HomeNewsDiablo II: Resurrected
Diablo 2 remaster reuses Tyrael’s wings from the original 3D modelFascinating remaster technical chat from a BlizzCon panel
Fascinating remaster technical chat from a BlizzCon panel
WhileDiablo II: Resurrectedisn’t trying to precisely duplicate the original’s look, thenewly-announced remasteris making an impressive effort to match some parts. Watching a panel at BlizzCon today, I was delighted to hear about how they dug up ancient Blizzard assets to recreate and even reuse in the remaster. My favourite titbit: the new Tyrael reuses the angelic wings from the actual 3D model used to create his 2D sprite in the original game.
BlizzConline 2021 - Diablo II: Resurrected Deep DiveWatch on YouTube
BlizzConline 2021 - Diablo II: Resurrected Deep Dive
While the original Diablo 2 is 2D with sprites (created from 3D models), Resurrected is rebuilding the entire game in 3D. During the panel, Blizzardeers explained that they made an effort to gather original concept art, 3D models, code, renders, and such to understand the original intent behind art and better inform the art teams' creative decisions as they remade parts. I’m a sucker for good archive work.
This led to some nice discoveries like finding the source files for mural textures in the Act II tombs, which they could then reuse for the remade tombs. I admire that technique in remasters - it’s part of whythe Resident Evil 4 HD Project modis so impressive, hunting down the buildings that Capcom had photographed as foundations for textures.
They also followed some of the techniques Blizzard used in the first game. For example, because the original Succubus enemies reused the body mesh of the Assassin (a sensibly efficient game dev practice with a frustratingly controversial public image, thanks to Internet loudmouths), they too reused their new Assassin’s body mesh for their new Succubus.
I thinnnk the remaster’s on the right.
And with dear old archangel Tyrael, they’re straight reusing parts of the original model.
“The only piece of art we actually reused, 1:1, were Tyrael’s wings,” lead artist Chris Amaral said. “We actually took the Tyrael wings from the old [3DS] Max file and then just repurposed that for ours. We did very little work, very little modernisation of that, we just made it work.”
Diablo® II: Resurrected ™ Announce TrailerWatch on YouTube
Diablo® II: Resurrected ™ Announce Trailer
Diablo 2: Resurrected is due to launch later this year, costing £35on Battle.net. It’ll also be on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox, and will support cross-platform progression so you can carry the same characters between the lot.
I am wary after the mess of Warcraft 3’s recent remaster but god, I want so bad for this to be good. I adore Diablo 2. It is somewhat comforting that one of the teams involved is Vicarious Visions, who’ve worked on decent remasters including the recent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
As well as announcing D2: Resurrected at BlizzConline today, Blizzard revealedDiablo 4 has brought back the rogue classfrom the first game.
