As much as Path of Exile 1 was praised for its seemingly bottomless character customization and its ability to keep voracious action RPG players mentally fed for months, there was no denying that it could be a pain to get into. Playing it could be like giving a hug to someone made entirely of elbows. You'd get used to it over time, even find that feeling comforting, but there's no doubt that the series could use an update. Path of Exile 1 is over a decade old; It's time for something new.
That something, Path of Exile 2, is finally here, at least in early access, and there's understandably tremendous excitement about it. A decade of success has turned his predecessor from a nobody to a title contender. But where there is greater excitement, there are also greater expectations, and the sequel will be measured by a different yardstick: perhaps a Diablo 4 yardstick. Say what you will about Diablo's merits, but its production values and the addition of new players They are insurmountable. Will Path of Exile 2 compete?
Spoiler, yes, but a brief warning: this is an early access release, so Path of Exile 2 isn't finished, and Grinder Gear Games has said it will take at least six more months of development to finish, if not longer (these things usually end up taking longer than expected) . However, this is far from an incomplete early access release. The experience I've had, albeit on quiet, press-bound pre-release servers that have now been wiped as Grinder Gear prepares for the public's Early Access stampede, has been rock solid. There were a couple of unexplained desktop shutdowns, but they were minor hiccups in what has otherwise been a smooth and solid experience (although we'll have to wait and see how the public servers fare over the weekend to see if this feeling it's true).
Those elbows from Path of Exile 1 are practically gone, or are now so soft it's more like hugging a lumpy duvet than a… elf with elbows. The game plays much more like what you'd expect from a modern game: you move with the WASD keys and the mouse to aim, and there's full controller support, although it's still not easy to switch between the two: you still have to exit to main menu to toggle. Similarly, the game's more unusual systems remain, such as the way skills belong to the team and not the character. But now they are much better organized, so it is clearer how they work and what needs to be done. Onboarding is smoother too, and while I'm sure there's another onboarding pass to do before the game's full release, it's already welcoming enough if you're intrigued to give it a try (we've got some Path of Exile 2 tips to help you out) . if you do).
It helps that the game looks very smart now, of course: you can really feel the extra money, time, and people that Rectifying Gear Games has had on hand while making the sequel. The environments and characters are rich in detail and the animation is excellent. It's with small touches that you feel it, like freezing someone and seeing streaks of ice forming behind them, as if underscoring the momentum of the explosion, a bit like seeing a frozen wave in extreme weather. Or it's in moments of well-observed movement, like when my monk lunges forward, palm outstretched, to steal living essence from staggering enemies: slap! There's weight behind every hit, twitch and connection, and I love that as a player – the moment-to-moment feel of Path of Exile 2 is great. Luxurious. Expensive.
It's this framework that provides the ideal platform for the best things in the game, the best things in the series, to come to light. Path of Exile is known for challenging players (it's no different from the Souls series in that regard) and the sequel revels in this. Even in the early areas of the game, groups of enemies quickly surround you and take you down if you underestimate them or overestimate yourself. Similarly, bosses are tough and uncompromising. Once again, even as soon as you encounter the first boss, you'll get a harsh lesson in dodging and recognizing attack patterns – a lesson in “this is how the game deals with bosses.” But there's more than just unyielding difficulty: there's a sense of enjoyment in the challenge, both on your side and the developer's. Enemy composition probes his Composition, finding weaknesses and loopholes, and bosses are the centerpieces of the game, packed with imagination and personality.
A boss escaped me, which I didn't expect and made me laugh. Then when I chased them, they transformed, we fought, and they ran away again! This time, however, they tore a huge bell from some stage to crush me with it during the third and final phase of the battle: something brilliant and unexpected. Another chief housed in a mausoleum unexpectedly invoked the spirit of his lover from a different mausoleum to help them, then when I went to the other mausoleum, the boss there did the same thing in reverse. Connection, story: something that helps the encounters stick in your memory instead of floating in the endless flow of combat.
There's charm even in the usual enemies that wander around the middle portions of the game. I'm currently very fond of a gangly enemy in the cemetery area who drags a huge stone pedestal, or tombstone, to hit me. I can feel the effort involved as they drag it across the grass, churning up the dirt. Elsewhere, there are cultists, witches, mad dogs, and prickly burrowing creatures; You're up against a varied menagerie of animals and I like how they all fit in with the dark tone of the game. And even though I have no idea what's going on in the story, I'm not ashamed to admit it! – I'm really intrigued by the characters I've met in the game. They are simple and handled delicately so as not to interrupt you or overdo it with the exposition. Instead, it's little by little: they gradually come into view, with an elegance and sadness that I really admire, which seems like a strange thing to say. It all speaks to experience and confidence that I think can be felt palpitating throughout the experience, even from the beginning.
The depth is still dizzying: you only need to scroll through the active skill lists to see how many are available to you. As a monk, I'm not limited to just staff abilities: I can just as easily dabble with spells or other types of weaponry, doubling or tripling (or more) my possibilities. And the list of passive abilities is as outrageously extravagant as it always was in the first game; It will make your eyes stand out the first time you see it. It's so big that it doesn't fit on a single screen, even enlarged; There must be several hundred passive skills there. For a theory maker like I like to think I am, it's heaven.
What impresses me most about the game's approach to skills is the way Path of Exile 2 wants you to use them all in an overlapping way. There is no waste, so to speak, nothing superfluous. To begin with, I was just adding skills willy-nilly, only to realize later that they all work, in some small way, together. A palm attack will kill an enemy that glows blue, for example, but it will also steal essence that powers another ability elsewhere. They're little things that keep you going, keep you leaning forward, and keep you from drifting away, to prevent this from becoming a sort of Cookie Clicker experience.
This is a long way of saying that, initially, I am very impressed. Path of Exile 2 is flexing its blockbuster chops here and proving itself worthy of all the expectations heaped upon it and capable of taking on the biggest titans of action RPGs head-on. Of course, there's a lot more to unpack here and a lot more to see, which I'll delve into next week with a more comprehensive Early Access review. But I already feel confident in saying that if you've ever been on the fence about Path of Exile, wondering whether you should jump in or not, then your chance has come.
Developer Grinder Gear Games provided a copy of Path of Exile 2 for review.