Diablo II: Resurrected REVIEW

[HaydenTownson]

Diablo 2: Resurrected has arrived, and I've had a couple of days’ head start. I've been smashing demons aside for enough hours that I’m now breaking into Act 3 and I am absolutely not bored – I'm honestly delighted. I probably played hundreds (but I'd wager less than a thousand) hours of Diablo 2 between 2000 and 2007, and Resurrected absolutely scratches an itch for a style of game that's not really made anymore – not just aesthetically, but mechanically. It’s all coming back.

I have to say: it is just as I remembered but better! The controller functionality is great and fun as hell to use so I can sit back and enjoy.

This is the first time Diablo II can be played on a controller, and it’s smooth, intuitive, and responsive. Players can assign skills to buttons easily and should make for a slick console experience. While you will find it hard to pry me away from my mouse and keyboard in a Diablo game, this was the first time I’ve been tempted due to the ease of use.

Miniscule changes give players a few quality-of-life improvements. Players pick up gold by walking over it, which is a godsend given the many stacks of littered coins in dungeons. Players have shared stash space to send items to other characters in their roster, which saves a ton of time and energy, as previously it would take a lot of character/game swapping in order to move items around. And finally, a few other options make life less of a chore, like having dropped items show up on the ground without having to hold a button-down. None of these changes alter the fundamental Diablo II core, but they make the experience easier to enjoy.