Have you had the chance to play Diablo II: Resurrected ’s technical alpha back in April? If not, do not worry. The game will be out in a few months, so you will still get to experience Tristram in all its upgraded glory soon.
That being said, several things were changed in the remastered edition, though you can rest easy knowing that some familiar elements will remain intact.
If you are interested in getting the game, here are some of the great things about the upcoming remaster:
Vastly Improved Graphics
Game Executive Producer Rod Fergusson is not stingy when it comes to the details. Fergusson said that the biggest change they’ve made is the improvement of the graphics. A new graphical engine was used and it specializes in “physically based rendering.”
All of the game’s elements will be in 3D and dynamic lighting will be used extensively, making things gel as they should.
You also have the option to set the game at 4K resolution and at high refresh rate support for smoother gameplay.
Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound
If you’ve played the original, you might have noticed that the game includes subtle noises, like the blowing of the wind, the rustling of the leaves, and so on.
The atmospheric sounds that you will hear in the remaster are greatly improved thanks to the implementation of Dolby 7.1 Surround.
While there are improvements to the overall sound, players are assured that the iconic sounds have been retained.
"We’re taking the atmospherics in the world up, But we're not changing the iconic sounds, like placing a skull into a socket or putting a potion into your belt," he said.
Quality of Life Improvements
It is quite cumbersome to be picking up gold the old-fashioned way via mouse click. So the company added some quality-of-life changes to improve the gameplay experience.
One is the new auto-gold feature that allows you to pick up gold on the ground by running over them. Rob Gallerani, a principal designer at Vicarious Visions, said that players can toggle on or off this new feature.
Aside from that, there are also the auto-party system and new hotkeys, among many others.
Shared Item Stash
The company knows that players have been making “mules” or new characters with the sole purpose of just holding some items for their mains.
The remaster will have a shared item stash between your characters, so you no longer have to create a new one to secure your most prized equipment.
Cross-Progression
Because Diablo II: Resurrected will be available on multiple consoles, cross-progression will be enabled by default.
This is great because you can play on one platform and continue where you left off on another without worrying about your progress. However, the game needs your Battle.net account to record the progress you’ve made on the platforms you're using.
Modding
Although the remaster will have tighter security measures in place, the devs pointed out that you can still mod the game, albeit in a different way this time.
Gallerani mentioned that the use of invasive .DLL injections is no longer needed in Resurrected. The game now has easily modifiable data to let modders access some of the necessary files, despite the tighter security.
Diablo II: Resurrected will be coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC on September 23.
