Gamereactor checked out Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Preview: Everything you could want from a sequel?

With a new control scheme, plenty of abilities and an intense opening, Path of Exile 2 looks set to carry on the legacy of its successful predecessor.

With the long-awaited Path of Exile 2, Grinding Gear Games must fulfil two seemingly contradictory tasks. On the one hand, the experience needs to be expanded with new content, which is no easy task as more than 10 years of expansions have made the original Path of Exile a truly massive game. At the same time, the game also needs to be made more accessible to newcomers, but this can't be easy either when the game's skill tree contains more abilities than there are stars in the night sky.

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Grinding Gear Games looks back at the Gamescom 2024:

Path of Exile 2: Gamescom Recap

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The Outer Haven checked out Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Hands-On Preview – Shaping Up to Be Even Better

After playing Path of Exile 2 during Summer Game Fest, I’ve been eagerly awaiting another chance to dive back in. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the lucky few to gain access to the closed beta, but thankfully, PAX West 2024 gave me another shot—or should I say, multiple opportunities - to try the game. Unlike at Summer Game Fest, I was given more time to explore the game’s content.

I jumped back in, first with the Warrior, then returned to the line, which moved faster than the one at the Monster Hunter Wilds booth. This time, I played as the Witch. Afterward, I inquired whether any developers were available for a chat. A few minutes later, I found myself speaking with Chris Laferriere, who is in charge of skill development for Path of Exile at Grinding Gear Games. He was an absolute pleasure to talk to.

I asked Chris about the major changes between Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, specifically how skills and gems are handled in the game. Chris explained, “I know a lot of players were daunted by the previous system, but in PoE 2, skills are a bit different. The best way to describe it is that they will be more user-friendly, allowing new players to jump in more easily.” He went on to say that the handling of gems has also been streamlined. However, Chris was quick to point out that if veteran Path of Exile players prefer the original system, they’ll still have that option in PoE 2. Essentially, it offers the best of both worlds.

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Wccftech checked out Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Gamescom Hands-On Preview – Improvements Aplenty

Over the years, Path of Exile has become a solid action role-playing game, as developer Grinding Gear Games has done everything it could to listen to players' feedback and improve their game as much as possible. Its sequel, Path of Exile 2, seems to be going in a similar direction, addressing the remaining issues that couldn't be addressed in the now-dated original to provide players with a hardcore action role-playing game experience that could potentially rival that of the more popular Diablo series.

During Gamescom 2024, I had the chance to try out the first 30 minutes or so of Path of Exile 2, as well as attend a presentation that showcased some more advanced mechanics and new features, such as a new crossbow weapon type, complete with multiple ammo types that almost turns the experience in a top-down shooter. The mechanical complexity seen in the original was in full show during the presentation, including the extensive skill customization options the series is known for, which, for someone with only passing knowledge of the original, felt almost overwhelming. Still, I appreciated how much control players are given over their characters, and I can't wait to delve deeper into these complex systems.

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Couchpotato spotted a Path of Exile 2 interview:

Path of Exile 2 Chris Laferriere Interview - PAX West 2024

IGN checked out Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 - Gameplay Overview | gamescom 2024

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Path of Exile 2 will be released into Early Access on November 15:

Path of Exile 2 - Early Access Date Announcement

During the Gamescom Opening Night Livestream, we announced that Early Access for Path of Exile 2 is starting on November 15th.

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Shacknews interviewed Jonathan Rogers, Game Director of Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Game Director On Witch Class, Minion Balance & Console Ports

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RPGFan checked out Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Impressions at Summer Game Fest

Path of Exile 2 artwork of a heavily armored knight with a serrated cross-shaped greatsword rallying unseen troops

My time with Path of Exile 2 at Summer Game Fest began with the age-old question: among warriors, archers, casters, and the like, what character class would I choose to play? To help with my decision, the menu came with nifty previews of the skills that each of the twelve classes would unlock down the line. I chose the Sorceress, and had a great time spamming fire, lightning, and ice spells at hordes of enemies.

I’m glad I chose the Sorceress, because trying out these spells and how they interact with each other became one of the highlights as I played through the introductory sequence of the isometric action RPG sequel. For example, conjuring a wall of flame and shooting sparks of lightning through it would charge those lightning sparks with fire as they bounced toward enemies. Another particularly fun spell involved the ability to raise two undead skeleton pals that followed me around and helped me in battle, often protecting me in fights before I even realized enemies were coming!

