Blizzard Entertainment is celebrating a special birthday in 2026. The video game developer and publisher, founded in 1991, turns 35 this year. That's almost as old as I am, and I'd say it has accomplished a whole lot more than yours truly.
Indeed, Blizzard and its coveted franchises, including Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, have taken up countless hours days months years of my life since I first discovered the joys of PC gaming in the mid-'90s.
More specifically, it was Diablo 2 that caused so many sleepless nights throughout my teens and 20s, and I wish I could say that something has changed now that I'm in the deeper stages of my 30s.
I've written plenty over the years about what a profound influence Diablo 2 has had on my gaming tastes (not to mention the way I spend my free time), but I'd like to revisit the subject as part of Blizzard's 35th birthday celebration.
The Past: Diablo 2 completely redefined my idea of PC gaming
The original Diablo game launched in 1996, and it was one of the first I recall playing at a family member's house. Its style, substance, and pacing blew me away. I wanted more, but I had to wait until June 28, 2000, and the launch of Diablo 2.
Until then, I'd been obsessed with Age of Empires and Age of Empires 2. I thought that real-time strategy was maybe the best way to spend my time. I enjoyed building bases, waging wars with massive armies, and teaming up to take on other friends who believed they'd discovered an unbeatable tactic. But when Diablo 2 came out, it redefined what I thought gaming meant.
Gone were short, frantic matches. Gone were competitive battles against friends. Gone were bright colors and chipper music. Diablo 2 was suddenly what everyone I knew was playing, and it was nothing like the games I'd so far come to know.
Diablo 2 was suddenly what everyone I knew was playing, and it was nothing like the games I'd so far come to know.
Diablo 2 introduced me to a dark, tortured world where people eked out a living in the shadow of legendary forces. It introduced me to incredible gothic artwork and the joy of seeing equipped gear show up on your in-game character. It introduced me to what I still consider to be the best score in any video game (thank you, Matt Uelmen). And it introduced me to the fact that a game could be deeply addictive.
In retrospect, my young mind was not ready for the gambling-adjacent gameplay loop that Diablo 2 presented. Every monster slain could be holding a high rune in its pockets, worth more than everything my character was wearing. Every boss run could bestow a new legendary item to wear or to trade. And every Diablo or Baal run meant getting just a bit closer to another level and another skill point. I continue to search out similar mechanics in all other games I play.
Diablo 2 is a difficult game, and it was especially difficult before the launch of the Lord of Destruction expansion in 2001. I didn't care how many of my early characters got stalled at Duriel, who to this day continues to be a power check for those who don't know how to invest early stats and skill points. I was hooked, and that hook hasn't gone away.
The Present: I enjoy modded Diablo 2, but I still slip back into the vanilla experience
What does a life of playing Diablo 2 look like? Other than a hunched back and curled fingers, it looks like a lot of monotony. Diablo 2 doesn't really have a concrete endgame to keep players hooked. There aren't any Greater Rifts (ala Diablo 3) or Pits (ala Diablo 4) to keep players coming back.
Instead, players run the same bosses ad nauseam to gain wealth and experience. They gather keys and organs or sell items to unlock Uber bosses, which award powerful Hellfire Torches and Annihilus charms when slain. They test out different builds, they engage in PvP, they attempt to find every unique item in the game, or they play Hardcore mode with permadeath enabled.
Diablo 2: Resurrected, the outstanding remaster that launched in 2021, introduced Terror Zones, which break up the gear farming monotony in a major way. However, the core loop that began about 26 years ago remains the same.
Although I still enjoy the vanilla Diablo 2 experience — there's nothing like a fresh ladder reset to do another runthrough, now on Resurrected — I've found myself over the years turning more to Diablo 2 mods than anything else.
It began a decade ago with the single-player PlugY mod for the original version of Diablo 2 and Lord of Destruction, which adds a ton of quality-of-life improvements. I then branched out into Path of Diablo, a multiplayer mod that adds a lot of features you'll also find in modern ARPG Path of Exile (including a much more fleshed-out endgame).
Lately, though, I've been enjoying Project Diablo 2, which launched its 12th season on November 28, 2025. It improves the original game's dated graphics, rebalances practically all classes and items, and introduces new bosses and endgame events to keep players engaged after "beating" the core game.
It has a lively online community, it still feels like Diablo 2, and it's constantly receiving updates with new content. I know that a lot of longtime Diablo 2 players have made the switch as well — most I communicate with in the multiplayer mods say the same thing: "I've been playing Diablo 2 since launch."
The Future: Will Diablo 2 ever receive new content?
Diablo 2 turned 25 last year, and in a celebratory post from the official Diablo channel on X, a tease read, "If you think you've seen and done it all, just wait for the chaos we've yet to unleash."
Unfortunately, there's yet to be any signs of new content coming to Diablo 2, excluding some pay-to-win bonuses that were added to the Chinese version of the game that launched last year.
Yes, Diablo 2: Resurrected's seasonal ladder race continues to be reset every few months, but there's no longer anything notable driving many longtime players to return for more than a nostalgia trip.
I wish I could tell you that Blizzard is working on new Diablo 2: Resurrected content. There's certainly an audience for it, especially now that it's so widely available on more hardware than just PC. But with Blizzard putting so much time into Diablo 4 and its cash cow cosmetics department, it's hard to see a future where my favorite game of all time gets anything official and significant.
The game that taught me that death is not eternal refuses to die, but every day it seems to get closer to the edge. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope that the next 35 years of Blizzard contain a portion carved out for my favorite Diablo.
Do you think Blizzard will launch new official content for Diablo 2: Resurrected? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments section!
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