Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC) Review

Gazing upon the bonfire/class selection screen, you'll see two new faces. First there's the Assassin, a female warrior that: cuts down her foes using dual katars; sets traps that spew out death in various ways; summons a shadow "clone" of herself; makes her weapons poisonous; and, finally, can create charged orbs of various qualities around her, whose powers can then be unleashed with a finishing move that freezes, scorches, or zaps everyone around her. More importantly, this short-haired badass is extremely fast, to the point that starting a game with anyone else after playing with her for a long time, makes you feel that you have accidentally turned on a slow motion mode, or something.

Don't like playing a she-wolverine? Then the Druid is perfect for you. Basically another mage class, this hairy fellow is a master of the elements, who, compared to the sorceress, has spells that are more "unpredictable" in terms of accuracy, but also more lethal and massive in scale. Besides that, he can summon wolves, ravens, weird vines that poison enemies or eat corpses to replenish the Druid's health, as well as a hungry-for-demon-flesh bear. Not enough Mother Nature? Worry not, as he can also shape-shift into a werewolf or werebear - the first focused in speed, with the second being a slower, but also tougher alternative.

Blizzard North could simply sit back and enjoy the creation of a fine add-on, as these two are enough reason to play Lord of Destruction. Of course, this brings more to the table. For starters, there are tons of new loot to collect, as well as some extra goodies, like charms that you carry on your inventory and add various buffs, a variety of jewels and runes that can be inserted into your socketed gear, and, more importantly, class-specific equipment that enhance a character's unique abilities; bows and spears for the Amazon, Paladin-only shields, all kinds of different animal heads for the Druid, and so on - too bad your stash remains incredibly small, which is one of the very few flaws at hand.

The highlight of the expansion, though, is the new Act IV, which continues the hunt for the Prime Evils, and more specifically, the last remaining one: Baal, the Lord of Destruction. Story-wise, it may not be as impressive as the core game, but it's definitely very good, and wraps things up nicely for the Diablo series... before Diablo III ruined everything, in this humble reviewer's not so humble opinion. The reason the plot, as well as the overall atmosphere of LoD, remains almost as good as in Diablo II, is simply the fact that, unlike Hellfire, the expansion of 1996's Diablo, this was a first-party product, which was crafted by pretty much the same team of people.

Strictly in terms of gameplay, the Act IV, which takes place in the arid mountain land of the Barbarians, is probably the most action-packed of them all, with the very first area being an active battlefield where other Barbarians are fighting along with the player, with you feeling as if you've entered the fray in the best moment, as the hordes of Baal had just gained the upper hand. The monster cast in also far more diverse and tough, with undead who come back after (re)dying, teleporting goblins who can ride giant beasts or man towers, demons that turn their minions into suicide bombers, giants with freezing breath, and many more.

Lord of Destruction also brought forth rebalances in skills, fixes, and improvements like a better resolution setting. Sure, 800 x 600 doesn't mean much in the age of 16k, or whatever the monitors of these youngsters are able to do nowadays, but the pixely visuals of Diablo II are beautiful enough that it doesn't matter. Sadly, Lord of Destruction is sort of a missed opportunity to add some quality of life changes that could make Diablo II feel less like that old game from 2000. A bigger, shared stash; changes to skills so that they never turn obsolete; a better use of mercenaries; and so on - but all these are mostly nitpicks of someone who has spend more than 1000 hours on it. In the grand scheme of things, Lord of Destruction is one of the most finely-crafted expansions ever.