Diablo II Resurrected offers up almost exactly the same game of 21 years ago to a fault. An unapologetic, brutal action RPG that feels incredibly jarring when compared to its modern successors. It’s intimidating, frustrating, and oddly refreshing at times.
Resurrected brings a significant visual overhaul (with the option to switch back to the original look) and smooths over some of the dated aspects on the technical side of things, but where it matters, this is still very much Diablo II, for the people who were into that the first time. It’s that audience that will benefit most from it.
On the surface, how Diablo plays should be familiar to even the uninitiated. It’s a dungeon crawler where you fight off hordes of enemies and pick up loot, but even with the odd subtle tweak to upgrade systems, how Diablo II actually plays shows how much has changed over the years. It brings to mind the respectful work done with the recent Quake remaster where the game is subtly modernized whilst largely retaining its original identity, although Quake felt a little less jarring a transition.
There’s no comforting checkpoint system, no helpful guide arrows, no easy access to all of your abilities, and a laborious slog back to your fallen corpse to retrieve your gear every time you snuff it. It’s just a large bleak, uninviting world full of demons, monsters, and practitioners of the dark arts, then there’s you. Little quality of life changes such as automatically collecting gold by walking near it, and having your loot shared across different characters take some of the burden off you, but It’s shockingly easy to end up overwhelmed and find yourself plopped back at the hub area, but crucially, the classic rhythmic joy of slicing your way through demons at a canter makes it worth the risk.
Arguably, it’s in those moments after such battles I found toughest. Healing potions depleted, mana drained, and never sure what was going to lurk out of the mysterious darkness of the unexplored, Diablo II evokes the memory of a classic survival horror, the constant threat of the unknown out to end your good time at a moments notice. It’s a bit aggravating, sure, but it’s also the aspect of Diablo II I respect most. The thrill of discovery constantly clashing with fear for what lies ahead, and the satisfaction/frustration of the aftermath.
This lonely life of a warrior in a dingy broken world is a punishing experience, and for those that have been fed by more modern takes on the formula could be forgiven for bouncing off Diablo II hard, but if anything about it could offer the olive branch to newcomers then it’s co-op. A back against the wall gauntlet is a different kind of thrill when you have friends looking out for you. Multiplayer in Diablo II, when compared to Diablo III, requires you to all be a bit more switched on, but feels more rewarding as a result when you secure the juiciest loot, especially in those post-story times where you’re locked in the ever-compelling grind to level up your various characters.
So the game is undoubtedly an acquired taste in terms of how it plays, but it’d be hard to not be impressed with the remastering work on the game’s visuals. The ability to switch between old and new visuals highlights just how well its been handled. The overhaul is all about detail and lighting done in a manner that feels like it’s true to how the game looked then, but go back to the original style and it’s a massive jump. Diablo II has always been dark, barren, desolate even, but the extra touches in the remaster convey it far differently. Then it was more to do with technical limitations dictating the playing space, now it’s a mark of respect, ensuring the game captures the same feeling of desolation it did before, but now with more realistic gloom, fog, glow, and the like. I think keeping the relatively limited animations the same as they were is also hugely beneficial to maintaining the original atmosphere. There’s something oddly endearing about the almost stop-motion-esque movement of enemies.
Diablo II Resurrected is a tough one to recommend to newcomers or indeed those who started with Diablo III. Even as someone who dabbled with the original, it can feel unpleasant to play now because of how ambiguous everything is and how punishing it makes even the simplest of tasks.
Yet it’s not hard to understand that’s sort of the point. This is primarily for those who whittled away many a night in front of their PC two decades ago raiding dungeons, bludgeoning skeletons, and swimming in glorious loot. A remaster for archival purposes if you will. The only modern stain on the original tapestry has been the online issues that plagued the game’s launch, but even those will be but a distant memory before long.
Diablo II Resurrected review code for PS5 provided by the publisher.
Diablo II Resurrected is out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, and PC