To many PC gamers of a certain era, the action RPG game Diablo 2 is nothing short of an absolute classic. With the remake Diablo 2: Resurrected announced earlier this year and being made by Vicarious Visions in conjunction with Blizzard, a new blog post from the former emerges which suggests the company wants to make the game as accessible as possible. This will include adding some needed features and "quality of life" opportunities.
In the post, Blizzard lays bare the plans it has to make Diablo 2: Resurrected a game that as many people as possible can play. One of the team's "philosophies" surrounding the remake is that the core gameplay elements and visual fidelity don't really count for much if some people can't actually play the game. With that, the studio says accessibility is an area of great focus in order to make the "remaster shine."
While remastering what is considered one of the best action RPG games around to make it look more modern is still an important part of the development, Blizzard says that it's interested in quality of life features. One of which is auto-gold pick-up. While this was originally intended for players who use controllers, the team noticed that keyboard and mouse users with mobility issues seemed to also like this feature, as it could alleviate physical stress and discomfort. Blizzard summarizes this by saying it is an example of "solve for one, extend for many" as the feature was intended for a certain player, but ended up benefitting many more than they could imagine.
Another feature that's being added to the game is feedback for when players miss an enemy. Not so much in the way that Diablo 2: Resurrcted will use haptic feedback on the PS5, but a piece of text that floats above an enemy whenever the player misses an attack. While the game does have sound feedback for missing hits, this also gives a visual cue.
There are numerous other accessibility features that the game will have, such as allowing the player to adjust the audio to their play style. The example the post gives is if someone is a parent and their baby is asleep, the audio can be adjusted accordingly. All-in-all it's sounding like Resurrected, which had its release date revealed a few weeks ago, is shaping up to be not only a welcome return for fans of the original, but an inclusive title that goes a long way to ensure gamers don't feel left out.
Diablo 2 Resurrected will be available September 23, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Blizzard
