Diablo 2 has been described as the adopted child of the Blizzard culture
Where do you stand on segregating art from artist? Perhaps you’ve thought about this when deciding whether to view an Roman Polanski film or listen to the latest Michael Jackson album – and surely, it’s the art D2R Items would be impoverished indeed if we stripped it of all its beasts. There’s no easy answer.
In light of the horrendous revelations regarding the company’s “frat boys” culture, this is now something we need to be asking ourselves about Blizzard games, too.
In some respects the beautifully produced remaster of Diablo 2 is unlucky to be the company’s first release since California’s state California had filed suit against the studio. The bulk of the work it was handled through Vicarious Visions, a blameless firm that only joined Blizzard in the beginning of this year.
(Indeed the studio’s former head Jen Oneal was recently named co-leader of Blizzard and a brand new broom presumably intended to be the one to lead the change there.) The original 2000 game was designed by Blizzard North. A completely autonomous studio, distinct from its SoCal mothership.
Diablo 2 has been described as the adopted child of the Blizzard culture, at most. However, buy diablo II resurrected items contributed to setting the Blizzard aesthetic, with its neo-metal-inspired aesthetic the kitchen sink, lore and lore, cutting-edge online multiplayer and ending game of unimaginable depth and complexity.