Blizzard’s Diablo franchise has had quite the journey in 2017 with a horrendously received announcement of Diablo Immortal at Blizzcon, while simultaneously releasing a very well-received, well-balanced port of Diablo III on Nintendo Switch.
While the PR fires from Blizzcon are still quite hot even in 2019, Blizzard is back with an Anniversary patch for Diablo III. Originally released in 2017 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Diablo franchise, “The Darkening of Tristram” event allows all players to delve into the 16 levels of the original Diablo game.
Often acknowledged as the Anniversary Dungeon by the community, this event re-imagines the original 16 levels in the new engine, albeit with a few quirks of its own. The event features all the four iconic boss battles against The Butcher, Skeleton King, Lazarus, and Diablo himself. Other unique monster encounters are also present. The event also features a deliberate and heavily pixelated rendering resulting in dated graphics, an 8-directional cardinal movement system, a ~30FPS lock resulting in slower gameplay and a plethora of other changes to complete the throwback.
Such an event is not without its rewards. Completing the event and all of its challenges will reward the player with:
- Four banner patterns for each of the bosses
- Two pets
- Three portraits
- The Red Soul Shard, a legendary gem also capable of
transmog
- Magic item as loot and other things.
If you’re looking to get in on the fun, the portal to the Old Tristram City and the Labyrinth is open right now. The portal and all of its riches and demonic rags will stay open for all players until January 31st, 4 P.M PST. While PC and console players have had the opportunity to sink their teeth into these challenges and their rewards since 2017, this year marks the first time the Diablo III Switch community will get their opportunity to delve into the history of Diablo franchise and hope for a much brighter future as well.
