Alright so now that the Technical Alpha phase 1 is done, I would like to compile my overall thoughts about it.
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It is a very faithful recreation.
This is Diablo 2, through and through. Skill trees, mercenaries, act quests, monsters, everything. All in high resolution 60fps. So far only changes I noticed, were the QOL changes to auto-pickup gold, and the shared stash space. I tested multiple rune words, all worked. Runewords I used were Leaf, Stealth, Nadir, and Zephyr. -
Controller support is AMAZING.
I’m a very avid mouse+keyboard user. I use it for quite literally EVERY game on PC, even games that were originally on consoles and then ported to PC. However, after trying controller, I now prefer controller. Not only can you have 12 abilities on easy access (which is overkill for d2 since you only really need 2-3), it just FEELS better. I kept trying to find options to have the controller UI for mouse+keyboard, but couldn’t find it anywhere. So, I just stayed using controller. However, targeting allies for buffs (Sorceress enchant ability) was impossible to do with controller. -
Runs fairly well overall, but definitely needs some optimizations.
Now throughout the test, I was running at 4K resolution and max settings. My setup is an NVMe SSD for near instant loading, Ryzen 7 3700x at 4.3ghz, 32gb Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz, and an EVGA 2080TI Black with a 700mhz memory OC, and 200mhz Core OC.
All through act one, was a pretty stable 60fps with only a few drops when things got real hectic in catacombs. However, once hitting act 2, specifically dry hills, that is when frames got constantly choppy, dropping down to 30fps or less. This continued for the rest of act 2. -
Mercenary pathing is horrible and needs looking at.
I don’t remember mercenary pathing being this bad, but if it was, it needs to be looked at. My mercenary was constantly getting stuck behind walls, barrels, doors, and everything else possible. -
Its the same game, with updated graphics.
Now this is fine, and exactly what the purist crowd wants. However, for some people like myself, we already played this game to death back in the early to mid 2000s. With nothing new to find like new unique items, new runewords to make, new character spells, new sets to find, there isn’t much else for the casual crowd to do. The same builds for D2:LoD still work for this as well. As much STR and DEX to use gear, the rest in vitality.
Conclusion: Diablo 2 Resurrected is a very very faithful remaster. Its a very modern Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. However, that is it. It is the same game, with a huge make-over. Which is perfectly fine, and I can’t wait to play it! However, since its the same game its more than likely just going to be a one and done playthrough, or a once in blue moon when the mood strikes.