Diablo II: Resurrected Alpha Test Reveals Blizzard Censorship And Poor Art Direction Of Upcoming Remaster
Spencer Baculi
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The discovery of censorship in Diablo II: Resurrected, along with the game’s questionably poor art direction, has led to frustration and outrage among players who had hoped that Blizzard would refrain from making such edits to the beloved title during its remastering.
Source: Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
Related: Blizzard Censors Single Curse Word in Years-Old World of Warcraft Dialogue
First announced in February as part of the developer’s annual BlizzCon convention, Diablo II: Remastered has been promoted as a “remastered version” of the PC classic, with Diablo head Rod Fergusson even promising during the title’s reveal, “We’re not trying to reverse-engineer the game and build it from scratch to look like D2. This is D2. This is the same core gameplay, the same story and tone, even the same voices of the same actors.”
However, this promise of adhering to Diablo II’s original tone would not extend to the game’s graphics, as players soon discovered during a recent open alpha test of the remaster that Blizzard had censored a number of the game’s models.
Source: Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
As brought to widespread attention by Hololive Vtuber Takanashi Kiara, the game’s Amazon player character, who previously wore a long and narrow loincloth that occasionally gave way to brief glimpses of her buttocks and thighs, has now been replaced with a medium length skirt that covers up the entirety of the upper half of her lower body.
According to footage recorded by Kiara, this change in appearance also applies to all of the Amazon’s equipable gear.
In a similar fashion (no pun intended), Blizzard also gave the game’s sole female Evil, Andariel, a new loincloth that covers her once-previously-visible buttocks and thighs.
Source: Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
Related: Blizzard Criticized by Diablo Creator David Brevik
The Blood Raven enemy has also been altered. In the original release, Blood Raven wore a small loincloth, thigh high boots, and a revealing top, but in Diablo II: Resurrected, her body is now covered in what appears to be a system of veins.
Although she is still technically wearing her original outfit, these veins serve to blur the line between her costume and her skin.
Source: Diablo II (2000) / Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
In addition to these instances of censorship, players have also taken issue with the poor art direction Blizzard chose to follow in remastering Diablo II, as the game’s updated graphics have been widely panned by players, with the Amazon in particular receiving the brunt of the fanbase’s criticism.
“The Amazon looks like an old man,” wrote /u/ixKOOPAxi on the /r/Diablo_2_Resurrected subreddit. “The Barbarian looks like a 58 year old retired wrestler with low testosterone. The Druid found a hair dresser. The Sorceress turned into a thicc latina. The Assassin turned into Shang Tsung. The Necromancer looks alright, but older. The Paladin needs to visit the Druid’s hairdresser.”
Source: Diablo II (2000) / Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
/u/Mmeee wrote “Like they are trying to stay true to original, but suddenly we get angry bulky grandma amazon who postures like she had no agility/swag/firm whatsoever.”
Source: Diablo II (2000) / Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
“Amazon’s face looks really off. Not trying to be offensive, but she literally looks like a man,” said /u/Crypto2k. “Assassin’s looks less like a slim agile type and more like some kind of MMA bruiser design seems way off, especially in terms of general body type. Necromancer looks pretty good.”
They continued, “Barbarian doesn’t really channel the power of the original, especially in terms of the animation. The original barb looked like he was Conan The F—ing Barbarian ready to smash, while the new one feels more like a raider from Fallout. Sorceress is mostly good, but she has a similar problem to the assassin: she no longer looks slim and fragile, which doesn’t really reinforce the glass cannon fantasy she is supposed to represent. Druid is mostly fine, although the original threatening body language is nowhere to be found.”
Source: Diablo II: Resurrected (2021), Blizzard Entertainment
When the issue of the Amazon’s appearance first arose, Blizzard community manager /u/PezRadar attempted to assure fans that “The team has most definitely been seeing the feedback over the last day regarding some of the looks on the character models.”
“There may be some changes in the future so we appreciate all the feedback on this,” they added. “In the end, the game is a lot of ways your game and not just ours so we want to make sure we do get it right :)”
What do you make of the censorship and graphical changes seen thus far in Diablo II: Resurrected? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!
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