Path of Exile 2 launched into early access on Friday, December 6, and — partly thanks to the first major snowstorm of the year that kept me hunkered down — I've already racked up nearly 30 hours of playtime just four days later. That's excessive even for me, but I'm finding it very hard to put down.
Games like Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) sit in the ARPG genre, ideally offering up a satisfying mix of hacking, slashing, looting, leveling, crafting, and questing. The first ARPG I played was Diablo 2, and no other ARPG in the following 24 years has been able to capture the same flavor despite having the same ingredients.
Diablo 3, a quality game in its own right, was very different from its predecessor, and Diablo 4 is almost not even worth mentioning in the same breath. As my colleague Jennifer Young wrote in an article published just before PoE 2's launch, Diablo desperately needs some quality competition.
I can't pinpoint what makes Diablo 2 so appealing — I still play it all the time in Resurrected form — and I don't think anyone else can either. Like an addict, I've spent countless hours searching for a new ARPG with more modern accouterments. After about 30 hours of playtime, Path of Exile 2 is the closest thing I've encountered. Those who grew up playing Diablo 2, take note. This is the game you've been waiting for.
What makes Path of Exile 2 so appealing to a Diablo 2 snob?
I've now carried two characters into the third act of PoE 2, with a few more still in Act 1. Admittedly, I haven't yet dipped a toe into the endgame, but I'm having a ton of fun simply discovering individual class abilities, how they're best deployed, and how they interact with other classes. The game rewards playing with friends, but you can certainly solo everything.
The first Act of the game is a slog. You're a recent wash-up on the shore with nothing more than a toothpick and a lowly skill gem to aid you. Your walk speed is slow, mana is low, and you're easily overwhelmed by large mobs. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
The game is difficult. Very difficult. Enemy levels don't scale with your character. You can easily get in over your head if you're not paying attention or rush too far ahead into an area with new monster types. Mindlessly engaging even lesser mobs can lead to failure if you attempt to stand around and face-tank damage.
The final Act 2 boss represents a major difficulty spike, causing me to go back and make some changes before retrying. It reminds me of Duriel in Diablo 2's second act, which remains a hard stop for a lot of players even today. Bosses in PoE 2 have a lot of health and can deal out a lot of damage, but every attack is clearly telegraphed and avoidable. Taking down bosses feels like a real achievement.
I've embraced the difficulty, and I promise it gets easier as you learn the game's mechanics. If you're having issues with a specific area, returning to an easier zone (remember, enemies don't scale with your level) and stomping foes until you find something to upgrade with can make a huge difference. It might just be a need for different support gems. Poison can be made to eat through armor, shock can quickly hard-stun bosses and mobs, and cold can give you a lot more time to react.
Mixing and matching new support skills — be sure to uncheck the "Show recommended skills" option when cutting a support gem — has resulted in some very fun playstyles relatively early in the game. Not all of them work, but it's easy to assemble something new once you've built up a few skills in your stash. The passive skill tree is enormous and overwhelming, but a wrong path is easily remedied by spending some gold.
I think a lot of the friction for some PoE 2 players is a result of years of games like Diablo 4 that you can almost play with your eyes closed. This is a completely different sort of game that requires close attention. Hours pass easily as the game's difficulty keeps me absorbed completely.
Although practically every ARPG released since Diablo 2's launch in 2000 has been compared to Blizzard's masterpiece, Path of Exile 2 is a bonafide banger that's full of homages and references to the game that, at least to me, defines the genre. I can tell that the Path of Exile 2 development team, Grinding Gear Games, is full of Diablo 2 fans. The influence is everywhere, but it doesn't at any time feel like a ripoff.
Whether you grew up playing Diablo 2 or you recently discovered its magic, Path of Exile 2 seems like the perfect successor that I've been waiting for. The game is far from perfect, which is expected with an early access release. But it already gets so much right.
Path of Exile 2 is in early access, and there's still a lot of work to be done
Grinding Gear Games has been busy launching hotfixes since the game's release, aiming to iron out some of my biggest complaints. The team also released a list of upcoming changes based on the loudest feedback.
Loot and currency drops were shockingly scarce over the weekend, but the most recent hotfix has buffed currency and made it easier to get rare items. Maps seemed a bit too large, and there was a lot of backtracking, but changes to the checkpoint system will alleviate the issue. Dodge rolling changes will also make it easier to get away from surrounding mobs.
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Improvements like these cut out a lot of the downtime I was experiencing without really changing the difficulty of the game. I hope the developers don't make the game easier, as that's currently a major part of what's keeping me engaged. With a bit of extra currency and a few more drops, it's also now easier to rework a build that's stuck at a certain point.
Path of Exile 2 isn't expected to get a full release for at least six months, and the team should be able to focus mostly on balance and content. I say that because the game already has such a strong foundation.
It's the best-looking ARPG I've ever played, and the attention to detail is astounding. Each monster seems to die a different way based on what sort of damage you're dealing with. There are countless monster types roaming the world, and each locale I've visited feels distinctly different than the previous.
The game runs smoothly on PC (it'll even run on gaming handhelds), the WASD movement is so good (especially with ranged builds), and the sound and artwork are beyond anything I was expecting. Considering Path of Exile 2 will be free to play following the "supporter" paid early access period, I can't think of a better game to help me put Diablo 2 to rest.
