Blizzard Reveals Plans For 'Diablo' 20-Year Anniversary
This New Year’s Eve, Blizzard will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Diablo game. The company will set up events and items, which will be available for a limited time, related to the anniversary throughout its current lineup of titles.
Diablo III players will be able to play a new event called “The Darkening of Tristram.” The event was announced earlier this year at BlizzCon, and it’s a recreation of the original game within Diablo III. You’ll have to make your way through 16 levels and fight the game’s original four bosses. To complete the nostalgic package, the event will also have “retro touches like special graphics filters and eight-direction character movement.” But there’s a catch: You have to own the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion in order to play the event.
If you’re playing Overwatch, you can still celebrate the Diablo anniversary with sprays--symbols painted on a wall or the ground--of each class from Diablo III. You can also show off with a new icon that displays Diablo, the Lord of Terror. In World of Warcraft, it seems that there might be some new quests available as some characters from the Diablo world of Sanctuary arrive in Azeroth.
For StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm, a new Diablo-themed portrait is available. It seems that Heroes of the Storm will also receive a new map as part of the celebration. And if you’re playing the popular card game Hearthstone, a new challenger will appear in the Tavern Brawl section with the opportunity for you to win some new cards for your decks.
Blizzard was a bit unclear on when the anniversary events begin, although it’s a safe bet that it will start sometime soon, because New Year’s Eve is this Saturday. There’s no word yet on how long the events will last. If you want to get in on the action, keep your eyes peeled on Blizzard’s announcements.
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Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.
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c0rr0sive It's funny, they have said the tristram event would be all January, every January... But, there's still no patch in sight. Diablo is a failed game, they know it, and they aren't investing anymore time into it.Reply -
RomeoReject Reply
December 31st, the anniversary of Diablo! =)19071359 said:When the event is suppose to take place? -
IceMyth Reply19071722 said:
December 31st, the anniversary of Diablo! =)19071359 said:When the event is suppose to take place?
Thank you :) -
MaxTheTech C0RR0SIF I'd like to see you do better than blizzard at a action rpg dungeon crawler and talk smack afterwardsReply -
Martell1977 This could be great. I've been trying to get D1 working in Windows 10 for a while now to no avail. The first game was fun and much darker than D3. I hope they decide to leave it in the game, maybe like a special thing like the "care bear level" they replaced the "cow level" with.Reply
Now I am hoping they come out with a anniversary edition Wacraft RTS Warchest with WC1, WC2+xpac and even WC3+xpac. Maybe do it as a promo with WC4 RTS...doubt it will ever happen, but that would rock. I've seen a lot of people wanting WC1 remastered after the movie came out. -
melvis72 I've played The Darkening of Tristram and it more hype the way Blizzard talks about it. It was not what I expected and when I played it I couldn't wait to finish it since it was a bad way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Diablo. I thought it was poorly done and it felt like another boring level after level of Diablo 3, it is not worth all they hype they claim it to be. I wish Blizzard did something better for the 20th anniversary.Reply
For Martell1977 - The original Diablo does work with Windows 10, shame that it is giving you so much trouble. I've used the Diablo HD mod with it http://diablo1.ovh.org/hd/ and speaking of the Diablo HD mod it is an interesting mod for the game but the only shame of it is there seems to be no more progress on it especially with the multiplayer side. -
Onus Does Diablo3 still require an online connection to play single player? If so, it remains a failure, and Blizzard won't be getting my money.Reply -
Martell1977 Reply19076007 said:Does Diablo3 still require an online connection to play single player? If so, it remains a failure, and Blizzard won't be getting my money.
Yes, its their version of DRM. No internet, no D3. I don't mind all that much as I have a fast and stable internet connection, but I can see it being an issue for those that don't.
It's no different than many games these days. I can't play most of my Steam games or Origin games without an internet connection... -
jaber2 I played D when it came out, it was one of the most haunting memories of my early gaming, nothing since has been close.Reply