Diablo 2: Resurrected beta starts this weekend

Diablo 2: Resurrected’s multiplayer beta begins this weekend, Blizzard announced on Tuesday. Players who pre-ordered the remaster of the 2000 dungeon crawler will get in on an early access weekend starting Friday afternoon, with the public open beta following the next weekend.

The early access period starts Friday, Aug. 13 at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT, and is available to those with a pre-order for Diablo 2: Resurrected or the Diablo Prime Evil Collection (a special edition with some extra in-game stuff for $20 more).

The open beta starts Friday, Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT. This beta and the early access beta include all platforms except Nintendo Switch. Players may try out cross-progression support on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X versions.

Blizzard says both betas will allow players to try out five classes: Paladin, Druid, Barbarian, Amazon, and Sorceress. The multiplayer component will support up to eight players in PvP or PvE play.

Both beta periods will be limited to the game’s Act I: The Sightless Eye and Act II: The Secret of the Vizjerei. But there will be no level cap, so players can try out a variety of builds for as long as they want to progress in these two acts.

Blizzard’s official blog post has more details. Diablo 2: Resurrected launches Sept. 23.

Blizzard first announced Diablo 2: Resurrected at BlizzConline earlier this year. At the time, executive producer Rod Ferguson stressed that Resurrected is a remaster, not a remake.

In a technical alpha held in April, we found Diablo 2 was just as faithful a re-release as Blizzard had promised, and that its controller support made all the difference for newer players.