An extremely competent remaster of a classic, but hugely dated game.
I don't want to be harsh on Diablo II here, it was one of the first big examples of a genre you could arguably name after the series, and it still holds up surprisingly well despite its age. But the genre can do and has done much better in the many years since the game came out.
The game still oozes atmosphere with its dark tone and brilliant Matt Uelmen soundtrack. It's baffling that the sequel opted for a more cartoony vibe - I don't hate it, per se, but it doesn't really fit the world at all and playing D2 again really hammers that home. It's also much more hands-off with the story, which, again, works much better than D3's Demon Generals telling you their plans in advance over and over.
The remaster does a great job of updating the visuals while remaining true to the original. The ability to switch between the legacy and new graphics modes really shows what a huge upgrade it is, but the game unmistakably looks like Diablo II. It's more or less exactly what I would expect Diablo II with modern graphics to look like.
The remaster also adds some nice quality of life changes, a much bigger stash with 4 tabs reducing the need for mules is a big one. The game also has controller support and playing on PS5 was a little clunky and relied on some less obvious shortcuts sometimes, but was perfectly functional. I think it was about as good as it gets considering the original game simply wasn't made for a controller at all.
What the remaster doesn't really change, though, is the gameplay. This is understandable - the outcry if they were to touch the gameplay in any significant way would be crazy, but playing through I kept comparing the way the game does things to how Diablo III does things, and often I concluded that the sequel actually greatly improves on them.
Inventory tetris is awful and games should move away from it (looking at you, Path of Exile). Running the same campaign on multiple difficulties feels like a huge downgrade and wasteful padding compared to the Adventure Mode and scaling difficulty options the sequel eventually moved to.
I think that's my big problem with Diablo II compared to III - I don't really have the time or inclination to farm the necessary gear for my characters like I did 20 odd years ago. III is much faster-paced, both in terms of getting your build up and running and getting you into the action quickly. Diablo II early-game is incredibly dull by comparison.
That said, there are definitely some things I prefer about Diablo II. Levelling feels meaningful, unlike in III where you race to 70 then just grind paragon levels. And the itemisation in II is way better and more interesting than III's reliance on set bonuses that make a skill do +5000% damage.
That said, given the choice, I'd rather play III these days, or maybe something else like Path of Exile. II remains a really good game despite its age, but much has changed in 20 years and it just doesn't hit like it used to. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the nostalgia trip. If Diablo IV can merge II's tone and itemisation with III's general gameplay, it might well be the perfect Diablo game.
I don't want to be harsh on Diablo II here, it was one of the first big examples of a genre you could arguably name after the series, and it still holds up surprisingly well despite its age. But the genre can do and has done much better in the many years since the game came out.
The game still oozes atmosphere with its dark tone and brilliant Matt Uelmen soundtrack. It's baffling that the sequel opted for a more cartoony vibe - I don't hate it, per se, but it doesn't really fit the world at all and playing D2 again really hammers that home. It's also much more hands-off with the story, which, again, works much better than D3's Demon Generals telling you their plans in advance over and over.
The remaster does a great job of updating the visuals while remaining true to the original. The ability to switch between the legacy and new graphics modes really shows what a huge upgrade it is, but the game unmistakably looks like Diablo II. It's more or less exactly what I would expect Diablo II with modern graphics to look like.
The remaster also adds some nice quality of life changes, a much bigger stash with 4 tabs reducing the need for mules is a big one. The game also has controller support and playing on PS5 was a little clunky and relied on some less obvious shortcuts sometimes, but was perfectly functional. I think it was about as good as it gets considering the original game simply wasn't made for a controller at all.
What the remaster doesn't really change, though, is the gameplay. This is understandable - the outcry if they were to touch the gameplay in any significant way would be crazy, but playing through I kept comparing the way the game does things to how Diablo III does things, and often I concluded that the sequel actually greatly improves on them.
Inventory tetris is awful and games should move away from it (looking at you, Path of Exile). Running the same campaign on multiple difficulties feels like a huge downgrade and wasteful padding compared to the Adventure Mode and scaling difficulty options the sequel eventually moved to.
I think that's my big problem with Diablo II compared to III - I don't really have the time or inclination to farm the necessary gear for my characters like I did 20 odd years ago. III is much faster-paced, both in terms of getting your build up and running and getting you into the action quickly. Diablo II early-game is incredibly dull by comparison.
That said, there are definitely some things I prefer about Diablo II. Levelling feels meaningful, unlike in III where you race to 70 then just grind paragon levels. And the itemisation in II is way better and more interesting than III's reliance on set bonuses that make a skill do +5000% damage.
That said, given the choice, I'd rather play III these days, or maybe something else like Path of Exile. II remains a really good game despite its age, but much has changed in 20 years and it just doesn't hit like it used to. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the nostalgia trip. If Diablo IV can merge II's tone and itemisation with III's general gameplay, it might well be the perfect Diablo game.