Twenty years after the original title, Blizzard's legendary Evil and father of the genre hack'n slash is about to put on the dark mantle of the remaster. Last April, Diablo II Resurrected was entitled to a short technical Alpha which proved to be rich in lessons for Vicarious Visions, the studio attached to Blizzard and behind this vast project.
Through a long blog article, the team behind the remaster of this legendary title has therefore set out to present us with some changes to come to its beta version, accessible in August for those who have pre-ordered the game, previewing a September 23 release. If many of the changes to come appear relatively minor, they underline the attention to detail and the love brought by the developers to the youthful cure of a video game monument.
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Evil gets an extra makeover
If Diablo II Resurrected wants to be as faithful as possible to the original work, the main point of bringing it back to life twenty years later is of course to give it a visual makeover. As such, the visual effects like those of the Sorceress or Paladin spells have been reworked while sticking to those known by veterans.
Spells that damage or immobilize enemies have also been slightly tweaked to be more clearly visible, following feedback from Tech Alpha players.
The interface itself has also undergone some visual changes, more specifically at the level of certain items present in the inventory, such as potions, scrolls or even gems, in order once again to make them more visible when timely.
Weapon, charm, and quest item icons also have some minor visual tweaks aimed at making them both more visually appealing and standout.
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In Hell too, quality of life matters
Always with the desire to offer an experience as faithful as possible to that of the original game, Vicarious Visions took advantage of this remaster to inject some “quality of life” type elements that veterans lacked twenty years ago. Will therefore be part of the options that can be activated according to the goodwill of each and everyone to automatically collect the gold, or to change the size of the interface and the fonts, as well as the overall brightness.
Compulsive collectors and hoarders will certainly be pleased to learn that the Shared Chest will have three tabs with one hundred slots each, not just one.
This good news joins an additional option allowing to maintain the comparison between two objects instead of having to press the key each time. The map that fills as you go (activated by pressing the "Tab" key) has also received some improvements to the elements displayed as you explore, in order to improve clarity. It will also be possible to position it in three different places on the screen: on the left or on the right in a reduced version, or in the center in full screen.
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Lesser Demons Intrude After Alpha
Beyond the more or less important changes mentioned above, other small additions requested with horn and cry by the players of the Technical Alpha will appear in Diablo II Resurrected. Blizzard cites in particular the possibility of displaying a coat or not to bring a little extra touch of class to his character.
A problem present in the original game will no longer be relevant in its remaster: the appearance of our character in the world while the loading time has not yet ended, thus avoiding leading to a helpless death of this one. Hardcore mode enthusiasts will be delighted with this news. A significant change, while said loading times should be drastically reduced, thanks in particular to an SSD, on PC as on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S.
Blizzard and Vicarious Visions would like to remind you that all these elements are just a few examples among many others in order to offer an experience that both pays homage to the original game and aims to please players, veterans and newcomers alike. These would have been a great help to the team during the Technical Alpha, and many bugs and items have been fixed as a result.
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More than ever evil is approaching
In August, a temporary closed beta of the PC version, available to all those who pre-order the game, will be another opportunity for the Diablo II Resurrected team to get valuable feedback. An open beta will follow on PC as well as on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, a first chance to try the console version in order to identify any problems and changes to be made on these platforms.
In view of the work done by Blizzard and Vicarious Visions, the development team seems fully aware of the importance of the original game and this remaster, in more ways than one. Their desire is therefore to offer the best possible experience to old Diablo II fans as well as new ones, with a view to a release for the hour announced on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. September 23.
Head to Hell during the final stages of beta, which we might share with you live on our Twitch channel when the time is right, then in September to see if they've delivered on their promise – if not, the Lord of Terror will have to crack down .