D2 Resurrected Items II was the first PC game I ever played, and I've since re-played it dozens and dozens of times over the years. When I heard that a remaster was in the works, I was filled with excitement and skepticism, which was a healthy combination. Several aspects of Diablo 2 resurrected Runewords II have not aged well, particularly since the release of D2R ladder items online III, and porting a game that was designed for the PC to a console always presents its own set of challenges and concerns. As a result, it's important to maintain the aspects of the show that fans enjoy while also updating elements that are beginning to feel a little stale or out of date.  II Resurrected does a good job of striking that balance, but there's a lot more I wish they'd done and a couple of missteps I wish had been reconsidered.

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For those who are unfamiliar with the title,  II is a dungeon-crawling looter role-playing game that was first released on the PC back in 2000. There are five acts to the game (four if you choose not to include the expansion content when creating a new character... but why would you? ), and it tells the story of the return of buy Diablo 2 resurrected items, the demon king of Sanctuary, and his battle against humanity. You take on the role of one of seven classes and travel the world in aid of the people who live there, attempting to stop the blights that afflict them and seal the evils of the world away.

Every act has a hub town, and you'll be given six quests to complete in each act, which is fairly straightforward. You'll leave the hub town, usually find a dungeon to clear out, fight a couple of bosses, and then return to the town to turn in the quest to the quest giver. You'll want to collect as much loot as you can along the way, which will include weapons, armor, accessories, and potions, among other things. Potions, potions, and more potionsOnce you have completed all of the quests, you will be able to proceed to the next town and begin the process all over again. In addition to having a solid loop, the experience of clearing waves and waves of enemies while sorting through mountains of loot to find something that is only marginally (at best) better than one of the things you already have equipped is addictive in its own right. Although there is some sort of narrative thread running through the game, with absolutely gorgeous cutscenes at the start of each act and a wealth of interesting lore scattered throughout, the story takes a backseat and is primarily concerned with providing set-dressing for the gameplay loop. Getting killed in the middle of a dungeon and having to mosey back out with little to no equipment isn't the most enjoyable part of the game's gameplay loop, however. However, while I understand why it's in place, it's a little depressing, and if the loss is significant enough, it can easily be the deciding factor in someone's decision to give up on the game.

But let's talk about the new stuff, shall we? I'm going to start with the visuals, because they're probably the most noticeable difference between this and the original game, and they're also the most impressive aspect of it for me. The visuals may appear to be fairly straightforward and even a little out of date at first glance, but holy moly, what a fantastic balance was achieved when capturing the essence and feel of the original visuals. It appears to be an exact replica of how the game appeared in my idealist mind, to the point where I was convinced I had accidentally launched the game with the original graphics enabled rather than the new graphics enabled. A quick press of the minus button, on the other hand, returns you to the original graphics, making it easy to see how drastically different the new graphics are from the old. It also provides a brief glimpse into the process of creating this remaster, which is an interesting little tidbit in itself.

As you can see, buy D2R items II Resurrected is a completely new game that is built directly on top of the original. The game isn't an entirely new creation with the old graphics positioned roughly where they should be — it is the original game in its entirety with a sharp new graphical layer applied on top. That means it behaves and feels exactly like the original game, down to the smallest detail and quirk. This is a clever way to remaster the game, if not particularly exciting, but I was impressed to see the animations running at a higher frame rate, with graphics that looked old enough to be comfortable, but new enough to not feel out of place on a modern platform. I was also impressed to see the game running at a higher frame rate. When it comes to performance on the Switch, it's mostly smooth as well, though I will point out that the second act — which takes place in the desert and is filled with sandstorms and large groups of enemies — suffered from some pretty serious frame rate drops throughout the entire overworld while docked. The issue was less severe in handheld mode, but it was still present, and it was a little discouraging to see it in a game that was released 20 years ago, even if it was a modern remaster.