Saga that has become cult in just 3 opuses since 1997, 2 new ones (including 1 mobile game) being currently in development, Diablo is the series that has been able to offer an action role-playing game with significant replayability and simple but effective gameplay, including Diablo 3 represents the qualitative pinnacle of Blizzard's cult title. If the first and the third had the opportunity to find other lands than the PC, reason which allowed me to explore them thoroughly respectively on Playstation 1 (released in 1998) and on Xbox One, Diablo 2 released in 2000 remained a PC exclusive, making console gamers jealous. The error will soon be rectified with the release of Diablo 2 Resurrected at the end of September 2021, the beta of which has just taken place in order to prepare for the release of the final version. What can we expect to find in this Resurrected version? Answers start in this hands on.
As soon as the game is launched, Blizzard goes into overdrive with its completely redone introduction to forget that the initial game is more than 20 years old.
We're going to zap the story to focus on the rest, since anyway, the beta did not allow to do it in its entirety. Unfortunately, in addition to the visual and audio qualities, the synchronization between these two is completely out of order since, quickly, we have a delay of several minutes in advance of the sound on what is happening on the screen. This will probably be rectified in the final version, but it remains rather disturbing... What is more disturbing is that once in the main menu and in the rest of the game, it seems to have goes back 20 years. Visually, the game does not even come close to Diablo 3. We are in the field of remasters and not remakes after all, but the difference with the last opus is quite shocking. Especially since the artistic direction, more colorful of 3, makes the darker and duller flashback very close to the first even more delicate. In terms of character classes, although the game's roster and its expansions are complete in this version, they were not all accessible for this beta. So I focused on the Druid which, on paper, comes closest to my favorite class from Diablo 3: the Witch Doctor. The game still offers to create a classic character, but also another one who can die permanently. Option unfortunately unavailable for beta. It's good, we're ready and before embarking on the adventure, it's good to specify that like Diablo 3, players can now explore the game with 3 allies who play on the platform of their choice, cross platform requires...
The game begins and the first big flaw is the feeling of having gone back 20 years in terms of gameplay. Where Diablo 3 makes things more fluid in the game, Diablo 2 Resurrected feels more rigid and close to Diablo 1 (remember, I had never played 2 because it had never been released on consoles). We like it or not, but after 8 relatively intense years of Diablo 3, going back with a broom in the character's butt hurts a lot.
At least for me, because it remains quite playable, but this lack of comfort is damaging in 2021 with the anthill of games of this type that have been released lately. Another point that hurts, and let's hope it's only due to a non-final build, is the interface. The latter is clearly PC oriented, which on consoles with a controller is very problematic. In a game where you often have to manage your inventory and go back to stat points, skill points and many other things, the fact that all the menus are treated as if you had a mouse cursor gives a delicate and cumbersome result. at the joystick. Fortunately, the combat phases have been adapted. For PC, no problem; but on console, it becomes really cumbersome, even an ordeal, to navigate through the inventory, the merchant menus, the stats sheets... Let's hope that this aspect will be strongly revised to obtain something more ergonomic in the final version of the game, because it will quickly create disparities between the versions, since let's remember, the game is crossplay and just by this point, PC players will have a strong advantage. So yes, the game is in co-op, but that doesn't change the fact that the PC platform is going to be more than advantaged in terms of gameplay quality here. Will this really be the case?
Answer in a next test at the game's release...
