With Diablo II: Resurrected’s launch a couple of weeks away, Blizzard’s Vicarious Visions is taking the opportunity to share about how the project was more complicated than one might first assume. On top of bringing the client and graphics up to speed for modern computers, the studio also — for the first time — had to create a console edition of Diablo II, saying that the project was a “labor of love.”
This wasn’t as simple, due to the multi-platform nature of the game. “Having cross-progression gave us a robust set of restrictions and guidelines to adhere to. Because of this, while we couldn’t make any game changes, we focused on changing how the content can be experienced on a new platform,” Vicarious Visions Design Director Robert Gallerani said.
The biggest challenge, the studio said, was reworking the controls for controller, including targeting and looting. The Nintendo Switch’s unique play-on-the-go feature also required some finessing to swap between an online TV and offline portable screen.
Blizzard and Vicarious Visions also created an “auto-party” feature to help console players to group up for multiplayer. Players also have the ability to use their friends list to create parties.
Diablo II: Resurrected will be released on September 23rd for PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo. We recently weighed in on the game’s state in our Not So Massively column.
