Diablo 2: Resurrected brings us back to a time when gaming was a bit easier, a bit more brutal, and with a few fewer shortcuts that make life better for the player. But it is also a time when the player is at the center, free from dazzling light, colors and things that happen on the screen. And it is the latter that makes the meeting with Diablo 2 – now in an absolutely beautiful new edition – so wonderful.
An oasis in the dark
Status for Activision Blizzard
In the late summer and autumn of 2021, the company behind Diablo II: Resurrected – Activision Blizzard – has received several lawsuits and serious accusations against it.
Among other things, they have become sued by the State of California on the basis of serious allegations that mostly deal with sexual harassment and gross discrimination, especially of the company’s female workers at several levels.
It would feel unnatural not to at least comment on this right now, even though this review is primarily an assessment of the game itself.
The developers of the sub-studio Vicarious Visions themselves have asked players to “do what they feel is right” when considering buying the game in light of the current situation – we also stand behind it.
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What’s so fun about Diablo 2 is how simple everything looks. You choose a character and you are immediately in “Rogue Encampment”, the first hub area – the gathering place – for you and the other human characters in the game. As a refuge in an otherwise dark and frightening world, it allows you to do everything you need between excursions – selling and buying weapons, talking to clients, and organizing your equipment.
The melancholy music and the mostly great voice acting do a lot to enhance the experience. It gets even better because there are several such hub areas in the game, and each one offers new characters and problems – and even night-and-day cycles (in current areas)!
But of course it is outside the camp that things happen. For someone who is not very familiar with the Diablo series before, it was very special to get into a fighting system and a style of play that differs quite markedly from what you are used to. Fighting is not at first more complicated than holding down a button to attack, and the enemies usually die immediately. It seemed a little too easy the first five minutes, but soon I was hooked.
It actually works incredibly well when the hordes come towards you, and it really feels like you are a hero who has come to save the world when all that is needed is a single blow. This, of course, changes over time; maybe some enemies have shields to protect themselves with, maybe they have a lot more life eventually, or maybe they cast curses that weaken your powers. Whatever the reason, this simple combat system – which nevertheless becomes more complicated using learned abilities, different weapons and tactics – works incredibly well.
A fantastic improvement – but not everything was better before
Diablo 2: Resurrected is like coming back to a golden age of play where the player was taken seriously, where you have to find your own way, and how little is explicitly explained. It’s simply fun to explore, especially when it’s all so incredibly beautiful to look at. And this is where the core of this improvement comes into play. Because where the game itself is fairly unchanged, the image has been given an overhaul that is not recognizable. Diablo 2: Resurrected looks nicer than Diablo 3 (although it should be mentioned that I like this realistic style much more than Diablo 3’s stylistic graphics) considering how detailed and sharp the whole world has become.
Clothes move when you run around, flames flutter like never before, swords shine and reflections appear in puddles. Many other isometric role-playing games have the same style, but Diablo 2: Resurrected is perhaps the prettiest of them. It gets even cooler because you can go back to the old graphic style at the touch of a button, and then it dawns on you exactly how much things have changed.
Yet it is clear that not everything was better before. Because even though there is a lot from the old days that helps to make Diablo 2: Resurrected nostalgic, dark and serious, there are several aspects that could very well have been overhauled.
This especially applies to the organization of the travel bag, which is far too small to work optimally. It simply holds too little, and entails fairly frequent trips back to the camp if you want to get most of the treasures you find. At the same time, the magic potion organization is unfavorable, as you have to organize everything manually, and nothing is replenished automatically. Therefore, you almost always have to add new drinks as you use up your old ones, and when you run around in caves or old dark temples and wait for enemies around every corner, it’s a bit awkward to have to spend so much time on this.
In addition, it’s probably a little too brutal to die in this game. You will lose all your money, all the armor and all the weapons you use if you lose your life. In addition, if you have died somewhere far outside a portal or forgotten to open a city portal for quick travel, things quickly become incredibly awkward. That Diablo 2 is so hardcore is a bit fun, and requires all the more preparation of the player, but this aspect is a bit in the most expensive team. In the end, it would have been perfectly fine if the stamina bar had disappeared, to tamper with it when walking and when jogging just to be able to continue jogging is, again, a bit boring.
Conclusion
Diablo 2: Resurrected has captured me like few other games this year, much because of how detailed and well-made the game appears, and how serious it takes the player. The combat system still works in 2021 even though the attacks are not as flashy or move as fast as in Diablo 3 – in fact that’s why I like it so much.
The reunion with a slightly more down-to-earth fantasy role-playing game is simply really fun. Yes, there are things here that should have been fixed, including the small backpack and the way objects are organized. But this will be a side step in an otherwise fantastically good experience that shows where Diablo 2 was in the year 2000, and which with just a new coat of paint creates an experience that can be enjoyed nearly just as good as over 20 years ago.
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