As Path of Exile 2 rears its head for the primary time in a protracted whereas at ExileCon 2023, it does so in a world the place the action-RPG is extra in style than ever. Within the decade since its predecessor launched, these top-down, loot-driven video games have grown to turn out to be a number of the hottest and greatest RPG video games. Now, alongside the likes of Diablo 4, Misplaced Ark, and the upcoming Final Epoch, Path of Exile 2 proves that Grinding Gear Video games remains to be pushing the style ahead in thrilling new methods.
GGG exhibits off its new-look sequel in a dwell stage demo at ExileCon, its personal official Path of Exile conference in Auckland, New Zealand. PCGamesN was given the possibility to observe this presentation forward of time, and I used to be actually impressed by what I noticed. We’ve seen glimpses of Path of Exile 2 beforehand and it seemed principally like extra of the identical – which is not any dangerous factor, on condition that the primary PoE stays maybe the perfect ARPG on the market – however I used to be blown away by the dramatic adjustments on present right here.
These variations begin proper on the high – Path of Exile 2 will now be a separate sport from the primary. For these of you who haven’t been following its improvement carefully, the unique plan was that PoE2 would launch as an growth to the primary sport, with gamers capable of play each campaigns in the identical shopper and a shared endgame.
Now, the 2 video games might be completely separate – PoE1 will proceed on, and the pair may have their very own distinctive mechanics, steadiness, endgames, and leagues. Path of Exile 2 artistic director Jonathan Rogers does affirm, nevertheless, that each one previous and future microtransactions will carry between each video games – new PoE2 cosmetics will even work in PoE1, so long as they match on abilities and gadgets that exist in that sport.
“PoE2’s scope has continued to develop and develop,” Rogers says, noting that “over 100 builders” at the moment are on the PoE2 crew, far eclipsing the scale of the primary sport’s present crew helmed by his co-founder Chris Wilson. “It’s excess of an growth with a brand new marketing campaign. It’s completely new monsters, abilities, mechanics, lessons; all the pieces you’ll count on from the subsequent era of ARPGs.”
It definitely appears to be like prefer it. Our demo takes place within the sport’s third act, beginning out within the depths of a jungle, the place we’re launched to the primary new character class, the Monk. Rogers explains that “lots of the new abilities we had been attempting to design didn’t actually match thematically with the prevailing lessons that we now have.”
As such, you’ll now have two decisions for every class; as an alternative of being locked into Templar as a Energy/Intelligence character, you could be a Druid – a spellcaster with the choice to show right into a bear. Dexterity starters can select to be a spear-wielding Huntress as an alternative of the Ranger, and Dex/Int gamers have a alternative between the outdated Shadow and the brand new Monk. As with PoE1, quest rewards are tailor-made to your class and every has its personal Ascendancies (PoE’s subclass equal), however you possibly can take your construct anyplace as soon as you start.
The Monk affords us a take a look at the overhauled Path of Exile 2 melee fight: the place it was beforehand essentially the most underloved set of abilities within the first sport, getting bodily right here appears to be like superb. Mark’s Monk flips, dashes, and dodges his manner via crowds of enemies in ways in which look extra akin to an motion film than a conventional ARPG.
“Virtually each melee ability in PoE2 has some sort of motion to it,” Rogers remarks, explaining how most abilities enable gamers a second to redirect them whereas casting with a flick of the mouse, or to show and transfer throughout channeled assaults to remain on track. “Typically talking, you by no means lose management of your character in PoE2.”
Additional to this, and core to the whole thing of PoE2’s fight in reality, is the brand new dodge roll. By urgent house, now you can roll with each character. This isn’t a panic button like Diablo 4’s evade, nevertheless. Rogers notes that “there isn’t any cooldown, no limitation; it even has a little bit of pathfinding so that you don’t get caught on issues.”
