Nothing like a good ol’ revival. After a few leaks and a lot of speculation, Blizzard finally confirmed at its all-online BlizzCon 2021 that Diablo 2 will indeed be getting a remaster this year. Titled Diablo 2: Resurrected, the game is set to relaunch for PC, Switch, PS4|5, and Xbox Series X|S, with cross-progression between PC and console. The new-gen remaster will include the base game as well as the expansion, Lord of Destruction.
The announcement of the remaster of an old classic was definitely welcomed from Blizzard as earlier this month, the company had shared news of the indefinite delay of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. What’s more, it looks like Blizzard will be taking a more wisened-up approach to launching this remaster.
When the company launched Warcraft 3: Reforged last year, it ran into more problems than it had anticipated. Fans were disappointed that Blizzard had made more conservative enhancements than originally promised. However, the real gripe with the fans was that Blizzard had merged Reforged’s multiplayer with the original game; this led to removal of features like clans, LAN, and ranked ladder that had existed in Warcraft 3 for nearly 20 years.
Thankfully, Blizzard will not be repeating this mistake with Diablo 2. In a conversation with PCGamer, Rod Fergusson, Producer for Diablo, revealed that while Resurrected will be built on top of the original game’s code, it will exist as a completely separate entity.
“One of the things we wanted to make sure was that D2 original stayed D2 original,”
Rod Fergusson
Fergusson said.
“We were going to make sure that that game stayed there. For example, if you had a horrible code hacking mod that invalidated the security of the game but that’s your favorite way to play, you can still go do that, because we’re not going to support that kind of mod on D2R. Keeping the two games separate was a big part of that.”
Rod Fergusson
As of now, Diablo 2: Resurrected is meant to be a faithful and straightforward remaster. The game will include the option to switch to classic graphics, and have a light touch when it comes to adding features or changing what’s already there. Blizzard also plans to kill exploits that facilitate things like bots and item duping as a way of enhancement, but it will also leave most of the game alone, so speedrunners and longtime players can still have their fun.
About Diablo II
Diablo II is an action role-playing hack-and-slash computer video game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and macOS.
Building on the success of its predecessor, Diablo (1997), Diablo II was one of the most popular games of 2000 and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. Major factors that contributed to the game’s success include its continuation of popular fantasy themes from the previous game and its access to Blizzard’s free online play service, Battle.net. An expansion to the game, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, was released in 2001.
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