Diablo II Resurrected Review (PS5)

Diablo 2 Resurrected was developed by Vicarious Visions, who over the past few years have made a name for themselves as being a studio that excels at faithful and excellent remasters. Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2, kept the heart and soul of what made these original games iconic in the first place. What needed to be changed was minimal quality of life updates and bringing the visuals into the modern era. Diablo 2 Resurrected is no exception to the amazing work that Vicarious Visions have become known for.

What made Diablo 2 special twenty one years ago is the reason that Diablo 2 Resurrected is as good as it is today and the what made Diablo 2 the game that it was twenty one years ago is also the reason that Diablo 2 Resurrected is hampered by the limitations of the original. Everything that you remember being here in 2000 is still here today for better or worse.

Editors note

It’s worth mentioning the current turmoil happening at Blizzard and Activision. If you don’t feel comfortable supporting the company then you shouldn’t as simple as that. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a catch 22, as the large majority of the developers of the original game if not all and all of the developers from Vicarious Visions are likely all great people who work very hard and respect one another. Buying this game supports them and keeps them employed as the head of the company sees sales as related to a good product. Even the Director of the game from Vicarious Visions has said “that fans should do what they feel is right” Buying this game also gives money to a company with a checkered past.

Before diving right into the review a few housekeeping items to talk about first. In the interest of a more timely review, this will only include playing the game on normal difficulty, not going through hell or hardcore mode. Sure, you could grind out the harder levels and min max your build but the same core concepts will be there regardless. The other thing is that review code was provided by Blizzard.

intro title

After pouring hundreds of hours into Diablo 3, in both solo and local couch co-op, one trophy away from the platinum across three generations of PlayStation dating all the back to 2013 on the PlayStation 3 and as recent as one of the first games I tried on my PS5, I was excited to revisit Diablo 2.

The years had passed like sands through the hour glass and my biggest memory of Diablo 2 was being a teenager and going to a friends house where everyone else was more interested in playing 4 player games on the N64 or Madden on the PS2, I was more interested in using his older brothers computer to slash my was through the undead.

Being too young and immature to form a critical opinion of the first two entires in the Diablo series, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Diablo 3. I played on console, which means that I missed the multiple problems that Diablo 3 had at launch on PC. I also didn’t mind the direction that the series took as many complained that the series got brighter. Sure it wasn’t gritty, like walking through the originals but I think that was less a artistic choice and more of a limitation choice due to technology at the time. Either way I enjoyed Diablo 3 for what it was, an excellent dungeon crawler with a high replay factor.

It Diablo 2 a Remake, Reboot, Remaster, or Resurrection?

Diablo 2 Resurrected is not a remake, but instead this is a deep remaster, as mechanics and elements from 2000 are still present. Most of the changes to Diablo 2 Resurrected are on the visual level, and on the visual level, it falls into that category of how your mind remembers it, even though if you see the original version side by side, just by pressing L2 and Touchpad on PlayStation, the difference is night and day.

Diablo 2 Resurrected looks great on the PS5, especially considering that underneath this coat of paint is the original game running. Pro Tip: Perfomance Mode is essential to playing this game as it runs the game at 60 FPS with slightly less visual quality, which was hardly noticeable. The other way to playing is with Quality Mode, which feels extremely choppy running at 30 FPS and feels borderline unplayable.

Diablo 2 Resurrected made some smart and conscious decisions about what to keep and what to update for this version of the game. It’s truly amazing that if you have a save from the original game on their servers, you could load it up on your PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch and continue right where you left off which is very impressive. However, some other areas of the game that didn’t receive much attention cause a glaring light to be shined on them in 2021.

Uncontrollable Demons

When Blizzard, ported Diablo 3 to consoles back in 2013, it was very impressive how they mapped all of the controls on a controller that are typically used on mouse and keyboard. It was a great layout for using attacks, spells, healing and anything else the game asked of you. Sadly, the same control scheme didn’t get used for Diablo 2 Resurrected, which is strange because the blueprint was already there, it just likely could have used a few areas of tweaking. Using a controller to play Diablo 2 Resurrected still works well enough, but it does take some getting used to as it doesn’t feel as intuitive as the D3 controls.