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GameSpot presents some gameplay for Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Witch Official First Look Gameplay Walkthrough

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Couchpotato spotted a co-op gameplay demo for Path of Exile 2 on GameSpot:

Path of Exile 2 CO-OP Gameplay Demo | GameSpot Summer Live 2024

Gematsu reports that Path of Exile 2 will enter Early Access at the end of 2024.

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COG checked out Path of Exile 2:

PATH OF EXILE 2 IS NEXT LEVEL FUN

Path of Exile 2 Preview

When released in 2013, many players dismissed Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile as a late-to-the-party Diablo 2 clone. Like Blizzard’s hit ARPG, Path of Exile was an isometric hack-and-slash with a grimdark fantasy setting. It took some time and a bit of understanding, but eventually, the game developed a large and devoted community of fans. Those fans have created a thriving player-based economy of trading. Fans pride themselves on their appreciation of Path of Exile’s deep and somewhat arcane mechanics.

Set Apart
I was fortunate to spend several hours in Hollywood this week alongside members of the gaming press and dozens of Path of Exile content creators and community members. The occasion: the opportunity to take a deep hands-on dive into Path of Exile 2, the long-awaited sequel. You know you’re deep in fan territory when the developer announces that a new character has a range of shield powers and the crowd loses its mind. We had the chance to hear Grinding Gear’s Jonathan Rogers gush about the new game, impressive mechanics, and new characters. Of course, the big thrill was playing hours of the game.

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TechRaptor reports that the beta version of Path of Exile 2 has been dlayed to the end of year and the Ranger class has been revealed:

Path of Exile 2: Ranger Gameplay Walkthrough

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Wudijo interviewed Jonathan Rogers, one of the founders of Grinding Gear Games, about their upcoming beta of Path Of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 - Release in 2024? Easy Respec? Endgame, Beta & More - Interviewing Jonathan Rogers

Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:25 Endgame & Beta
00:17:22 League & Expansions
00:26:32 Trade, Economy, SSF
00:37:18 QoL
00:54:48 WASD
00:57:19 Crafting
01:07:25 Influences, Group/Solo, Synergies
01:24:43 Builds & Balance
01:42:46 Chat Q&A (& Respec)

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PC Gamer interviewed Grinding Gear Games about Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 Developer Interview

PC Gamer sits down with the team at Grinding Gear Games to uncover the methodology and inspirations behind worldbuilding and combat mechanics in the upcoming ARPG titan, Path of Exile 2.
From the blackened volcanic shores of West Auckland, to the dark world of Wraeclast, we’ve been given a behind the scenes look at some of the exciting features coming in Path of Exile 2 including: dodge rolls, new itemisation and crafting systems, unique monsters, and dynamic weapons such as the crossbow.

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Couchpotato spotted some gameplay of the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2: Mercenary Gameplay Walkthrough

Couchpotato spotted a Path of Exile 2 Q&A:

ExileCon 2023: Path of Exile 2 Q&A

IGN presents 13 minutes of druid gameplay for Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2 - 13 Minutes of Druid Gameplay | gamescom 2023

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PC Gamer checked out the Path of Exile 2 demo:

I spent some time with the Path of Exile 2 demo and it's absolutely cooking

Tougher, more dynamic combat is just one way PoE2 distinguishes itself from its predecessor, which it'll now run alongside.

Path of Exile has been the best ARPG on the market for years now—Diablo 4 didn't even scratch the paint for me (largely because Blizzard built an MMO instead)—but when Grinding Gear Games announced Path of Exile 2 in 2019, I was a little nervous. Live service games with periodic updates have a spotty record with sequels, and often end up cannibalizing their predecessors—like Destiny and Overwatch.

At ExileCon a couple weeks ago, my fears were assuaged. Instead of replacing Path of Exile as originally planned, Path of Exile 2 will be a standalone sequel that will run concurrently with the original. And it's huge, with a new campaign, new character classes and ascendancies, and a new endgame, the works. If you're wondering what will happen to your impressive collection of portal skins and stash tabs, worry not—all microtransactions you purchase will be carried over to both games, with exceptions for things that don't exist in both games. Each game will receive content updates about every three months, so if you wanna play both games you'll definitely have your hands full.

