'Diablo 3' news: anniversary patch taps into original 'Diablo' game

A screenshot preview from "Diablo 3"Battle Net

Blizzard's "Diablo" will celebrate its 20th anniversary by bringing back the original game as part of "Diablo 3," as announced by the studio's Chief Development Officer Frank Pearce at BlizzCon 2016.

Pearce revealed that the original game that first came out in 1996 will be playable again under the "Darkening of Tristram" anniversary patch 2.4.3. It will feature the four main bosses from the first installment of the "Diablo" franchise, as well as the game's original music.

According to the official Diablo website, players will get to recreate the events that took place in the original game through the upcoming patch that will be launched in January 2017. "Filled with iconic enemies, familiar faces, and some old-school items, this event is a nostalgia-packed adventure down memory lane. Transmogrification rewards, achievements, and a few extra surprises await those brave enough to plumb the depths below Tristram," the statement on the website mentioned.

To add more nostalgia to the game, the studio included several graphics filters to make the current "Diablo 3" look like the 1996 game. The movement of the playable characters will also be limited to eight directions to make it appear like the original one.

More details about the "Darkening of Tristram" anniversary patch 2.4.3 will be revealed as the patch appears in the Public Test Realm next week.

Meanwhile, Blizzard also announced that "Diablo 3" will reintroduce the Necromancer character class in the game as part of the "Rise of the Necromancer" pack.

The Necromancer first appeared in "Diablo 2," but it will be released again as the next playable class for "Diablo 3." According to the announcement on the Diablo website, "As a master of the dark arts, you draw your magic from the power of death itself, and command mighty armies of risen warriors!" Players can also make corpses explode as well.

The "Rise of the Necromancer" pack for "Diablo 3" is expected to be released sometime in 2017.