Diablo II: Resurrected Reviews
Diablo II is one of those games where you could recommend till the cows come home, but Diablo II: Resurrected, on the other hand, is one of those remasters where you should expect something more than a fresh coat of paint. Diablo II: Resurrected should have been a game that was a true remaster, fixing the remaining few issues with Diablo II, but instead is another horrible remaster from Activision-Blizzard that removes more than it adds to the overall game and experience.
Diablo 2 Resurrected is a fantastic remake of Diablo 2, in the sense that it is Diablo 2 with prettier graphics. Outside of that, Diablo 2 feels dated at best, bland at worst. There are so many better games in the genre that outshine Diablo 2, and one of those games exists within its series. This is a nostalgia trip of the long-toothed foggies, and not much else. The bugs don’t exactly help either.
Diablo 2: Resurrected is, if anything, a faithful remaster of the original game. The visual overhaul and fantastic cinematics maintain the dark tone of Sanctuary’s horrifying demons and tales. Unfortunately, that alone doesn’t hold up after 20 years of innovation. Annoying gameplay mechanics, constant selling and buying, restrictive controls, regressive character art, and finicky UI poorly date this adventure. More quality of life changes should be here to truly bring the classic back to life. Diablo fans may love this remaster; others will likely not.
Despite over 20 years on the neck, Diablo II is a regular classic whose gameplay continues to this day. However, this does not make the graphics, which makes it fitting that this restoration lovingly repaints the exterior but leaves most of the inside intact. However, some parts would have been fine with a modernization, and the forced online requirement of unstable services can create great frustration.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Diablo II: Resurrected is a painfully faithful remaster of the original classic, which makes it difficult to get into over two decades later.
Diablo II is currently aimed only at fans of the original title and very patient people.
Review in Greek | Read full review
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.
Resurrected comes with a few quality of life changes, but not nearly enough to bring it up to par with most ARPGs in 2021.
Vicarious Visions stays with Diablo 2: Resurrected very true to the original release, which brings more problems than positive aspects. The new graphics in the cutscenes and character models are amazing and also the controller support works surpringsly well on all platforms. Sadly some relics of the past, server problems and a lof of missed chances in terms of multiplayer-features hold the title back a lot more than it should have been.
Review in German | Read full review
Should you buy Diablo 2: Resurrected and give this old-school action RPG a go? Yes you should, because this is the definitive version of the game, thanks to the redone graphics and lovely controller support that really feels so intuitive and natural.
Despite excellent graphics restoration, Diablo II: Resurrected won't give you the feel of the "good old days". Couple of cheerful evenings at max.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Eventually, and with a lot of googling, I found my groove and started to enjoy what Resurrected has to offer. Just make sure you go in prepared for the clunkiness.
Certianly it's great to see an all time classic enshrined and restored for modern day use. Additionally it opens up the game to exclusively console players that never played the original Diablo 2 on PC. There's no denying its significance in gaming history, and looks wonderfully sharp in 4k, but the age of the source code is evident. Diablo faithfuls will get a great nostalgic kick on the clunky ever-grind that is Diablo 2: Resurrected, but it would be a difficult recommendation for any series newcomers.
So it's a very, very good remaster (remake? It's unclear when this much has been done over), then, of a rather old loot game that has had many subsequent iterations from other developers. Is it worth going back to Diablo 2, ultimately, when games that we'd argue are somewhat superior - Titan Quest, the sadly PC-only Grim Dawn... even (controversially, yes) its own sequel in Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition, which packs in brilliant local co-op that Diablo 2 entirely (and understandably, given its framework) lacks. As good as Diablo 2 is, it's an unfortunate fact that on console we'd rather play its follow-up, which felt more tailored to the joypad experience. Diablo 2 is a PC game that has been (brilliantly!) transferred to PS5, but it's still a little held back by its origins.
Diablo II: Resurrected recreates the best parts of the original game with a fresh coat of paint. However, the core gameplay design feels a bit dated.
Diablo 2: Resurrected both benefits and suffers from its faithfulness to the original title, but overall provides an adventure full of satisfying gameplay and fun exploration
Resurrected could end up becoming a much better value down the road as the development team begins introducing updates and upgrades, but as of right now, you should avoid this package unless you are happy with straight-up Diablo 2. That being said, there are many reasons to be thrilled to revisit the game, particularly for the timeless soundtrack and to get a glance at the spiffy new paint job. Just make sure to set your expectations accordingly.
Diablo 2: Resurrected brings a beloved classic up today's graphical standards, but it overlooks 20 years of obvious flaws. It's still a very satisfying action RPG, but you couldn't get away with these problems a decade ago, much less today.
Diablo II: Resurrected looks stunning, and plays exactly like you may remember it. That’s both a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Loyal fans will appreciate the love and detail that has gone into this visual overhaul – especially with the cinematics – while hardcore fans will cry afoul for the missing LAN mode and yet to be launched ladder mode. New players may initially be tempted to try out Diablo II: Resurrected, but its unforgiving gameplay compared to the relaxed Diablo III will not have them playing for very long. Blizzard did an excellent job of bringing Diablo II to modern PCs and consoles, but a new lick of paint might not be enough to get people to play for very long.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
A Remaster to the letter, Diablo 2 Resurrected introduces a new graphic layer on top of the original Diablo game, which is still available at the touch of a button. The inclusion of the Legacy mode shows both the progression in graphics and the truthfulness to the original in gameplay. While there are some quality-of-life improvements, we would have preferred quite a few more. Resurrected is especially suited for the hardcore fans of the original, provided they can wait for online to be included.
Review in Dutch | Read full review