Come Hell or High Water, this is the case.
 

The Diablo 2: Resurrected Technical Alpha provided many players with their first experience with the remastered version of a classic action RPG. I spent a good portion of the weekend determining whether or not it is a worthy successor to the original.

More than two decades have passed since the release of Diablo 2 resurrected. Even though it was later followed by Diablo 3 and its upcoming successor Diablo 4, the second game in the Diablo franchise holds a special place in the hearts of many, including myself. With over 4,000 hours spent in the original, I was skeptical to say the least, especially after playing through the mediocre Warcraft 3 Reforged port. I was proven wrong.
 

Small Steps Towards a Better Tomorrow
 

Aside from the obvious graphical improvements, Diablo 2: Resurrected has made a number of small but significant improvements in a variety of ways. These minor tweaks help to alleviate some of the more irritating quirks of the original game while still maintaining the core gameplay of Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction.

Let's start with the game of chance. Gambling is a mechanic that allows you to purchase unidentified items from certain merchants for an absurd amount of gold; all you would know is what type of item you're purchasing and nothing else about the item. If you didn't like what was being offered for sale, you'd have to exit out of the store screen and speak with the merchant again in order to get a new selection of items to consider.

With the introduction of the "Refresh" button in the Diablo 2: Resurrected Technical Alpha, it is now possible to rotate the available items without having to exit out of the dialogue box. This is a much-appreciated change that will save a significant amount of time in the future. The regular merchants, on the other hand, have no such option, and rotating their stock is even more inconvenient — you have to leave town and come back. I believe a Refresh button would be beneficial on those merchants' websites as well.
 

Having money in the bank
 

Another welcome improvement is a significant increase in the amount of money in the stash. It is possible to store items outside of your character's inventory in your stash, which has a maximum capacity of 48 inventory spaces in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. Diablo 2: Resurrected, on the other hand, boasts a significantly larger inventory, with 100 slots to choose from.

What's significantly more interesting, however, is the introduction of a shared stash, which allows you to easily transfer items between different characters. This is a significant improvement in the overall quality of life; previously, you would have to enter a multiplayer game, drop items, and then pick them up on a new character.

From the perspective of someone who used to do a lot of collecting, my only concern is that the game is too short. The extent of my "mule" characters' sole purpose in multiplayer Diablo 2 was to hold on to the massive collection of items I possessed was astounding. For those who enjoy collecting as much as I do, I would like to see the ability to expand this shared stash in some way, perhaps with additional tabs, in order to accommodate those who do not. In a modern premium game, there shouldn't be a need to create characters who are mule-like.

The game's gameplay is as good as it has always been.
 

Aside from the obvious improvements, the core gameplay in the Diablo 2: Resurrected Technical Alpha is as good as it has always been. When I play D2R Items PC, it truly feels like I'm playing the original Diablo 2, albeit with better graphics. Unfortunately, I was only able to play three of the game's seven classes during my time with it. For the duration of the Technical Alpha, the characters Amazon, Barbarian, and Sorceress were available to play, serving essentially as easy, normal, and hard difficulties, respectively. The classes of Assassin, Druid, Paladin, and Necromancer were not available at the time. The Necromancer and the Assassin are two of my favorite classes, so this was a particularly disappointing development for me.

All of the janky bits are still there, as well. I've gotten stuck on objects in the past, and they're very similar to the original. The mercenary A. I. is still as stupid as it was before. I'm fine with this because, as frustrating as it can be, removing these issues wouldn't provide quite the same experience as it did before they appeared.
 

Glow-in-the-Dark Graphics
 

Aside from my dissatisfaction with the new art style, every other aspect of Diablo 2: Resurrection's graphics has seen a significant improvement. All of the characters appear to be of high quality, and the environments also appear to be of high quality. The level geometry is identical where it matters — in fact, you can toggle between the classic and Resurrected graphics on the fly by pressing the G key. However, the appearance of these areas has improved; the walls and floors are no longer as bare as they were previously. A significant increase in detail has been made to the environments, making them appear more realistic.

The item models have undergone a slight makeover. Long-time Diablo 2 players are aware that there were only a small number of item models, and that different item types frequently shared the same model. It appears that the variety has been increased in this regard as well; however, I will not be able to say for certain until I have completed the game's later acts and seen all of the item models.

Some enemies appear to be significantly more attractive than their predecessors. It is especially noticeable that the giant spiders from Act 1 and the lightning-enchanted beetles from Act 2 appear to be much cooler and less janky than they did in the original game.