The ensuing impact bears nearer resemblance to the likes of Elden Ring or Monster Hunter, though crucially Rogers factors out that “Once you dodge roll, you aren’t invulnerable.” Nevertheless, rolling does trigger projectiles and melee strikes to overlook you – so, whereas you’ll have to roll utterly out of space results, “anybody swinging a sword or throwing a fireball goes to overlook.”
You may also use dodge roll to “cancel out of just about any ability at any time,” one thing else that helps abilities with lengthy forged instances or channels to really feel far more viable. It additionally permits for intelligent positioning – in our demonstration, the Monk freezes an enemy with a melee ability, then rolls again to make use of the slow-moving Glacial Cascade, which explodes in a devastating spike at its finish that shatters frozen targets for bonus injury.
A Sorceress joins the sport, and we get to see the brand new caster weapons, which lose their ineffective melee stats for a “built-in, free-to-cast spell.” We’re proven Unleash, which is actually a triple-cast on your subsequent spell, and we additionally see how weapon switching works – to encourage gamers to truly use a number of weapon varieties, now you can set particular person abilities to make use of a particular weapon and have your character swap on the fly, with only a very quick swap delay.
Complementing this additional is a change to passive abilities – now, factors granted from Talent Books (which Rogers tells PCGamesN needs to be round 20 factors in complete alongside round 100 normal factors) will provide you with two units of factors for every of your weapon slots. This implies you possibly can ability one weapon down an ice tree, and one other down a lightning tree, permitting for far more versatile experimentation than the min-maxed singular focus of most present PoE builds.
You’re going to wish all of those instruments, too – Rogers says Path of Exile 2 options “over 100 bosses” via its marketing campaign, every with their very own distinctive mechanics, with at the very least one in each space. Watching simply a few these in motion, I’m struck by simply how enjoyable the encounters look – the primary Path of Exile’s boss design was already one of many sport’s strongest factors, and PoE2 appears to be like to be constructing on this even additional.
To return to an earlier comparability, these boss fights take a look at instances nearly extra like watching an Elden Ring showdown from a special perspective than a conventional ARPG encounter. With the usage of the dodge roll and your enhanced skill for actually exact positioning and motion, PoE2’s fight appears to be on one other stage even in comparison with its predecessor – and definitely a step up from a lot of Diablo 4’s non-campaign bosses, which may really feel fairly hit-or-miss.
With all that mentioned, Grinding Gear Video games doesn’t really feel prefer it’s attempting to “beat” Diablo 4 at its personal sport with Path of Exile 2. And why wouldn’t it, given how beloved the primary nonetheless stays amongst its devoted fanbase? As a substitute, the crew is sticking to its weapons: “We don’t wish to really feel like we’re dumbing the sport down for individuals, we wish to ensure that all that depth remains to be there – it’s extra vital that we don’t lose the viewers that we now have.”
Path of Exile 2 undoubtedly looks as if a greater jumping-on level for newcomers, although, and Rogers tells me that he hopes they’ll discover it far more welcoming out of the gate. “We’re significantly better sport designers now – the start of the sport is way nicer for brand new gamers to expertise,” he says.
I actually hope that’s the case; whereas it will probably definitely be a little bit extra intimidating, Path of Exile has rather a lot to supply even for a extra informal participant who isn’t trying to dig into each final mechanic and system. PoE2, in the meantime, appears to be like to be pushing the format ahead in some genuinely thrilling methods. Over the course of the demo, my common curiosity quickly blossomed right into a determined have to attempt it for myself.
All of this makes the ultimate information from Rogers sting only a tad. The Path of Exile 2 closed beta will start on Friday June 7, 2024, he confirms. “We’re extremely excited to close the end line,” he says, “however we aren’t fairly there but. We’re decided to not rush this, and ensure we get it proper.” It’s going to be an agonizing 12 months ready, however I’m now firmly of the idea that it’ll be properly price it.
For now, we’ll must accept the upcoming Path of Exile 3.22 league, then. Alternatively, have a look via the perfect video games like Diablo for much more loot-grinding enjoyable, or browse the perfect free PC video games, the place you’ll discover loads of nice methods to spend your time.
