Blizzard announced this week that a “technical alpha test” for Diablo 2: Resurrected, the upcoming remaster of Diablo 2, will run this weekend. That means that players will be able to have their shot at playing the game early and giving their feedback to Blizzard starting April 9 and running through April 12.
To be clear, the alpha will be by no means a complete version of the game. Players will only be able to play as three of the seven character classes — Amazon, Barbarian, and Sorceress — and it’ll be a strictly single-player experience. You’ll be able to play the game’s first two acts, “The Sightless Eye” and “The Secret of the Vizjerei.” Blizzard said the purpose of the technical alpha is to gauge the reaction to the updates: “We want to know if we’re upholding the authenticity of design with our new visuals and quality of life changes.” Interested players can sign up on Blizzard’s site.
Blizzard revealed more details about the remaster at BlizzCon earlier this year. It put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that the game will be a faithful remastering rather than a remake — in fact, you can even press a button and bring the original graphics back if you wish to. The full game is expected to launch later this year.
If you don’t get into the technical alpha, don’t panic. According to the FAQs: “There will be at least one other chance to participate in a future test.” These FAQs also reveal the game’s updated cinematics are still in development, as the alpha will have the original cinematics as placeholders. One final warning for anyone wishing to participate in the technical alpha: “[All] progression garnered from the Technical Alpha will be nontransferable to later tests or the launch of the game.”
Source: Blizzard News
