Old-school Diablo fans may be in for a treat, as Diablo 2 is reportedly getting the remaster treatment by the end of this year. Players have been loudly wishing for a remake of Blizzard’s classic action RPG for years, along with the occasional rumor of a remake actually in the works and some impressive fan attempts to remaster Diablo 2, at least in screenshots.
Recently, Diablo fans have been looking forward instead of back, awaiting the release of Diablo 4. Revealed at BlizzCon 2019, Diablo 4 looks like a return to the series’ dark, gothic roots, after Diablo 3’s slightly more colorful aesthetic upset some purists. While there’s no release date in sight yet for Diablo 4, Blizzard has been staffing up its development team and sharing regular updates on the game’s progress to give fans a better idea of how it’s shaping up. Early indications point to a game that leans more into the RPG side, with an open world populated by NPCs that the player can chat with.
Though anticipation for Diablo 4 is high and the game has been in development for some time, it looks like a remake of Diablo 2 may beat it to release. A report from French gaming site Actugaming, translated and shared by PCGamer, indicates that a remake called Diablo 2 Resurrected is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2020. The game is reportedly being developed by Activision subsidiary Vicarious Visions, which has recently done work on games including Destiny 2 and the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. As PCGamer notes, Actugaming has a history of accurate leaks regarding Blizzard games, so there may be good reason to believe the Diablo 2 rema ster fans have been waiting for is finally on the horizon.
There hasn’t been an official confirmation from Blizzard, and there’s no word on the scope of the remaster. Blizzard may be weighing its words carefully, following the response to Warcraft 3: Reforged, which was viewed as a major disappointment. At release, it was riddled with bugs, missing promised features, and compromised by draconian policies that gave ownership of fan-made maps to Blizzard. The backlash got so heated that Blizzard began offering no-questions-asked refunds for Warcraft 3: Reforged after it became the lowest rated game ever on Metacritic.
Caution is certainly warranted until an official announcement from Blizzard appears, but it’s hard not to get excited about the prospect of a Diablo 2 remaster to make the wait for Diablo 4 more bearable. An early multiplayer hit, the original Diablo 2 is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time and still has a dedicated community of players 20 years after its release. For both the die-hards and the newcomers, Diablo 2 Resurrected could be a huge deal if it turns out to be real.
Source: Actugaming [via PCGamer]