A long-rumoured remaster of Diablo 2 is reportedly in the works from Activision subsidiary Vicarious Visions, the makers of the Crash Bandicoot remaster compilation N. Sane Trilogy.

This comes according to a report from French publication Actu Gaming (via PC Gamer), the editor of which previously correctly predicted the Diablo 4, Shadowlands, and Overwatch 2 announcements prior to their official announcements at Blizzcon 2019.

And it comes as something of a surprise considering what we heard just last year. During ExileCon 2019, series creators Max Schaefer, Erich Schafer, and David Brevik revealed how they lost the entire source code for Diablo 2.

“Not just our code, but all of our assets,” Max Schaefer said at the time. “Irrevocably, fatally corrupted.”

“It’s all gone,” added the other Schaefer brother, Erich. “We were supposed to have a backup but neglected it. We spent a day or two in sheer panic.”

While the team were able to finish Diablo 2 by taking chunks from various builds and sections the developers had at home, that original source code was still lost, including countless art assets. “It would make it very difficult for Blizzard to do a Diablo 2 remaster because all the assets we used are pretty much gone,” Erich Schaefer added. “They’d have to make them from scratch.”

Meanwhile, as we wait for official confirmation, one modder has thrown their hat into the ring with their own Diablo 2 offering. Last month, modder Ram  released their own fully-fledged remake of the game built within Crate Entertainment's Grim Dawn. Called Reign of Terror, the mod is a full remake - not a 1:1 copy - of the ARPG, includes all content and classes present in the original Diablo 2, as well as its expansion Lord of Destruction.