Grinding Gear Games held a livestream to announce details on the next expansion, Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra, which will dip back into the past and make some significant changes as PoE heads into its future.
The expansion will feature a mystery and lore centered around the mysterious Mirror of Kalandra. The character related to this extremely rare item, which has been in game since the beginning, will also be explored.
When the expansion launches, there will be small pillars all around Wraeclast that have mirrored tablets on them. These tablets let you open portals to the Lake of Kalandra and place encounters into the grid-like tablet board until you fill them with the encounters you want to use. You'll be able to plan out just which strategies will net you the most, and the best, rewards. You could potentially unlock some abilities that let you alter how things work if you’re not pleased with your choices, like skip and reroll. These tablets will stay important, since they can be itemized.
This option gives players a lot of choice in how they’ll progress and which encounters they’ll be able to challenge themselves with. And speaking of challenges, the Kalandra Challenge League is also coming. Those tablets have a place here too.
In a new way to take on a challenge league, you’ll be able to visit the lake and take on encounters that you’ve placed into your tablet. As you complete encounters, you can move to other sections of the lake, expanding the distance you travel and the difficulty of subsequent encounters. Some of the potential encounters will be from previous leagues. Rewards will rise with difficulty, but there will also be some very rare items you could potentially get your hands on.
Endgame is also getting some improvements and new lore experiences with something called Atlas Memories, which will give you insight into the past by playing as an NPC ( Alva, Niko, Einhar or Kirac) whose memories you’re exploring. You can even trade some of the memories you obtain.
There’s lots more in this update, as Grinding Gear Games has promised that it would be on the bigger side. These include new skill and support gems, character balance changes, new item types, and some content is getting revamped for the new path forward, as well as some changes following player feedback.
Check out our preview with an in-depth look at all of these features and more on what to expect when the content is released on August 19th on PC and August 24th on console.
