Diablo II: Resurrected - How New Can Old Be?

Diablo is easily my favourite ARPG. I remember being a young man being completely consumed with Diablo 1. My best friend and I loved it so much that we'd take turns switching our characters while we hunted other players for their ears. I had never seen a game push the level of darkness that Diablo did. Then, Diablo II was released... 

And it took Diablo 1 and dialed it to 11. Everything was larger and more dark. There were more classes, more abilities, more places to adventure. Character skill trees and countless new pieces of gear to farm. For me, Diablo II was the pinnacle of what the genre could be. 

When they announced Diablo 3, like most lovers of the games, I was overly pumped. It had been 10 years without something new. And when it arrived.... Well.... It was definitely something new. The abilities had Cool-downs now, there was no longer a skill tree, no more customizable character attributes, a real-money action house and what seemed like no chance to get meaningful loot without spending years farming. However, I played and loved the game still. Graphics were much brighter than previous games, and although a bit smoother, I liked the art style, especially as d3 grew in age with expansions and such. It got darker again by the end, but it never felt as good as D2 to me. Or so I thought. 

Yesterday I played D2R with my almost brothers and my fiancé. And I have to tell you, I adored the redone cinematics. Superb quality. Making me remember how I felt all those years ago watching the D2 cinematics. Those nestalgic feelings hit me right in the heart. And we began to play. Cycling back and forth between the original graphics and the new was amazing and really makes me shake my head as to how I liked the graphic quality back then. We played basically through the first act and it was exactly as advertised: D2 with a fresh coat of paint. And.... I was left wanting. 

Yes the graphics are amazingly better than the original, however the D2 mod for Grim Dawn, in my opinion, actually looked better. Not as accurate to the original, but actually better, smoother, darker, more defined. The problem I had was that the game was exactly as they said it would be: D2 and nothing else. And I wanted something more. I wanted D2R to fill that hole in me and tide me over until D4 releases. I actually felt bored playing D2 again. Yeah it was a cool nestaligic feeling, but that was where it ended for me. Having absolutely nothing new made the experience seem hollow. 

The game truly looks like either a new game that hasn't worked out its bugs because of how clunky everything is, or an old game that looks nice, but still shows its age terribly. The animations, although prettier, are still very robotic and not natural in movement. The spells, again look better, but still have the same 30 frame animation length and therefore look cartoony. In some instances, I think the better graphics actually work against the original engine. Because of the smoothness of the new graphics, it's so noticeable when your character jolts into an attack, stops sharply and upruptly or when you run into to a small rock or bush and stop dead in your tracks. 

I can't criticize Blizzard for this. The game is exactly as they said it would be. For me, I thought I wanted D2, when really, D3 has shown me what a modern ARPG can be, and now I want that, just newer. An awesome project for Blizzard and definitely an accomplishment for remaking games. But for me, I should have passed on this one. I already of course owned D2. Now I own its prettier brother too. 

Overall score: 6 out of 10 stars

Pros:

- Graphic overhaul is amazing. 

- The cinematics have been updated almost shot-for shot, and are incredible. 

- Some small quality of life improvements like a shared stash were imimented. 

Cons:

- It's still the 20 year old D2 game. 

- Absolutely nothing new to the main game. 

- Even with the new graphics, game play is still as clunks and robotic as the original.