjoy without having to download an extremely old game. It is still totally Diablo 2 under the hood, but there are some quality of life improvements, some tweaks here and there, and it’s showing potential for even more improvements in the future. I have extreme nostalgia for Diablo 2 and remember it as a great, deep action RPG with strict mechanics, but I also remember that it was too tough for me as soon as you got to higher difficulties. Twenty one years later I’m here to report that things didn’t change much.
The nostalgia hit me almost immediately when I launched the game and went to create a character; These are still the same classes as they were back then, from the music to the look of the game and the UI, it’s all replicated in great fidelity. The new graphics are well done and I love the character models. The game also feels pretty much like I remember it, so they managed to create a good enough port (unlike, let’s say, Warcraft 3 Reforged) that will be my Diablo 2 experience going forward.
Some good quality of life changes were done, such as the ability to quickly move items from your inventory to your stash, increased stash sizes and even a new “quick cast” bar to allow the use of abilities without having to select them first. An expanded character sheet allows you to see all your advanced stats, even if you’ll probably still dump all your points into Vitality like always. Even twenty years later, with all the knowledge I have gleamed from guides and the internet, I feel like the game gets a bit too difficult at higher difficulties, but that’s not really a jab at this remaster. I’ve played through normal with all classes and knowing how many of the game’s systems work now doesn’t seem to make me better at it.
With new technology comes new problems, like sometimes being just unable to play with your online characters, or being throttled from creating new games, or being stuck in a queue. these issues didn’t happen much, but they soured my experience in some occasions when I wanted to play the game. Some things seem to be changed in the balance of the game as well, but I don’t mind these as much.
Ultimately, my feelings on D2R are that it’s a good port for a fairly old game. I’m super glad to have been able to experience this classic again and I had a good time with it as well, but after getting through all classes at an easy difficulty, I find myself dying constantly on Nightmare. I’m not sure if Diablo 2 is going to be part of my ARPG rotation because there are other games with more modern systems to play, but if I ever feel like it, D2R is a safe choice. It’s a well made one of these!
