The fact that it is a complete revitalization of one of the best games ever created is not our favorite aspect of the D2R Items Xbox Series remake that was released a year ago. Neither are the new graphics, the improved gameplay systems, the new mini map, the support for cross-platform progression, or the fact that it is one of the best games ever made.

Instead, it's the way the sound was designed.

We had high hopes for Diablo WeWe: Resurrected, but it appears that the game has already been largely forgotten by the gaming community only six months after its initial release. This is a shame because, in our opinion, the upgraded sound quality is among the best of any re-release or remaster currently available on the market.

The fact that the game was released so soon after the internal harassment scandal at Activision Blizzard became public did not help the game's chances at all. As a result of the scandal, many major news outlets stopped covering anything else related to the company. It is upsetting to read about the ongoing allegations as well as the successful lawsuits that concern inappropriate behavior at the company. We are completely on the side of the employees who were mistreated. We have faith that things will turn around for the better, and we sincerely hope that this does not imply that the meticulous effort these dedicated developers put into recreating Diablo WeWe will go unappreciated.

We believe that the game still has some level of okay player base, and Blizzard is still putting out updates for the moment; however, it does not appear to be the mega hit monster that Diablo WeWeWe became, and that is a shame. An incredible re-release of a legendary game, Resurrected was recently released. You are able to switch back to the previous audiovisual presentation at any time because the gameplay, story, and balance at the heart of Diablo WeWe have not been altered in any way. The game's old graphics are still gorgeous to look at, but the new presentation is where the game truly shines and should serve as a model for future remasters.

The graphics have been completely redone from the ground up for modern consoles and personal computers, and they are incredibly detailed and impressive as a result. Even though the game's default zoomed-out isometric viewpoint causes them to lose some of their enchantment, they are still among the most finely honed visuals in a current content game. The environments have a great deal of new detail that has been painstakingly added on top of the tiles and collision design that were there before. Character animations have a higher level of detail than in any other Blizzard game, and armor pieces have perfect materials and textures. The visual quality of the characters is superior to that of any other Blizzard game. The game is made better by the inclusion of real-time weather effects, which add layers of specular reflections and mud. In addition, all of the cutscenes were reanimated to a contemporary standard of CG quality.

But the sound is the star of the show for me personally, and D2R items is also the aspect of this new version that I like the best. Instead of simply reusing the game's original sound effects and music, Blizzard and Vicarious Visions amplified the sound in every direction possible. The game's audio has been completely reworked in true 7.1 and spatial audio, and it sounds fantastic when played through the 3D headphone systems that are included with the most recent iterations of the Xbox console. Although we have not yet been successful in purchasing one of Sony's systems, we believe that it also works well with the Tempest 3D Audio on the PS5.

The music tracks are clean and crisp, and they have a lot of depth, which is something the original mixes lacked. The sound effects are cranked up and have a grainy texture; in addition, there is additional low end and positional enhancement, both of which contribute to the impression that the world is significantly more alive. The sound effects of the weapons clang and crash with an atmosphere that is reminiscent of the first game, despite being processed by more contemporary production methods. There are a few new environmental soundscapes that help round out the package. These soundscapes help bring life to the unseen creatures and corners of the world that are just off camera, and they give things like rainstorms and spell effects more sonic power.

When you switch to the classic graphics, Diablo III: Resurrected also switches back to the original sound mix. This allows you to get a quick impression of how much sound work was put into this game. The addition of the new score gives the game such a noticeable boost that it is now unquestionably the best way to play; however, there are times when we wish that we could play with the game using the older graphics just for fun.

Over the course of the past ten years, we have tested dozens of remasters and re-releases, and the vast majority of them have retained the same sound effects and music as the original release, focusing any additional effort on improving the game's presentation instead of the audio

- We hope that other companies will take notice of Diablo WeWe: Resurrected and realize how much new audio design can add to these classic re-releases as a result of the fact that it goes against the trend to such an extreme degree

- It goes without saying that Wet is not a flawless remaster

- The menu system is still too mouse-centric to work well on consoles, but the new hotkey system for consoles, which maps multiple skills to the face buttons, is strangely superior to the traditional ability system that is used on PC

However, in terms of both the audio and the visuals, Diablo WeWe: Resurrected establishes a new benchmark for the capabilities of classic remasters. Wet is not technically a full remake because it retains enough of the original game's design and gameplay, but it is still able to have the feel of a brand new modern game. It's awesome that Blizzard decided to go for it because so many other companies simply put out an updated version of the same game that runs at a higher resolution and adds a little bit of new content and then call it a day.

It is possible that Diablo WeWe: Resurrected is the best game in the Diablo franchise overall, and it certainly has the best sound design. Both the upcoming Wemmortal and the still-not-dated-oh-no-why Diablo IV have a lot of expectations to meet this summer. We have high hopes that they will at the very least learn something about sound design from the full 3D soundscape that is featured in Resurrected, and that other upcoming remasters will keep in mind that sound can have just as much of an impact as graphics.

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