Path of Exile is a game I’ve had the chance to get quite familiar with over my years writing for MMORPG. I’ve watched it grow into the impressive and expansive title it is today. But if its latest expansion, The Fall of Oriath is any indicator, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.
For starters, Oriath will expand the story of Path of Exile from five acts into ten. The beginning of chapter six will have players making their pilgrimage back to their homeland, the titular Oriath. You’ll battle wolves, knights, and other ghastly monsters while making your way over snow-covered mountains to find your way back via the portal at the top. But once you get there, well, let’s just say things have not been going great for your hometown.
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In order to save what’s left of your city you’re going to have to duke it out with the Gods. Yes, Gods plural. Overall there will be 23 new boss fights to satiate your endless thirst for battle. The deity I got a look at during my hands-on time was encased in a massive statue and did not take too kindly to my meddling. If the size of the boss is any indicator, the devs are really going big this time.
Of course anyone taking out a God should be rewarded with epic loot. And that’s where the game’s new Pantheon system will come into play. When you defeat a God, you’ll get to claim their powers as your own and switch between which of those powers you use at will. Each power will give you a very specific defensive buff. What exactly those buffs are though has yet to be seen.
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On top of all the new content, players will get a chance to revisit areas from the first five chapters and see the consequences of the actions they took on the people and environments they left behind. And in order to accommodate all this new content and your new Pantheon abilities Path of Exile’s current difficulty level system will be going away with the new update.
And if all this news wasn’t enough, Path of Exile will be coming ot the Xbox One later this year, still completely free to play and featuring all the new and previous content of the PC version. The hands-on demo I got with the new console version looked great and ran smooth as silk. At lot of times when i play action RPG’s like this that have been ported they can feel like they’re lumbering somewhat, but PoE felt quick and responsive during my time with it.
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I did ask the all-important question of whether or not local couch co-op will be an option for the XB1 version... And it looks like it will be not be making the launch but it is something they want to add. As it stands though, you and five friends will still be able to get together online and beat down some gods later this year!
