We’ve been waiting for this game for 11 years! Impressions of Path of Exile 2 in Early Access, pure delight

Millions of players online at the start, a huge queue on the server, thousands of hours of streams and status as a true major release of the generation for fans. This is all the long-awaited sequel to Path of Exile from Grinding Gear Games.

The continuation took place 11 years after the release of the original game, and today we will figure out what has changed, whether PoE 2 is worth attention and whether it is necessary to pay for the project, which after some time will become conditional modes.

What is Path of Exile

I am sure that you have heard about the Diablo series at least once in your life. Cult Action RPG (ARPG further in the text), which, in fact, created the whole “diabloyd” genre around itself. The main elements of the genre are grind, created by testing, dungeons with crowds of enemies and things, properties that are generated randomly.

But trouble happened to the founder of the genre. Diablo, starting from the 3rd part, “slipped” very much. Hardcore connoisseurs of the genre complain primarily about the casualization of the gameplay, the decrease in the level of gloom and darkness in the plot, and, in general, the focus on an audience that is more unaccustomed to difficulties.

Diablo III, according to many, has become too bright and “toothless.”

And in 2013, Chris Wilson (hardcore Diablo fan who was extremely dissatisfied with Part 3) and Grinding Gear Games are releasing the first part of Path of Exile, which fans of the genre immediately call “the real Diablo.”

Tough, dark, with a ton of loot and simply a gigantic space for leveling up, the game quickly gains popularity, and Tencent pays attention to GGG, buying out its controlling stake.

The game quickly developed and was expanded throughout its life cycle; all content was released in a seasonal format and did not require additional payment. And in 2019, the second part was announced, which was initially intended as just a large addition to the original, but in 2023 it was announced that Path of Exile 2 would become an independent game due to the increased scale of the project.

And let’s finally talk about it.

Victims are very difficult for casuals

Path of Exile 2 is Dark Souls from the world of Diabloids. The developers have repeatedly stated that they do not want to do the same as Blizzard with their Diablo IV and go towards MMORPG. The main source of inspiration is the “Souls” series by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Yui Tanemura. A special approach to the game design of Elden Ring.

And this is thought from the first moments of acquaintance with the combat system. You can’t just press a button and look at the damage numbers. Path of Exile 2 requires a thoughtful approach, attention to timing and thinking through strategy even in the very first skirmishes.

need to prepare for what game. The rest, by the way, will be hanged.

But before you burst into the world, you need to create a character. At this stage, the player is offered a choice of six character classes: sorceress, warrior, ranger, witch, mercenary and monk. The list is not final, and at least 6 more will be added later. It is worth understanding that the game is now available for children and is being actively implemented on the go.

The gameplay for each class is quite different. For example, a witch is actually an analogue of a necromancer from Diablo, and the emphasis is more on controlling units, resulting in one’s own struggle. And a mercenary with a firearm suddenly reminded me of Alien Shooter and Hotline Miami with its dynamics and emphasis on constantly breaking distance with a crowd of opponents.

There are currently 4 game modes:

📍 Standard. Classic mode without additional restrictions. You can trade with other players and play in groups.
📍 Hardcore. Same as standard, but much harder, and death resets the difficulty to level.
📍 Solo. as the name suggests, completely single-player mode.
📍 Solo hardcore. The most difficult single player mode.

Comparisons with Miyazaki’s games do not come out of nowhere. There is no open seamless world here, like in Diablo 4, the structure of the game comes down to the formula: peaceful hub location -> dungeon number 1/2/3 and so on. And the “dungeon” itself (the designation is arbitrary, by which I mean an area with enemies, quest tasks and bosses, and not a literal cave or basement), takes into account a limited number of control points (almost like dice in Dark Souls), which the player returns to upon death .

All killed enemies are resurrected, by the way, along with the player. The same goes for the health of bosses. Local chapters, by the way, which is atypical for the genre, are also often a set of unique mechanics, and not just damage sponge.

And of course, the whole process of clearing dungeons and the hero’s journey through different cities has a different plot. The story takes place 20 years after the events of the first part, the main villain of the previous part – the evil god Kitava, who poisons the unification of souls – has long been defeated.

However, on the fantasy continent, Wraeclast has created new monsters and monstrosities that threaten the hard-won peace. The script doesn’t exactly shine with revelations, but believe me, it’s not about the plot, but about the unique gameplay and huge variations in the construction of your character.

And this is what we will talk about now.