Those Who Hack and Slash Together, Stay Together

The other issue and my biggest problem that I have with Diablo 2 Resurrected lies within the multiplayer. Not figuring out a way to incorporate cross play in 2021 is a big letdown, especially when the game does feature cross progression as well as room for up to 8 players to play together. It’s unfortunate because my friends were looking for a new game to throw into our mix and we all had a fondness for Diablo as a series. I did some research before we all bought it and figured out that since they are on PC and I am on console we wouldn’t be able to all play together. This decision to not spend the money to develop cross play means that just in my case alone, they have missed out on at least two more copies sold and I can’t be the only case like this.

All of the hours that I poured into Diablo 3 including beating it on all difficulties, nephalem rifts, grinding adventure mode for tiny upgrades, all of this was done using local co-op with my significant other on the comfort of our couch. Sadly, Diablo 2 Resurrected does not feature any local co-op either. This one stings more than cross play because Diablo 3 featured local co-op. Whereas cross play feels omitted, local co-op feels removed. Im sure the original game code didn’t incorporate local play, but it also didn’t feature controller play and that problem was solved.

Good Decisions by Vicarious Visions

Some of the decisions that Vicarious Visions made by staying faithful to the original left me displeased initially, but the more I played Diablo 2 Resurrected, the more I appreciated these mechanics. Diablo 3 featured a compass with an icon on it when you had an active quest. This made for much easier traversal as you always knew what dirction you needed to be travelling. This didn’t exist in the original Diablo 2 in 2000 and I think the result is that it leads to a greater sense of exploration and discovery. Having to figure out where to go without the game helping you feels like how games used to be because this is how games used to be.

The other mechanic that was left in the game was the stamina meter. You can’t just sprint and roll your way around the world, because roll doesn’t exist in Diablo 2 Resurrected but it also feels more immersive without it. Can you imaging trying to roll with all that gear that is equipped. Early on you need to be more methodical because you can find yourself in a dangerous predicament surrounded by enemies with not enough stamina to escape. Even early on, enemies might not seem strong enough to defeat you but their strength is in numbers.

Loot drops are not what you can expect from any loot based game today, there is no glowing purples, greens or yellow. Just basic looking items that you need to identify before figuring out just how rare or common the item is. What just looks like another common weapon in your inventory could be one of the most rare weapons in the game. This puts a higher value on all of the items around the world rather than just spamming over the colored item you are currently looking for.

Verdict

Expectations aside, the good news about Diablo 2 Resurrected is that it is still one of the best hack and slash, dungeon crawlers around that many companies tried to emulate. This even includes Blizzard who is looking to develop Diablo 4 using the same feeling and vibe that Diablo 2 was created with; Dark and Gritty.

Vicarious Visions has to be applauded for another great project including some of the bold choices they decided to keep in the game. In a modern game you would get your hand held going from point A to point B and while this eliminates some of the frustration, this is part of the exploration and discovery that made Diablo 2 timeless. You have to find your way on your own and figure out most of the world on your own.

Diablo 2 Resurrected and its gameplay design is an ode to yesteryear when games were harder, more frustrating and didn’t hold your hand. It’s the same way that people love the games made by FROMSOFTWARE, or even when PUBG first launched and took over the gaming landscape, these games are not designed to be easy but when you finally win that chicken dinner or defeat the cleric beast or find that epic dagger, the feeling of joy you get is second to none.

If you’re looking for a great hack and slash dungeon crawler that looks great and is more accessible, then Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is available on just about everything possible including Nintendo Switch, where it also runs great, but if you are looking for something that will challenge you, possibly break you at points, but will have a higher sense of reward, then Diablo 2 Resurrected is for you and it doesn’t hurt that it is available at a slightly reduced price of 40-60 depending on your region.

Replaying Diablo 2 has me even more excited for Diablo 4 because if Blizzard can incorporate a lot of what made this game special with some of the more modern additions to Diablo 3 then Diablo 4 could be a worthy successor.

8/10