It really makes a huge difference in atmosphere when you walk into a room with a five-pointed star made of fire, and that fire actually looks like… well, fire, and not just a bunch of copied and pasted fire sprites in the shape of a star. In a deep dive panel on this remaster, Lead Artist Chris Amaral talked about how there’s a 70/30 philosophy where 70% of the art in any area is left alone as the “classic” art, and that extra 30% is then used to elevate that classic art, and that philosophy was definitely felt as I played.
Everything has been completely redone from the ground up, replacing the pixelated sprites with gorgeous 3D models, adding new lighting effects to the environment, and if for whatever reason you prefer the old style, you can switch between the two visuals seamlessly with the press of a button. This is absolutely not a case like Warcraft 3: Reforged with only marginally improved character models and a bump in resolution.
