Rising Above The Rest
It’s definitely no secret to our dear readers that I am a massive fan of the Diablo series and to be honest, it hasn’t always been easy to remain one. I have been there through it all, the ups, the downs, the delays, the excitement, the disappointment, and most recently, a massive payoff. From those first magical moments I fired up the Diablo CD-ROM in Windows 95 and heard the haunting strings of the Tristram theme, to the difficult Blizzcon letdowns, to the soaring BlizzCon moments, to Immortal totally redeeming itself, to now, it’s been an unforgettable journey not unlike ol’ Marius in the latest entry, Diablo II Resurrected.
Absolutely nailed it. Act III is a sight to behold.
As expressed in the full review by our own Dean Clark, I’m not the only one that holds Diablo II near and dear to heart as the game went on to influence so many designers, developers, and gamers alike. Yet, we all know the history, but here we are in 2021, a market saturated with the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to remakes and remasters. I suggest adding another category: The Exceptional. There are only a handful of games that deserve this label but Diablo II: Resurrected has soared to the top of the list IMHO. Not only is the base gameplay timeless and near-perfect, but the meticulous attention to detail of respecting the source material while adding a fresh coat of paint is also what truly stands out. The folks at Vicarious Visions have worked nothing short of a miracle with remastering a 20-year-old 2D title.
This is how a remaster is done.
I could go on and on gushing about DII: R but I’ll summarize why this is one of the best remasters ever. It’s priced right, it’s got a ton of content and replayability, the remastered cinematics are worth the price of admission alone, it’s available on almost every platform and the cherry on top is issues and bugs are being squashed at an incredible pace. There are very few titles that come out these days where I say this but drop what you are doing and go buy this game, NOW. This game belongs in every serious gamers’ library.
