Path of Exile was the scariest action RPG to me. It’s an investment in player agency made for expansive skill trees and customization options. To put it simply, the creativity that rested at the core of the game was intimidating. Then I played Path of Exile 2 at PAX East, and it was pretty clear that all I had to get over that intimidation was just to play the game.
While the game adds systems depth in all the ways I mentioned above, it also doesn’t look to leave any player behind. It’s the small choices the game makes with its tutorial section and well-written descriptions of items, armor, and augmentations. More importantly, the voiceover and video explained to the players the skills they were about to equip. Instead of just including a small video of the skills in use and the description, the game features audio that reads out the description.
While some may roll their eyes at pointing it out, this small design feature looks to reach the players who just look at the image and equip something (hi, that’s me). This key connection point shows a concerted effort to ensure that the game, the classes, and the creativity behind building out your class are accessible, regardless of playstyle. To make a game accessible to new audiences doesn’t mean that you need to simplify. It just means that you need to get better at meeting players where they are and creating a bridge for them to connect to your work.
The joy of Path of Exile 2 comes from defeating its bosses, and the ingenuity of having only a set amount of time to play inspires. I’ve been lucky enough to check out Path of Exile 2 three times now. Each time, I’ve mostly played through the same starter areas, which made time my enemy and speed my goal, which isn’t always possible when playing in a squishier class like the Witch (especially when you focused on upskilling your damage skills and not your minions).
For the Witch, minions are managed through allocated Spirit, and the new Sceptre weapon helps build your army larger. As you increase your Spirit, you can conjure more permanent minions with varying damage and sustainability. Each permanent minion also comes with an action skill that can be performed. When managed effectively, the army can become easily overwhelming. Add in some of the skills that turn corpses they hit into temporary minions, and a little Contagion and the Witch can be played effectively.
But creativity is at the heart of this game. The way that Path of Exile 2 empowers the player to chart their own path through obstacles is fascinating, challenging, and, to be honest, extremely unique. I learned this from boss fights, big and small.
To refine my build, I needed to see what was broken. Exploring what your class can be is a personal experience to say the least. With Skill Gems and Support Gems to augment them, it feels like the possibilities are endless, but they never feel like too much noise. Since you can not use duplicate gems in skill sockets, navigating your build depends on understanding where they’ll be most useful.
That said, with built-in recommendations (which can be toggled if you wish), you can get started slotting Support Gems in suggested places until you are comfortable experimenting. This is yet another key example of the increased and incredibly thoughtful tutorialization you find in Path of Exile 2, which isn’t just a game for hardcore fans. However, they do have their path to walk if they’d like to. Then, of course, you factor in the new addition of charms that use flask charges to defend you from specific skills and elements automatically, and we can see even more customization on display.
At about the midway point of my time with the game, I decided to try out some of the other classes. Early Access will have six classes available, with 12 total set to be available when the game launches out of Early Access. For me, three classes stood out the most (aside from Witch): Monk, Warrior, and Mercenary. While the Sorceress and Ranger classes were fun, they didn’t offer anything immediately noteworthy but were solid classes.
Monk offers extremely quick melee combat with lightning, ice, and wind attributes. Focused on quick movements for evasion and damage, the class is an immediate thrill, whether you’re fighting trash mobs or taking on a boss. A melee class but much different in speed, Warrior is about power and blocking. With a shield that can absorb all frontal damage (until your guard breaks and you’re stunned), it offers a strong and honestly fun charge that alters the class’s typical weighty sword and board combat into something exciting when used in between other moves.
But then there is the Mercenary. A first for POE, the Mercenary takes full advantage of the new addition of WASD controls with a rapid-fire crossbow that can switch into a shotgun-type weapon with ease. The attack speed of the crossbow and the WASD controls make the class feel exactly like a shooter.
At the outset, this combat looks out of place, but in practice, it’s fun. The only issue is that Mercenary lacks the sustainability to survive melee with mobs. However, the class also doesn’t feature a way to easily create a gap between you and your enemies. This is frustrating early on because the time to reload is longer than the time it takes for enemies to close a gap, with dodges taking you out of the animation and thus stopping the reload altogether. This makes early game Mercenary the only character with which I could not beat the first boss.
Health and mana go hand in hand with combat. And for Path of Exile 2, the flasks system has been changed. Now, you have one flask slot that can be upgraded with new flasks and refill their charges based on the enemies that you kill. While you can keep them filled while exploring and disposing of trash mobs, boss battles are another story. With limited adds available in the boss fights I took on during my time, health management became key to defeating them, as much as anything else.
Path of Exile 2 is clearly bigger than its precursor, but even with the depth of the systems, Grinding Gear Games has ensured that it doesn’t lose anyone along the way. Balancing depth and approachability to new players is no small task, but it’s one that the developers have taken on head-first. Despite not having a background in POE, I never felt like I didn’t know what was happening or that I was missing out on building a character that works. Whether it was the voice-over explanations or the recommendations on using my support gems, the training wheels helped me become comfortable. And then, I took them off.
At this point, I’m beyond ready to dive right into Path of Exile 2 when it launches into Early Access. Having learned and progressed farther and farther each time with new additions and refinements to the game over this year, I’m ready to take on Ascension Trials and test my grit on the new Cruel level of difficulty (which takes the place of Acts 4, 5, and 6, in the level progression scheme before release, effectively acting as a new game plus. I’ve never felt so creative in an ARPG, and even with just one day of play, I had crafted a character that felt uniquely my own. And that’s the best way to look at the assistance baked into Path of Exile 2.
Beyond providing satisfying combat and exemplary “player power” in terms of creative customization, Path of Exile is extremely detailed and gorgeous. The environments are layered experiences that offer immersive environmental storytelling on their own. With 50 bosses and 400 monster types available in Early Access, the art team’s dedication to creating horrific and terrifying worlds and enemies that offer grotesque beauty is something I noticed from the very first time I played to now.
But it’s not just the environments. It’s also the character animations, armor, item designs, and creatures that are all visually distinctive from others in the genre. The main element of uniqueness comes from the fact that despite the game’s investment in darkness, none of the artistic elements feel muddied by it. Instead, thoughtful lighting and a dedication to developing unsettling textures clearly capture the difference between even the smallest detail on display.
This isn’t a Path of Exile Early Access review, but it is a look at the elements that make this game stand out as a title that everyone should anticipate. Path of Exile 2‘s difficulty, combat, art, and map designs are something that keep pulling you in. After every death, you keep wanting to go again, and after every boss battle, you’re hunting for the next one. After being entirely intimidated by the first game, I didn’t know that this was where I would be at the end of 2024. Now, I just can’t get enough.
Path of Exile 2 releases in early access on December 6, 2024.
