Path of Exile 2023 review: Diablo 2’s successor is still incredible

way of exile is 10 years old, yet no other action RPG can match its scope and breadth of content. Seasonal leagues and expansions didn’t come and go months after each. Instead, most of those mechanics were merged. way of exileis at its very core, turning an already complex experience into an almost uncontrollable beast. For better or worse, streamlining was never one of developer Grinding Gear Games’ priorities.

The free-to-play online ARPG entered beta in August 2011 and hatched before officially launching in October 2013. diablo 3which featured an overabundance of auction houses and a lacking loot system. way of exile We rolled out a darker Gothic tone with a focus on nuanced character builds, mini-max features of the work, and challenging endgame content.represents the second coming of diablo 2 By a hand other than Blizzard.

you’ve probably seen, or blown in the wind, way of exilepassive skill tree. So huge that it has its own built-in search bar, allowing each of the seven base characters his classes to navigate through hundreds of upgrade nodes. There’s a natural archetype they fit in. Marauder starts out with very strong power, Ranger excels in dexterity, and can easily build up those attributes. A set of weaker stats can be buffed to branch out into and excel in weapons and abilities that weren’t “intended” to master. is trial and error required. Especially considering it’s not just that.

When I first played it in 2014, I mostly ignored the late game aspect. By and large, the same can be done today. The main story spans 10 acts and is filled with scripted quests, terrifying bosses, and swaths of regions to explore along the way. Each area is fully venous with branching tributaries. If you want to dive into the grim atmosphere, collect high-impact loot piles and gradually transform your character into an unrivaled force. way of exile can satisfy that desire. However, that “endgame” is what sets the game apart from its ARPG peers, and indeed all live service games.

When you reach the endgame atlas of the world, introduced in late 2016 in the expansion of the same name. It’s kind of a giant tree, made up of over 100 maps. Players spend resources to access and empower these single-run areas, then fight for better loot. It’s a compelling system that gives you full control over difficulty and the resulting risk-reward factor.

It’s also something that’s always intertwined with mechanics introduced in past expansions. Introduced in 2014, the Beyond ability is a good way for Atlas to increase the number of enemies on his map by spawning demon portals. On the other hand, the delirium effect has been the preferred method for enhancing encounters since 2020. This is thanks to the fog that gets stronger the more enemies fly into it. Maven’s Crucible Echo of Atlas With the January 2021 expansion, way of exilecomplexity.

Image: Grinding Gear Game via Polygon

Maven is the character who occasionally presides over these loot runs. After fighting a handful of bosses (and achieving a few smaller goals), you face off against her one unbroken challenge. all those same bosses Before the smackdown with Maven himself. This process was originally atlas of the world content.but by release Atlas Siege, Grinding Gear has brought all these little trees together into one giant web. This massive sprawl of branching paths allows you to customize your endgame experience and enhance the legacy mechanics present in Atlas-generated maps. This approach is once again overwhelming and doubles down on the game’s existing traditions. Importantly, this new set of skills does not replace the aforementioned tree. Alongside that.

These two expansions represent the microcosm philosophy of Grinding Gear Games, not only in how they interacted with each other, but also in the way they added broad gameplay implications to the 11-year-old game. The studio isn’t afraid to stack systems, keeping existing content amber, while looking at the entire game through a new lens with each subsequent update. It would take tens of thousands of words to describe how it added to the interlocking system of . Or it’s not uncommon to come across an entrance to a garden that leads to a harvesting mechanism that rewards powerful crafting recipes.

All this is as overwhelming as it can be, but there is an incomparable satisfaction in understanding way of exilelanguage. Over the years, I’ve attended many Grinding Gear preview sessions ahead of new expansions. Each demo after that made me realize how much I had learned from the previous one. The studio often jokes about the complexity of the game during presentations, but there’s a lot more to come in the future, from nerfs that could impact popular builds to new currency items that would rock the community-driven economy. There is obvious pride in the way we discuss change.

Image: Grinding Gear Game via Polygon

Given how live service games tend to bounce past mechanics and expansions in order to onboard new players as smoothly as possible. way of exile It’s even more notable for its dedication to building a lasting content legacy. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible for newcomers to jump into the game in 2023. League releases last him three to four months, and are a great opportunity to allow players to start their characters from scratch. But for veteran players, there’s always something new around the corner and there’s always a backlog of expansions to dig in. Just recently, Grinding Gear added a roguelike-style mode to his Forbidden Sanctum league. Did.

Many ARPGs are diablo 3 and diablo 4 in the last ten years. Grim Dawn, torch light 2 and 3, Wolsen: Lords of Mayhem, Last epochand Lost Ark just a few of them. They have all carved out their own niches in space, created their own communities, and to varying degrees, their own legacies. way of exile, despite its long lifespan and risky major updates, not only maintained its initial popularity, but managed to surpass it.Just last week, we hit our highest ever number of concurrent players, totaling 321,180 users Join the Crucible League!

Way of Exile 2 According to Grinding Gear, it will introduce a number of significant changes — an overhaul to the Skill Gem system and 19 new Ascendancy classes being the most prominent — alongside the original campaign as well as a new seven-act storyline available. hold. More details will be revealed at his ExileCon 2023 in July, which began in 2019. warframeTennocon, along with the showcase Road to Exile Mobile.

In short, Grinding Gear Games is still far from building the Path of Exile universe.

Image: Grinding Gear Game via Polygon

Ironically, the studio thinks: Way of Exile 2 A bigger expansion than a traditional sequel, its storyline matches that of the aforementioned Atlas of Worlds endgame original. It also retains all the mechanics introduced in previous expansions, as Grinding Gear has assured many times.

2019, warframeCreative Director at the time, Steve Sinclair, described the community of live-service games as “feed the hungry monsterFor as many newcomers as these “endless” games attract, there’s also a bevy of dedicated veterans, with hundreds or thousands of hours logged and coveted more: more loot, more story quests, more characters — the list goes on. way of exile, as part of which it has its own beast to feed. Its never-ending stream of expansions and updates is a testament to that fact. It remains to be seen how Grinding Gear will please the community in the future.

way of exile was released on October 23, 2013 and is available for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game has been re-reviewed on PC. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.