Diablo 2: Resurrected helped me love my brain

I’m lost most of the time when I play Diablo 2: Risen, but then I get lost most of the time when I drive to the grocery store. I just never thought that a new version of a classic game would end up being the thing that helped me get at peace with my own brain.

I can not make mental cards, no matter how hard I try. When I was a kid, I would get lost in my school at least once a day. I first started driving before I could afford an early GPS. I know how to get to the bathroom in my house, but I can not visualize the walk. In my head, it’s a series of twists. If I’m in a one-on-one situation and the other person asks me for directions, I should hide my panic attack.

I live a relatively normal life, but that’s due to the fact that I have too many small coping mechanisms to count. I honestly thought it was something uniquely broken on my brain for years, until I read the book Unthinkable, which describes others with this condition. It’s rare, and my case is apparently only moderate, but it affects all aspects of my life.

My skill at competitive shooters will always get stuck at some point, because although I can think through the tactical options of each shooter using the cover and parts of the map I can see, there will never be a door to door to go not know what’s on the other side no matter how many times I’ve been through it.

Weird, or how?

But my condition also makes it easier to determine if the map or a waypoint system is effective. After all, I’m totally addicted to getting anywhere in the game. And Diablo 2: Risen has almost no such systems.

So the devil is … right?

Modern games are overflowing with maps, arrows, interesting places, quick travel options and other ways to make sure the player is never lost. I thought it was a positive step for games, and I still think it is in general, but Diablo 2: Risen going so hard in the other direction with such confidence and efficiency that I might have to change my mind.

Diablo 2: Risen gives you an idea of ​​where to go and some landmarks is shown on the map, but you are mostly alone. There is a minimum map you fill out as you explore, but there are very few clear directions that tell you where to go. You are stuck exploring a wide and hostile landscape while trying to find your next target, and the dungeons themselves are even generated procedurally.

In a way, Diablo 2 give everyone a small taste of what it’s like to have my brain when it comes to directions. You can look around a bit and give a sensitive guess as to where to go, and you can fill in a map while exploring so you know where you were, but you need to figure out where to go next? It depends on you.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard even thought about this aspect of Diablo 2 for Stood up so it felt more like a modern game, but the team realized early on how dramatically it would change the experience.

“Most players play with the card up while playing the game,” Rob Gallerani, chief designer at Blizzard’s support studio, Vicarious Visions, told Polygon in a previous interview. ‘And a request we got in the play test – a lot of people who have never played [Diablo 2] but is used to playing more modern games – will be like, I just got a search. Where is the point on the map that tells me where to go? We looked to do something like that, and you’re like, Well, it does not break anything, right? It does not overwhelm my character or anything like that. And that completely changed the atmosphere of the game. ”

Losing players was the right decision. In Diablo 2, it’s not only OK to get lost – it’s liberating too. You have to embark on your adventure, not knowing exactly where to go, but you have a vague idea of ​​which direction to start walking. It’s a new experience for modern gamers, but it’s also how I make it two blocks from the gas station. my house.

I’m excited about Diablo 2: Resurrected ‘s lack of clear directions for two reasons, then. For me, personally, it presents a fictional world in which my strange state does not matter at all. It also gives me an effective metaphor for explaining how my brain works to other people who play video games. It took me so long to realize how different my brain is, and this year I just opened up to people seriously about it.

Finally understand why Diablo 2 is so calming it feels like a blessing. We are not lost – we are lost!