Diablo II: Resurrected will be released on September 23. It is a remastered edition of the classic game and is co-developed by Blizzard and Vicarious Visions, with the latter handling the console port.
That said, it seems that the upcoming remaster will take some cues from Diablo III, especially on controller movements and how players are given full control of their characters, compared to the game controlling everything for them.
Robert Gallerani, design director for Diablo II: Resurrected, has shared information about how the console port of the game will differ from the PC version.
It’s All About Accessibility
Gallerani said that PC players have finer control of their characters, mainly because it is easier to do things with a mouse and keyboard. Because of this, using a controller may have “serious ramifications” from a design perspective, so they have to make sure that things would work for everyone.
There are many areas where the developers can help improve the console experience. For instance, Diablo II has always used a stamina framework for movement, allowing players to choose between walk and run depending on how they want to manage their stamina.
Now, controller users should use the left thumbstick to move their characters. But instead of fully pushing the thumbstick to direct a character, devs opted for a dedicated toggle. This toggle should give players full control. So, they have to make a conscious decision of whether their characters should walk or run.
Another area that the devs improved is how targeting works with a controller. With a mouse and keyboard, players can utilize the cursor to select specific targets without a problem.
But that is hard to do with the controller. This is why the developers have employed a two-pronged approach where they used an enormous cone at the front of the character and target prioritization. The latter just means that the enemy closest to the character will be prioritized. This is useful for Necromancers who need some corpses to summon undead or for corpse explosion.
Anyway, the devs took a page from the console version of Diablo III to make things easier for players to cast or map their favorite abilities. Controller users are shown a tray of abilities on the lower part of the HUD (heads-up display). But what’s special here is that they can press and hold the left trigger to reveal six more slots which they can use to map other abilities.
Overall, the developers did really well in making sure that both console and PC players will have a fun time revisiting the Sanctuary once the game launches in a couple of weeks.
Diablo II: Resurrected will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
