Diablo 2: Resurrected Impressions | The classic gets the update it deserves

It was amazing 20 years ago, and it is still amazing now. Vicarious Visions has certainly outdone themselves with Diablo 2: Resurrected — so far at least. It may be quite a statement considering that this is still a technical alpha, but right off the bat, it seems that this classic is headed into the right path with Diablo 2 Resurrected. 

While we’ve only played the game’s initial build a bit during the recent technical alpha period, we’re already quite impressed with what we played. From the looks of it, players who lost countless hours in Diablo 2 back in the early 2000s will have a great time with this!

Sheer Beauty

The first (and most apparent) aspect of this remaster is the visual upgrade and design. Fans are excited to see how this game will look as if it was made with today’s technology. I can rightfully say they would not be disappointed. While it won’t knock your socks off like a new triple-A game would, the graphics of Diablo 2 Resurrected with its enhanced textures and 3D models are a sight to see. And to top it all off, the enhanced visuals still look very much like the classic Diablo 2.

Not only does the game look beautiful, the fresh coat of paint adds much more than what people might expect. More details to the environment were added that further enhance D2’s dark and dreary tone–something that’s very welcome to return to, especially compared to the ‘lighter’ look of Diablo 3.

It is known that when you visit Tristram, you may see corpses of the NPCs from the first Diablo game. If you were to head to the body of Wirt and toggle from the “legacy” and “resurrected” graphics, you can see that there are a trail of bloody footprints near the corpse. Makes you think who those belong to. It can’t be Wirt’s since he has a peg leg, “Find out on the next episode of Diablo 2: Resurrected!”

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. From the new character models, skill animations, the item design, and the UI, Vicarious Visions definitely does this classic justice. It also doesn’t hurt to see the game run at a beautiful 60fps.

Don’t fix what ain’t broke

Here’s the deal. This game has been out for 21 years already, and people still play the game. The vast majority still considers this to be even better than Diablo 3. Vicarious Visions understood this clearly and has stated that they would keep the game as close to the original as possible. I am happy to report that it feels exactly the way it did all those years ago.

From our whole playthrough, we only ran into two bugs. The first being an audio bug when switching between the “Legacy” and “Resurrected” graphics during a conversation with the NPC. Doing so will cut the dialogue sequence. The other was around one or two instance wherein the loading screen took longer than 1 minute. But those problems don’t seem like they can’t be fixed before the full release.

While the game overall plays exactly like its predecessor, there will be some quality-of-life changes. One such change is the addition of the shared stash feature which lets players transfer items between characters, meaning “mules” are no longer needed. Then there’s the fact that Resurrected will be playable on controllers, even on PC (but we have yet to test that out). The game will even support DualSense features on PS5.

It is what it is, only better.

So what is the verdict of our Diablo 2 Resurrected impressions? Well, we definitely had a great time with it!

There may be a lot of hype surrounding the release of Diablo 2: Resurrected. We just have to remember that Vicarious Visions is giving fans what they want. A “remaster” nothing more, nothing less. But to be honest, with how gorgeous and close to the original material this is, it feels like they are giving us more than we could ever possibly ask for — and that happens to be auto-gold looting which is an instance game changer.

Diablo 2: Resurrected will release this year on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Switch.