The original Diablo II was my most fav ARPG, period. I've been playing it since its release, 20+ years ago.
2021 Diablo II RS is as brilliant as the original version, plus it includes a lot of enhancements and tiny changes of mechanics and the great majority of them are awesome. Overall this is not only a visually enhanced and modernised version that has better compatibility with contemporary machines but also is a superior version of the game. As you play it, it feels like an ample of effort went into this to get it right and I really appreciate it.
Among the numerous new things, maybe the most important one is gamepad support. Honestly the newly added warlock class is cool AF, too. In the best mean it's unreal that after all those years such a great new feat was added. The new item management is brilliant. If you have the nostalgic itch there is 800x600 old-school mode that should have a default option in the case of all the old classic's remakes in my opinion. So this is a worthy game to get and in my opinion one of the most glorious resurrections / comebacks of old classics ever, and the best thing Blizzard did since StarCraft 2. As a footnote I must admit that I have a soft spot for Diablo IV, a good game and respectful effort, but Diablo II is an all-time fav for me. As a musician I must add that in my opinion it has the best game OST ever, composed by Matt Uelmen.
Also, a tiny detail but maybe during the era of AI centre RAM scoop 2026 where no one can build new gaming PCs: It seems to be wonderfully optimised. The game runs fluently on my pretty modest gaming PC.
However, as it seems some sort of enshittification is a must to be raped into all the newly released games. For example Diablo II RS would be a dream ARPG for Steam Deck (a vastly portable gaming platform). Can you play the game during long journeys while you're offine? No way. The cleverly added OFFLINE mode uncleverly works only on a desktop machine. If your run the game on the Steam Deck it will require continuous online connection. Seriously, what the flying fcuk?
The other fcukup is the 30-day login lockup. If you were offline from your profile for 30+ days, the game won't start. If you are a Steam user and you have Diablo IV in your library, you log in to Diablo IV THEN you'll be able to start Diablo II RS. But if you have Diablo II RS only and you are a new user you'll need some absolutely unnecessary fcukaround (as a new user you surely haven't done a login in 30 days, yes?). Again, what the flying fcuk?
So yep, classic game, perfect remake almost to a fault, great fun, the best version of the best Diablo game ever, strongly recommended if you haven't tried it - but beware of the unnecessary post-2020 retarded annoying things that are raped into this game too, against all common sense. If you are annoyed by those too much, it's not for you. Maybe Grim Dawn is a better call. It's different from Diablo II but it resembles of the spirit and it's a hell of a ride. No enshittification.
Fcuk 2020+.
