Path of Exile 2 is on a new path of destruction

Path of Exile was interesting, first announced in 2010 when the world was still eager for a modern follow-up to Diablo 2. It ultimately didn’t come out until after Diablo 3, but thanks to Blizzard’s divisive choices and Grinding Gear’s own distinct systems, it still rose up as an alternative that met unfulfilled needs. Now, Path of Exile 2 is following Diablo 4, seen by many as a return to what made Diablo 2 a legend in Action-RPGs. The space is simply more complicated now. And with Path of Exile still running alongside its sequel, it feels like Path of Exile 2 has that much more of a need to stand out. The early result is a game that feels unsure of itself, moving back towards tradition from systems that made the first game unique. At the same time, a small but impactful change to combat still gives Path of Exile 2 an edge that made me feel rewarded for trying something new.

Storytelling isn’t Path of Exile 2’s strong suit, but the setup itself is fun and edgy in a juvenile sort of way. You select your character in a sort of medieval police lineup, which means all the characters are standing on a gallows platform waiting to be executed. An angry voiceover introduces each class' abilities in the context of accusations, and when you finally make a choice you are condemning the others to death. Your character miraculously escapes, jumping into the sea and washing up on a small refuge of survivors. Your executioner, the Count of Ogham, is also courting some cosmic horrors out of desperation and paranoia he feels stemming from political unrest. He pins a mysterious hooded figure to a magical tree, capturing a “Seed” of something that is growing tentacles and spreading corruption. Naturally, your job ends up being a race against time to chase down this nasty thing and put it down before the bad stuff happening gets worse.

A careful balance

I didn’t play much Path of Exile, so I can’t speak to every nuance, update, upgrade, change, or meta-level implications thereof. What I can speak to is the reason I didn’t play much Exile to begin with. The first game’s systems were very unapproachable and obtuse, albeit rewarding for those with the sicko energy to dive in. Unlike the usual Action-RPG structure, Exile used equipment sockets to house skill gems, which dropped like loot. You’d slot your skills in and attach supports as well, offering myriad options for modifiers and loadouts. Meanwhile the usual points you earn for leveling went to the passive skill tree, an utterly massive map of upgrades and choices that would further change your game plan and personalize your build. It was a heck of a lot to digest, and there wasn’t much onboarding. My brain said thanks, but no thanks, and since I enjoyed Diablo 3 quite a bit at the time I felt content to respect Exile from a distance and do other things.

Path of Exile 2’s biggest change is walking back that connection between skills and equipment. It doesn’t go full Diablo and abandon its identity, but it does offer a more digestible take on its “skills as drops” idea. Skill gems still drop, but now they exist in their own space, where you spend your gems to choose from a growing list of skills for your class, and apply support gems to choose from a list of modifiers, which go to a set number of slots for each skill. You still have tons of options, but there’s a more rigidly defined structure that’s significantly less overwhelming. I’m not sure how Exile vets will react, but as an individual I appreciated the compromise. I was able to take the brain power demand I perceived being sucked into the socket system from before, and apply that more to the passive tree which is still massive and full of an intriguingly absurd number of different choices.

The sequel also has a normal currency, gold, which the original tossed out from the jump to focus on a more item-driven economy. The gold feels like another compromise to enhance onboarding, letting players simply buy things like identifying scrolls from a merchant to let the more complex systems hang out until folks are ready to engage. This change feels tougher to evaluate as a relative outsider, but it reads as another slight compromise rather than a full walkback or concession to a shallow desire to bring in a wider audience. But it is somewhat related to a struggle I had from the game, especially in the early hours.

Please game, give me a bow, no more staves, I am begging

Coming more from the Diablo side of this genre, Path of Exile 2’s progression feels extremely slow. Leveling up takes a noticeably long time, but the bigger pacing challenge I ran into was with loot. Part of it could’ve been bad luck, as I was bombarded with things I simply couldn’t use for my chosen class, while relevant weapons were always few, far-between, and seldom upgrades to what I was already using. As a result I could never tell if things like boss fights were truly damage sponges, or if I was running into awkward DPS walls due to bad loot. I even tossed all the uniques I found into my stash, confused about their poor value but unsure if I was missing something with the salvage mechanic or simply not at the right point yet. It was hard to tell, much like onboarding in the first game but to a smaller, less intimidating extent.

Meanwhile, inventory space was excruciatingly tiny, making me either have to choose between simply leaving drops on the ground (a tough concept to accept in loot-driven Action-RPGs) or teleporting back to the hub every few minutes. I didn’t see a predatory microtransaction related to expanding my inventory either so there’s that, although during my pre-early access… access, I couldn’t hop into the store either to check. It’s a mystery! Ultimately, since teleporting was unrestricted and fast, I got used to it being part of the loop after every group of enemies or two. Drops aside, there are also a lot of strange, little modifier items you get, letting you mess around with the stats and ranking of your equipment. Those were fun to tinker with, especially with the relative dearth of exciting drops. But that didn’t alleviate the frustration of not having those moments of newness, especially going what felt like hours without changing the look of my character (side note: no basic character customization either, which isn't a dealbreaker but is disappointing nonetheless). I was informed by another player that transmogrification was introduced in the previous Exile as a paid feature, which put a little damper on my expectations to be frank.

That right there is a good dodge roll, folks

Loot woes aside, Path of Exile 2 really shines in the thick of combat. It’s a super aggressive, gnarly kind of cadence, with enemy groups swarming you almost like bugs in Helldivers. And even if you’re playing the beefy Warrior, they can hit you pretty dang hard. As a Ranger, I was often in danger of being one shot (or close) from any bigger foe’s well-aimed strike. And bosses absolutely would smash me into paste if I wasn’t on point. While this may have been stressful compared to the more superhuman action in Diablo, there’s an important tradeoff in the form of a dodge roll! It’s a really great dodge roll too, not the weird, pointless one in Diablo 3, or the awkward dashing gimmick in 4. This is a real dodge roll, with tangible invincibility and crucial utility. Between the strong enemies and this textbook perfect dodge roll, every combat encounter felt intense and fulfilling, even the times I would get pinned against a wall by a horde and forced to respawn (murdered brutally) at a checkpoint. Compared to a certain other game I played this month, Path of Exile 2’s challenge feels fair, fun, and fulfilling. The uncertainty over loot I encountered was occasionally frustrating, but the core mechanics were such an unexpected surprise I was still happy until the moment the servers were shut down. Literally; I was kicked out!

There’s a lot left to Path of Exile 2 I simply didn’t have time to see, or isn’t actually in the game yet. There will be more classes to try, more story content, endgame shenanigans, and everything else that comes with long-running service games. Plus, as a relative newbie and more casual player, there’s practically a different game under the surface I find myself at least curious about, if not drooling to leap into. That’s a huge difference from the first game, which scared me away almost immediately. And that seems to be the main takeaway from my experience. Path of Exile 2 feels much more approachable than the first, but still maintains its identity as an alternative to the series that inspired it. While I couldn’t care less about the storytelling and am leaving with lots of questions about loot systems, I had a great time thanks to combat that’s more intense, involved, and actively engaging compared to any other game I’ve played in this space. I’m already raring to dive back in, which is tragically impossible until the path opens back up for everyone.

Path of Exile 2 is available on December 6, 2024 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Temporary access to the PC version was provided by the publisher for this article.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.