We’re fast approaching the launch of Diablo II Resurrected, and Blizzard would really like everyone to focus on that instead of on its ballooning culture and legal problems. This afternoon, the studio posted a complete run-down of what gamers will need to prepare for the launch, including the game itself, which of course is not free; you’ll be buying the game all over again on your PC or console. The launch itself is September 23rd, but preloading for prepurchasers has already begun, and since this is a global rollout, you can refer to the handy world timezone map below to figure out when exactly you have to call off work to play.
The latest FAQ notes that ladder rankings will be implemented post-launch and that there is indeed a way for you to import your ancient saves into this new remaster, at least for offline play, but of course the company wants to integrate you into its online ecosystem for any “modern online features.”
“Players will be able to load their local offline saves by copying the save files from the original Diablo II to Diablo II: Resurrected on PC. The underlying game engine is the same, so those local saves will work but they will need to be copied over manually. However, local save files (whether newly created or copied from Diablo II) will be different from online save files—there are profound differences between the modern Battle.net of today and the platform we launched with Diablo II all those years ago. To enjoy all of the modern online features, such as friend invites and greater security, players will need to create a new online character.”
Finally, there’s a new live-action trailer to celebrate the impending launch as well, featuring Simu Liu, who’s having one hell of a moment right now thanks to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
