Path Of Exile 2 Review (In Progress)

Path Of Exile is back with a brand new game which is now in early access. I turned up 10 years too late to the party when I finally tried the first Path Of Exile game. While I liked the style of the game I was so far behind in content I had no idea what to do and quickly gave up, returning to Diablo 4 instead. So when I saw Path Of Exile 2 getting released in early access I wasn't too concerned to play it, that is until I saw a streamer called Premier2 play it and after 15 minutes of watching gameplay I quickly bought it. Now after 30+ hours I can easily say it is the best ARPG I have ever played.

Character Selection

Let's start at the beginning with character selection. For starters it is probably the coolest character selection scene I have seen in any video game. You have each of the different characters lined up at an execution stand with a noose around their neck. A crowd is cheering for your soon demise and the mad Count of the land is shouting out your commited crime, each reasoning seeming to do with betraying him in one way or another. This is a magnificent way to introduce us to the brutality and darkness of the world, before I even choose a character I already knew what I was getting into and it put a massive grin on my face. Obviously the character you choose survives but all the others hang adding a slight bit of weight to the character you choose.

Currently there are six playable classes with more apparently being introduced throughout the early access (no date confirmed yet though). The classes are Warrior, Sorceress, Mercenary, Monk, Witch and Ranger with each also have two subclasses to choose from as you progress further into the game. My personal highlights are the Mercenary, Ranger, and Monk with each of them being a highly quick and agile build which is right up my street. The one downside is the game currently offers no character customisation or gender change for each class, this means I can't make a badass female warrior which is slightly frustrating but I did also save about 3 hours not customising my characters earlobes so they are just perfect which is strangely refreshing.

The voice acting for each character as well is surprisingly strong for an ARPG, not to the levels of Diablo 4 but still impressive. Each voice actor feels like they got the tone of their character spot on and while obviously they are short, repetitive sentences they never get boring. The mercenary is a particular delight with him constantly saying he should get paid more or making light jokes about the situation which nicely lightened the mood. This is why I would recommend at least trying the mercenary as he does have a main character feel to his dialogue compared to the others.

Story

This is probably the weakest part of POE2. Without getting into heavy spoils you are an escaped felon from Count Genonor of Ogham, Count Genonor has been releasing a 'Beast' who is corrupting and killing the land and all its occupants including it slowly corrupting himself. You end up chasing after this 'Beast' across multiple continents to try and stop it corrupting and presumably destroying the world. Currently there are only 3 of the 6 Acts available but it does already seem the story is more of an excuse for you to go to each area instead of having any real impact. When I compare it again with Diablo 4 which had an incredible story with Lilith and even makes you question at one point if you are actually the villian, you can't help but notice how weak POE2 story is. This did not impact me playing the game though because Diablo 4 relies on a great story to carry it, POE2 relies on gameplay and my god is the gameplay killer.

Gameplay

By far the most important part in an ARPG, we can live with bad story but the gameplay has to be perfection. Now including that the game is still in early access, I can say it is already probably the best ARPG game i've played in terms of combat, movement, boss fights, and exploration. It is a bit hard to describe this for every character as they all play and feel very different from each other except for maybe the Ranger and Mercenary (even then though it does feel unique). However I will use Ranger and Monk as a good example.

For Ranger and Mercenary the game goes from a close combat battle to a top down arcade shooter with your arrows being a constant barrage of hell on the enemies. As you level up you unlock more elements (fire,Ice,Lightning,Poison) to infuse into your attack, meaning you can now fire flower spors on the ground which will trap and poison enemies near it, or create an ice barrage as you dodge out of an attack. Both the Ranger and Mercenary seem to be more focused on agility and dodging than taking damage meaning you will be constantly moving around the battlefield to stay out of range and kill your targets from afar. It is only a small taste of what you can end up doing, my Ranger is know a goddess of poison who quickly saps the life of any target who dare walk into her forest of poison flowers and gas clouds, my Mercenary however is a master of explosion who will evaporate anyone who dares to stand in front of his crossbow. The choices are obviously endless with every class but personally for me I find the Ranger and Mercenary the most fun.

The Monk is a completely different style of play though. This is the class you choose when you want to look badass when playing online with your mates. The Monk to me is all about rhythm and which attack flows nicely with the other, he is fast paced and does massive damage but can die quickly when getting hit by a few big hits. He is very much a dodge out of an attack before jumping back in with his epic staff and pounding down. He is very fun to play because each attack feels risky and once you get the flow and combo right with the correct elemental infusions you can do some really big damage very quickly. My Monk basically became Raiden from MK, with his lightning staff he clears battlefields with barrages of lightning before frying the big fella that was in charge.

When it comes to difficulty this game does not disappoint, almost providing a soul like difficulty on certain bosses. After playing Hardcore Diablo 4 for almost a year you gain a sense of invincibility every time you step back into Lilith realm, this is not the case with POE2. I have been killed by mobs, AOE's, and many many times by bosses, especially end of act bosses. I think it took me and a mate 10 attempts to kill the first act boss, a boss who I killed first time with my other solo character. The game will punish you no matter what level you are as soon as you get too comfortable with the game, I absolutely love it for that reason. It means you always have to be somewhat aware in every scenario and be prepared for every boss battle, I generally can't wait to run a Hardcore character in the game. Boss fights in general always felt different with fun boss designs and some crazy mechanics making each battle really stand out.

Exploration is great, each area is presively generated with a few key points remaining the same such as hidden bosses, objectives, or small events. Once you move on to another area you have twenty minutes to return otherwise the original area will be reset and you will return to it being unexplored and changed. I really enjoy this as it means you have infinite replayability when it comes to grinding for loot or to level up. The game rewards you as well if you search everywhere, with secret bosses or events often being found in hidden hallways or corners, my particular highlight being the Corwbell.

Skill Tree

Think FFX times one hundred.... yep. Basically you can make your character whatever you want them to be. Plus you get skill trees within skill trees at one point. I am not going to try and explain it anymore, it's just massive and you always have something to level up.

Loot

Another more weaker point in my opinion is the lack of good loot you recieve when running through the game. End of act bosses will drop mostly normal or magic loot and you will be lucky to get more than one rare item. Unique items seem extremely difficult to get, I was very lucky and got 3 unique bows with my Raider but other than that I have had no luck. It does dampen the feeling of wanting to grind because while you need to level up, you don't often feel like you are being rewarded with better gear. I hope it changes in a future update.

Multiplayer

Actually one of the easiest ARPG to play multiple. If your friend is online you can instantly and seamlessly jump into their session, not changing realms or not being the right level. The only time it was a bit painful was when running the trials with the honour system, this was a bit crappy to do with two players. But in general it is a really good, enemies scale so you can have a hellish time together no matter what level you both are (but you can turn this off), and loot is shared meaning you get to be slightly competitive with your loot goblin of a mate.

Console Or PC

This is always a fun one, as you can tell I love Diablo 4 but struggled to play it on console and ended up solely playing on PC instead. I am much more of a console gamer instead of PC but ARPG normally struggle to move to console, with POE2 though I can say I actually prefer playing with controller instead of keyboard and mouse. It works so well on controller and is so easy to use the hotbar with, so for me I actually would say console is the preferred choice this time.

Final Thoughts

I mean I can't shower this game with enough love, it is the best ARPG I have played. The fact it is this good and polished and still in early access makes me even more excited for the full release. Best part is even my friends are addicted to it meaning I always have a buddy to jump on with. It really is everything I could want in an ARPG and more. Heres hoping for many more years of this great game.