Players are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Diablo 2, that legendary action RPG which gave birth to the modern dungeon crawler. Blizzard took Twitter to give a nostalgic moment to those who ever went into the Burning Hells for the first time- but as the day progressed, the official posts teased possible surprises with backlash, appreciation, and demands for the updates long awaited by the players.
The official Diablo Twitter had said all along: “Happy Birthday Diablo 2. 25 years have passed since our first foray into the Burning Hells. If you think you’ve seen and done it all, just wait for the chaos we’ve yet to unleash.” Costume-certified chaos, with a frenzy of speculations from the community, some thinking this would be a tease for some upcoming Diablo 2: Resurrected content, while others sarcastically implying that this means paid cosmetics are going to be in their face once more after the monetization controversies of Diablo 4.
Responding poured in one after the other. Devildavid914 (@GordonDave9) said, “Wait… What do you mean by this? More stuff for Diablo 2? Or 1? WHAT.” Others stood firm against Teemkill’s venomous attack on the whole thing: “If you dare use that warning as a way to release more D4 content…” Such skepticism didn’t come without cause as Diablo 2: Resurrected hasn’t seen any major content update for years, and the players had been miffed that even with such a recent ladder reset, there was no freebie or anything with which to celebrate the anniversary, the view of Grimmgeta (@Grimmgeta).
Nostalgia was the common thread about many of the answers back. Numerous gamers sent in their stories: user (@auraus) stated that Diablo 2 brought them and their partner together (“Nerds that game together, stay together!”), and others like @rebeldottie recalled, “Played it day 1… I lived in Diablo 2 for a whole summer and then some. Thanks for thousands of hours of fun!” Even MV (@MarineVeteran06) mentioned one of the most iconic lines from the game: “25 years of this amazing game and hearing the best line I have ever heard-‘Not even death can save you from me.'”
There was so much love that came with the criticism. Some players held Blizzard responsible for making later entries that didn’t contain the magic of Diablo 2. @trolli0sis stated plainly, “25 years and you haven’t made a worthy successor to it. Diablo 3 was terrible, and Diablo 4 is just Diablo 3 with a shoddy MMO coat of paint.” Other voices, such as @GreedsVeil69, reminded Blizzard that the original team behind Diablo 2—Blizzard North—doesn’t exist anymore, suggesting that the current developers might actually be good at what they do, but not in a way that resonates with what made the original game special.
There had been something of a hopeful plea that found support. The people wanted a Diablo 1 remake (“Give us Diablo 1 Remake” – @DemirciogluOkan), they wanted D2R on Steam (“Release Diablo 2 Resurrected on Steam!” – @kantallive), and they wanted fixes for its poor performance (“Patch D2R to run at 60fps on Switch 2” – @ericlofi). The clamour for Diablo 2: Resurrected attention was loud and clear; @Imperius_Fate sarcastically remarked, “Sure, act like D2R hasn’t gotten any patch in like 2 years now.”
What’s next? The tease would suggest something is coming-whether more D2R content, Diablo 1 surprise revival, or yet more patch updates for Diablo 4. But one thing is one hundred percent true: It has been twenty-five years, and the legacy of Diablo 2 is firmly etched in gaming history; the players are not going to let Blizzard forget about it. Whether the studio can then actually pull off the hinted chaos… that’s an entirely different story.
