Diablo 2: Remastered... 2020 Release Scheduled... What are Your Thoughts?

For those who don't know...

- Extreme Tech article
- Inverse article
- PC Gamer article

... a "remastered" version of Diablo 2 is scheduled to be release Q4 2020.

So, it's a leak.

Easy money, and it puts the name 'Diablo' back into good graces, paving the way for a positive response to the oncoming Diablo 4 storm in a manner that 'follow-up to Diablo 3' or 'following on from Diablo Immortal' never could.

Didn't really like the original, so I'm not following too closely.

Can someone do the "I made this" meme with SquareEnix and ActiBlizzard as the characters?

Warcraft Reforged. If they follow the trend it is going to be crap.

If they upgrade the graphics and QoL without adding Blizzard South-style cartoony graphics and awful scripts and VA, then it'll be great.

I'd revisit the game.

Diablo 2 was great for its time. It's horribly outdated now. It's been kept relevant by mods. I don't see how getting a graphically improved version of the original would somehow make it good, unless said version also include the hundreds of additional features (not fixes, but new features) that mods have added to make it hold up in 2020. Which they'll never do, as that would outrage purists. So it'll be the original, with upscaled graphics, which will feel clunky as soon as the initial nostalgia wears off.

As Forever said above, I don't think Blizzard even expects this to be a massive success. It's more of a quick cash grab as well as a face-saving exercise so they can roll out Diablo 4 while pointing to the D2 remaster as the last Diablo they released.

Old games are old games. They're outdated. You want an example of what a remaster should be to be worth buying? Look at the Age of Empires 2 remaster (Definitive Edition) - it wasn't just a graphical upgrade, hell it didn't even just add a bunch of QoL features on top. It was also a full-on expansion. Has Blizzard ever done that? No. Not even the seemingly well-received Star Craft remaster was an expansion. Diablo 2 remaster would only be worth it if Blizzard both upgrades the graphics AND implements tons of community supported QoL improvements AND adds more content (a lot more content, equivalent to an expansion pack) as well. Anything less is a waste of money.

Plenty of people play the original Diablo 2 actually. There are still speed runs. Youtube channels dedicated to it still get traffic. For such an old game its longevity is amazing, almost unmatched even.

The diehardest of diehard PoE fans owe it to themselves to at least try out D2.

Know your roots.