The Path of Exile 2 beta is almost a year away (GGG says it'll be available next June), but I got to play the hands-on demo of Path of Exile 2 that was available for ExileCon attendees, and there's a lot to like already. 

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Couchpotato spotted a gameplay overview for Path of Exile 2:

Path of the Exile 2 - Official Gameplay Overview

Couchpotato spotted two new trailers for the action RPG Path of Exile 2:

Path of Exile 2: Ngamakanui Teaser [Summer Games Fest]

Path of Exile 2: Aggorat Teaser [PC Gaming Show]

DSOGaming reports that Path of Exile 2 has a new gameplay trailer.

Grinding Gear Games has released a brand new gameplay trailer for Path of Exile 2. This gameplay trailer will – among other things – give you a glimpse at the game’s improved graphics and visuals.

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Gamebanshee interviewed Grinding Gear Games' about Path of Exile 2.

GameBanshee: Path of Exile 2, together with Blizzard's Overwatch 2 by the looks of it, is aiming to redefine what a sequel is, and I for one welcome some experimentation in that particular area in this age of live games. At the same time, I'm slightly confused about how your idea of "one game, two campaigns" will actually work. Can you elaborate on that?

Chris Wilson: When you create a new character in Path of Exile, you'll be able to choose between the original characters in the Path of Exile storyline or one of the new characters in the Path of Exile 2 storyline. Both stories end with a map device, letting players play the same Atlas maps endgame. We haven't yet decided whether and how players can trade between the storylines, but it's something we'd like to facilitate.


GB: You will also be introducing 19 new Ascendancy Classes while keeping all the old ones. It seems like a daunting task to balance such a staggering amount of classes. How do you intend to deal with this?

CW: It is certainly a daunting task, but one that we welcome. Ascendancy classes are a core part of a character build's identity in Path of Exile, so it's very important that there is a lot of variety. While having everything balanced is certainly a goal, part of the fun with Action RPGs is finding the rough edges in the balance and building a character around powerful interactions. So we'll make our best effort to keep things balanced and players will enjoy capitalising on the places where we have made small mistakes, until it's later adjusted and they have to find new overpowered opportunities with other classes.

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DSOGaming reports that some new gameplay footage for Path of Exile 2 is available in a video about the games music.

Grinding Gear Games has released the first Behind the Scenes video for Path of Exile 2, revealing some new gameplay footage from it. This video focuses on the game’s music. Eben from the community team sat down with composer Kamil to gain his insights and inspirations for the game’s music.

Path of Exile 2 promises to feature an outstanding fresh musical score. Behind the Music -- Act One also gives a behind the scenes look at upcoming Path of Exile 2 art.

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The devs of Path of Exile 2 were interviewed by Gamebanshee.

GameBanshee: Path of Exile 2, together with Blizzard's Overwatch 2 by the looks of it, is aiming to redefine what a sequel is, and I for one welcome some experimentation in that particular area in this age of live games. At the same time, I'm slightly confused about how your idea of "one game, two campaigns" will actually work. Can you elaborate on that?

Chris Wilson: When you create a new character in Path of Exile, you'll be able to choose between the original characters in the Path of Exile storyline or one of the new characters in the Path of Exile 2 storyline. Both stories end with a map device, letting players play the same Atlas maps endgame. We haven't yet decided whether and how players can trade between the storylines, but it's something we'd like to facilitate.


GB: You will also be introducing 19 new Ascendancy Classes while keeping all the old ones. It seems like a daunting task to balance such a staggering amount of classes. How do you intend to deal with this?

CW: It is certainly a daunting task, but one that we welcome. Ascendancy classes are a core part of a character build's identity in Path of Exile, so it's very important that there is a lot of variety. While having everything balanced is certainly a goal, part of the fun with Action RPGs is finding the rough edges in the balance and building a character around powerful interactions. So we'll make our best effort to keep things balanced and players will enjoy capitalising on the places where we have made small mistakes, until it's later adjusted and they have to find new overpowered opportunities with other classes.

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Path of Exile 2 has been announced during ExileCon.

Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements and more. 

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20 Years Have Passed

Since the death of Kitava, society has been slowly rebuilding. Ambitious men rise to fill the void and their thirst for power is once again corrupting Wraeclast. 

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