If you were playing games 20 years ago, you probably spent at least a little time with Diablo II. This game was so popular that some people are still playing it, but an upgrade is on the way. Blizzard is working on a remastered version of the game, and it will be very faithful to the original. How faithful? Blizzard producer Matthew Cederquist confirms save files from the original game will work with the remaster, allowing you to finish the quest you started two decades ago.
Like the other Diablo titles, the second incarnation takes place in the mystical realm of Sanctuary. At the opening of Diablo II, the hero from the original game has been corrupted by the malevolence of the eponymous prime evil, known as Diablo. Players have to once again attempt to defeat the prime evils and confine them to the underworld.
The adventure role-playing style of Diablo II was groundbreaking at the time, which is why so many of us wasted uncountable hours of our lives hunting for epic loot. While Diablo III was also a massive success, it never quite reached the cult status of Diablo II. This is a remaster and not a remake because the content will be largely the same. Diablo II: Resurrected features new graphics and networking components, but the story and character balance are unchanged. There are a few quality of life improvements, though, including a shared stash for your characters, automatic gold pickups, and a few other small tweaks.
Naturally, the remake has a lot of people interested. As a casual to mildly obsessive Diablo player, this all sounds great to me. For those who worked long and hard to kick their addiction to this game, it’s going to be a rough couple of years. The overall similarity has allowed the developers to keep the same save file structure. Therefore, you can take a save from the day the game launched more than 20 years ago and plug it into Resurrected. That quest you abandoned years ago when you kicked the addiction? It’s back on.
There’s also cross-play support for the new game. So, you can pick it up on multiple consoles or PC and access the same progression on all platforms. It’s amazing to think you’ll theoretically be able to transfer a saved game from a 20-year-old PC title to a brand new PlayStation 5. If you’re on the go, you can pick up where you left off on a Nintendo Switch with the same file.
Blizzard plans to release Diablo II: Resurrected later this year, but there’s no firm date. It will be available on Windows, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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