Diablo IV looks very pale compared to PoE 2

This is the leveling branch from Diablo IV.

Comparisons with the biggest gaming genre are inevitable here. How Diablo 4 works: You have a character, they have a small skill tree, and the entire focus is on grinding experience to unlock skill slots and equip the appropriate gear. Putting together an “imba” and lazily “clicking” the game until the credits roll without much variety is as easy as shelling pears.

But not in the case of PoE 2. It features perhaps one of the most flexible and interesting skill systems in the ARPG/RPG genre. A complete and detailed description of it would require literally several large articles, so let’s make do with brief abstracts.

Visually, the stone system looks simple in principle.

Instead of these standard principles, which we call a character class, most minds are represented by special qualities that result in an ability that can be either active or passive.

The back stone of active skills can be additionally charged with a stand stone (up to 5 pieces). The system is limited to 9 slots for active stones. In total, the game reads about 240 active skills. You drop rocks spontaneously from defeated enemies.

And that’s not all. All the fear for a beginner lies in the village passive skills. The first part of the traditional principles to master is precisely because of him. The tree is huge (and there is more than one. It is common to everyone, and is the basis for each class) and learns more than 1500 skills. Access to them is gained through talent points, which the player receives either by leveling up the character, or sometimes by completing quests.

The most important thing is that the player is in no way limited in the choice of “passives”. And of course, you can quit skills and upgrade others, but to access this opportunity you will need to go through a couple of additional ones. quests at the beginning of the game.

PoE 2 skill tree.

What, do you think you can take a breather and go read Login guides on leveling up your monk? No. There is one more mechanic in leveling up a class – ascension. These are special bonus subclasses that give your character significant and unique abilities, allowing you to create more powerful and custom builds.

For example, the Warrior class can be transferred to either the Titan or Warbringer subclass, and each will have a unique set of bonuses.

Even at the early access stage, the replay potential in Path of Exile 2 is somehow inappropriately huge. The story campaign currently lasts approximately 50 hours (it is not finished, out of 6 planned only 3 acts are available), and even after completing 3 acts, there is still something to do in the game.

The class ascension branch is of course smaller, but still equally large.

You can start replaying the story for another class at a different difficulty level or adapt… in end-game content. It will feature several additional modes. For example, “Ritual”. At the same time, by activating the altars of sacrifice, players destroy monsters in the circle for more valuable loot.

As you can see, PoE 2 can take a very, very long time. Even in an unfinished project there is so much that you can forget about other games (as well as work, sleep, family) for a very, very long time. Diablo 4, although not a small game, even in its current state, taking into account the paid DLC, it will not be able to solve this.

Monetization and why PoE 2 is sold for money at all

The last thing worth discussing is monetization. PoE 2, like the first part, is a game from the shareware camps. But with a small nuance. Now you won’t be able to play it for free. At the moment, the game is only available to those who have purchased the “Early Access Support Pack”.

The basic version kit costs $30 on consoles or 1,398 rubles on Russian Steam. If you really like Grinding Gear Games, you can buy a more expensive set (on PC the most expensive one is only 4660 rubles, which is very affordable) and in addition to the game you will also get a pack of unique cosmetics.

Sooner or later the game will be released and will have all the benefits, exactly when is not yet known. But Grinding Gear Games says that early access will last at least 6 months.

And, of course, a little about monetization. Is it possible to play PoE 2 without financial investment? Yes, and even with pleasure. For donations you can only buy cosmetics, chest expansion (not a required attribute) and some things for the guild (they are like in classic MMOs, and if you are not the head of the guild, then you don’t have to pay), but all the game content will be available for free.

Should we wait for free or play right now?

Already at this stage, it can be noted: Grinding Gear Games has an exemplary project that in many ways raises the bar for the entire genre, both isometric (top-down) Action RPGs and the “diabloy” subgenre. Games with deeper and more varied leveling simply do not exist on the market at the moment.

The developers have taken note of all the comments they made about the first game and have significantly lowered the barrier to entry, but maintain a complex and addictive progression system. PoE 2 is very interesting to play and understand, and after it its closest competitor, Diablo 4, seems like a game from the last generation of consoles.

But to the question, play now or watch the full and free version, I suggest you answer it yourself. But I’ll just hint that if you miss the cruel, dark, bloody and complex “Diabloids” that evoke the very feeling of “one more block, and I’ll definitely sleep,” you already know what to do without me.

I leave it with this thought. Have a good day!