On Friday, August 13, Blizzard Entertainment launched the Diablo II: Resurrected beta. The first stage of open testing was accompanied by many errors. At 20:00 Moscow time, users who pre-ordered and thus had early access to the remaster were allowed into the game. Despite the restrictions, the number of applicants exceeded all reasonable limits, and Blizzard Entertainment’s servers could not withstand the load.
The launch of Diablo II: Resurrected met buyers with a queue on the server and crashes from the game, followed by the inability to enter again. In the latter case, the menu gave a message about the player being on the server, they say, why come in, your character is already in the game.
Absolutely all users, regardless of the platform, experienced inconvenience. True, the Americans were a little more fortunate. Judging by Twitch, some US residents managed to get into the server and play for more than 10 minutes, after which the Europeans usually kicked out.
Is the game so interesting that it is worth waiting in line in constant attempts to connect? A day later, when we finally managed to play, we saw the following.
Diablo II: Resurrected is a truly complete remaster that combines both the old and the new picture. Both versions of the game run in parallel, and users are free to switch between them with the press of a button (a combination of L2 and touchpad in the PlayStation version).
The original can be customized by setting the menu resolution to 640 by 480 or 800 by 600 pixels, high or low lighting quality, turning on or off shadow blur and perspective mode. The remaster can be run on PS5 in “quality” mode with higher graphics settings, or “performance” with a frequency close to 60FPS, and also adjust the degree of approximation of the 3D image (pseudo “640 by 480”).
In general, the settings screen is replete with all sorts of options for sliders and checkmarks. The developers offer to adjust the parameters of sound, interface and special features. In terms of graphics, this is still the same good old Diablo II, only a 4K panel stretched to the full screen with all the consequences. Not sharpened for the high frame rate of the current time, the role-playing game lags, the animations look jerky, and the 4:3 format crops the picture. Modern players unfamiliar with the series are advised to switch to a fresh engine, where Diablo II: Resurrected appears in all its glory.
Blizzard Entertainment really did a great job of completely redrawing the environments and characters. Someone even added new movements. At 60 frames per second, the game runs very smoothly and does not slow down, although the decrease in graphics quality compared to the “quality” mode is visible to the naked eye.
What did not like
With a soft and juicy picture of the environment, the details of the interface look like an ugly duckling. I want to turn them off in the settings and forget like a bad dream. Unfortunately, with all the flexibility of the parameters, this cannot be done, since the name acts at the same time as the scale of the enemy’s health, which means it is an integral element of the gameplay. Bad decisions can also include buff icons and other elements for which the project artist is responsible.
What did you like
Russian voice acting is almost perfect. The voices of the characters encountered in the first area are chosen quite well. Yes, the actors overact in places, but there are no gundis or mumbling personalities among them, which allows users who do not know English to completely plunge into the atmosphere.
High-quality redrawn cutscenes, in the tradition of Blizzard Entertainment, are long and force players to feel the story.
Separately, it is worth noting the first-class sound in the remaster. High-quality 3D and detail make it louder, and the muttering of zombies and the rustle of bones of skeletons adds to the entourage. In the original, the sound and music is cut, but not so much. The voices stand out for their quality from the overall picture, making you smile involuntarily.
mechanics
Pillars with useful skills have remained in place, but the modern player will be put into a stupor by their long duration. Fans of role-playing games are used to the fact that buffs fly off the character almost instantly, and in Diablo II: Resurrected they last for minutes, at first allowing you to doubt the correct performance of the beta.
The automatic clicking of enemies also works in the console version, only this time you need to press the hit button (“cross” in the PlayStation version). The hero will endlessly swing the sword until he finishes off the adversary, and also pursue him at a short distance. Alas, auto-guidance is not fully developed and the character has to be directed, turning to face the enemy, otherwise the ward will cut the air with a sword until he is killed.
The remaster features a run button (L3 on the PlayStation version) and a stamina bar. It is interesting that it works according to the rules of computer games, not console games – once the button is pressed, the player will turn on the run, which will not turn off until the button is pressed again. Even if stamina goes to zero, running will not turn off – the bar will fill up and the hero will run again (relevant after exiting the game and subsequent loading).
