Diablo 2 Resurrected gets some good news for fans of the original

At BlizzConline over the weekend, Blizzard revealed the long-awaited Diablo 2 remake, which will be known as Diablo 2 Resurrected. Obviously, the reveal of Diablo 2 Resurrected sparked a lot of questions among fans, especially after the disaster that was Warcraft 3 Reforged. Blizzard – or more specifically Vicarious Visions, the Blizzard subsidiary working on Diablo 2 Resurrected – has answered some of those burning questions, especially a very important one about whether or not Diablo 2 Resurrected will overwrite original Diablo 2 installs.

The answer to that question is "Absolutely not," according to Diablo 2 Resurrected principal designer Rob Gallerani in a Diablo Q&A session during BlizzConline. When asked if Diablo 2 Resurrected would overwrite an original Diablo 2 installation, Gallerani answered, "No, absolutely not. Everything you have about D2 currently will stay D2; this is a separate product, a separate game. You can play them at the same time if you want."

In a follow-up to that question, Gallerani confirmed that players will not be able to bring characters from the original Diablo 2 forward into Diablo 2 Resurrected, so it looks like all of us Diablo veterans will have to start fresh when Resurrected lands on the scene (not that anyone is likely to complain about that).

That part about Diablo 2 Resurrected not overwriting original Diablo 2 installs might seem like a strange question to anyone who didn't witness the launch of Warcraft 3 Reforged at the beginning of 2020. Reforged replaced the original Warcraft 3 entirely, forcing players of the old version to update to the new client even if they hadn't purchased Warcraft 3 Reforged. That didn't sit well with many fans, so Blizzard is understandably looking to keep the original Diablo 2 and Diablo 2 Resurrected separate.

Other interesting tidbits about Diablo 2 Resurrected that were revealed during that Q&A session include the fact that D2R will be based on Diablo 2 version 1.14, which is the current live version of the game. Furthermore, while there will be cross-progression – which means items, characters, and progress through the game will carry over from platform to platform – there isn't cross-play planned for the game right now. You can watch the full Q&A in the video embedded above, but otherwise, we'll keep an eye out for more details about Diablo 2 Resurrected.