Blizzard has revealed they will be having a special holiday event for Diablo II Resurrected, named, intriguingly, the 22 Nights of Terror.
One would expect a title like that to come for a Halloween event, but Diablo II Resurrected isn’t exactly a holiday type of game, even in the Frigid Highlands. Christmas Nights on the Sega Saturn this is not.
Here is how Blizzard describes the event:
“From December 13, 11:00 a.m.–January 4, 11:00 a.m. PST the fabric of Sanctuary will be altered every 24 hours, revealing a new gameplay modifier via the in-game Message of the Day that will last for the next 24 hours. The 22 Nights of Terror holiday event can be enjoyed in all online game modes except for Classic Diablo II.”
Blizzard had been deliberately vague in what the gameplay modifiers exactly will be, but we do know that Diablo II Resurrected is surprisingly, back to active development.
Over 20 years after its initial release, Diablo II Resurrected received a major rebalancing. Changes were made so that underutilized class skills would get major buffs, compelling people to use them more often.
Among the mercenaries, it was long well established that Desert Mercenaries were the best type usable in the game, thanks to their Paladin class bonuses. Now, all the other mercenary types have gotten buffs as well.
Blizzard also dropped the intriguing addition of Terror Zones, a new feature very similar to Torchlight’s Shadow Vault. But if the Shadow Vault was a separate part of the game players could go through as the end game, any part of Diablo II Resurrected’s map can become a Terror Zone.
Every hour, a random spot becomes a Terror Zone, where enemies are stronger, but of course, defeating them is more rewarding with higher experience and better items.
Terror Zones are also the only place where players can pick up Sundered Charms, a new special type of charm that can remove monster immunities.
All these changes were made with the objective of making the grind to Level 99 more entertaining. It’s certainly the sort of thing you wished you had when you were playing the original Diablo II on Windows 1998, or Millenium Edition, or whichever one you had.
Fortunately, Diablo II Resurrected is now playable in pretty much every modern gaming platform. Look forward to playing all those 22 nights on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows via Steam or the Blizzard client.