Path of Exile came out in 2013, and over the decade that followed it gained a stellar reputation not just in the hack and slash genre, but in broader gaming as well.
It has excellent gameplay design, exciting, dark fantasy setting, and a fair, no pay-to-win, approach to microtransactions fueling the development and maintenance of this Free-to-Play game.
After a decade, however, came time to take all the experience Grinding Gear Games gathered making PoE and use it to make a sequel: bigger, bolder, better.
The paid Early Access period for Path of Exile 2 started on December 6th, 2024 and if you’re wondering if it’s worth the price of entry, we’ve got a few reasons to give GGG’s newest game a shot even before it’s released all of its planned content.
Can it compete with Diablo? Or, perhaps more accurately: can Diablo compete with it?
Six classes (out of planned twelve) already available
While the finished PoE2 will have a dozen classes with different mixed of Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence affinities, the Early Access already lets you try out six of them: Monk, Ranger, Witch, Mercenary, Sorceress, and Warrior.
All of them also come with Ascendancies, their higher-tier, specialized, endgame versions
As expected, each class has its playstyle quirks and preferences, and since you can’t change class mid-playthrough, it’s a good idea to read up on them before committing.
A new web of upgrades
The skill system known from PoE1 returns in with all kinds of new stuff adding up to 1500 passive skills which let you refine and personalize your build.
All classes share the same tree, so while they start out in different places you can, eventually, tap into the skills of other professions.
Dual specializations
You can run with two different weapon sets, with their own allocation of skills.
Make your characters more flexible, their ability rotations even wilder, and general builds even more fun to theorycraft.
Revamped Gem system
Gems in Path of Exile are the source of active abilities, and in PoE2, Skill Gems are slotted into your character, rather than their gear, and Support Gems are socketed into the Skill Gems themselves.
You can have up to nine skills slotted in, and they come with their own Support Gem sockets. If you want your Fireball to become five fireballs, that’s how you do it.
Hefty endgame
Don’t worry about a game losing its appeal when you get to the end. PoE2 offers a robust endgame with its own skill trees (Atlas perks and the aforementioned Ascendancy), a new, procedurally generated overworld map with nodes representing objectives, challenges, etc.
You will need to play the chapters available in Early Access twice before you get there, which might be fun or not depending on how much you like them. But it’s a “price” worth paying.
Begin your path of exile (2)
That only just scratches the surface of what awaits you in PoE2, because, of course, there’s also all the exciting hacking and slashing from the original game, refined and given a refreshed technology to support it, and a story about corruption and mutations.
So, are you ready for the dangers of Wraeclast and wrestle with the Corruption running its course across the land?