Thunder rolls over distant hills, torches illuminating a crowd that has congregated around the gallows. A man speaks, adorned in armor, of the sins that a handful of people — all varying in size and complexion — stand accused of. They stand, hands bound a noose around their necks, stripped of what possessions they might have had. This is the start of Path of Exile 2, and the character select screen, and not only does it set the tone, but immediately sets player expectations for what kind of journey their protagonist of choice will take.
I watched as the other classes hung limply from their nooses as the Mercenary, my class of choice, scrambled to freedom, throwing himself over a ledge and into the dark waters below. It was grim, but not out of the ordinary for Path of Exile. It’s dark fantasy, and it was something that more or less filled the gap Diablo II left behind as Blizzard Entertainment’s next installment in the series shifted to a different flavor of visual design. So as my Mercenary washed up on shore, a crossbow just out of reach and the shambling undead lumbering towards me, the world washed in deep tones of blues, grays, and muddied browns, it all felt appropriate. This was, at its core, what Path of Exile is and continues to be — bleak, unforgiving, but unafraid to create some kind of commentary on the systems that have created the world as we know it.
The narrative of Path of Exile, which is at the very least interesting in how it chooses to address themes like colonialism and religious theocracies, was never a strong point for the action RPG. Moral grayness is not a field in which the Path of Exile universe has ever abided by, which is something of a strength given how most storylines for large-scale releases conflate this false sense of complexity with depth. Instead it seems like Path of Exile 2 is going to stick with the very straightforward kind of storytelling that was present in the first game. Game Director of Path of Exile 2, Jonathan Rogers, stated that the narrative would be a little more involved this time. I asked if some of these themes would return, to which Rogers said that more information would appear in the future, and that he didn’t want to spoil any surprises.
I was given a small sample of a bit of the story during the event, which spanned roughly five or so hours of hands-on game time. I could still skip through NPC dialogue and accept quests without needing to read or engage with the narrative itself, which will probably be a blessing for those looking to run multiple characters per season.
That said, areas did feel more distinct, and the enemies that appeared seemed to be thematically appropriate as I trudged through demon and undead infested forests just outside of the main player hub. The quests I picked up lead me to various locations on the map, killing specific enemies and eventually leading me to a hole in the ground which took me to another zone to fight some kind of infected druid covered in vibrant orange pustules. There was something vile there, something putrid nestled within the earth, and it was clear that I would have to locate the source of such as I continued my journey into the desolate world of Path of Exile.
While I had been given a taste of what the Witch had to offer at Summer Game Fest 2024, I wasn’t quite as keen on revisiting that experience. Instead, I opted to give the Mercenary a whirl — a new class that will appear in Path of Exile 2. In fact, we were encouraged to try our hand at this ranged class, and from what we were told during a very lengthy presentation, it seemed like the Mercenary would be up my alley. It was described as something inspired by first person shooters, and that the preferred control scheme was actually the WASD keys instead of point-and-click. This had already intrigued me, and the idea that something was made with the intention of pulling the feeling of an entirely different genre into an isometric action RPG was enticing in its own right. Without a second thought I locked in and was eager to see what awaited.
The Mercenary is a class that is built around how well your skills work in tandem with the crossbow itself. Players are given around eight shots before they will be forced to reload, though you can do so before that, and can swap between single target and AoE damage that has a spread similar to a shotgun. I was able to empower my shots with frost at one point, but by the time I had opened up a new area I had already fallen out of love with the Mercenary. While I do think the idea of the Mercenary is very cool, the character weight felt extremely cumbersome. It never felt like I had enough time between shots to reload while getting hounded by enemies, which made area bosses hard to deal with. I was constantly trying to reload, dodge, and manage my health at the same time, and it just wasn’t fun. I would love to give the Mercenary another shot once it’s more fine-tuned and if some adjustments are made, because conceptually it is very cool.
It also reminded me of just how slow Path of Exile is in the early hours of the game. I never felt as though I was strong enough even as I switched to Monk, and that my damage was more or less meaningless as I struggled with hopes to get another new skill gem to maybe actually make me feel like I was making some kind of progress. I was able to empower attacks with ice and try to build some synergy there between various elemental strikes, but unwilling to sink another few hours into seeing if Monk would maybe pan out, I swapped out to Sorceress for my third attempt at finding something that I would maybe gel with. And I certainly found it in the Sorceress.
The Sorceress is a fairly uncomplicated class, with various elemental skills at her disposal. Skills can be further customized with gems to change how they interact with the world or when cast. For example, I found a gem that changed my firewall into a circle instead of a straight horizontal line. I ended up spamming this at enemies, making them walk through several rings of fire only for them to die at my feet. Doing the bare minimum when it came to defending myself or watching bosses die to gradual damage over time felt good. So I pressed on with the Sorceress until I made my way to a derelict tomb full of strange bone constructs that also fell victim to my strategy of just making rings of firewalls. What was also great was the lightning spell I had equipped actually synergized with my firewalls, which meant that each little arc of lightning also tacked on fire damage as it passed through the wall and zapped my enemies. This was cool, and I hope to see more of it, since it encourages and incentivizes experimentation with how skills may or may not synergize.
In moments like this I found real joy in playing Path of Exile 2, especially with the new skill gem system factored in. Players can find skill gems at random while exploring the environments and taking down enemies. You can slot these in to provide additional passives to certain skills, or change their functionality entirely, as mentioned before. It can be hard to create a build where skills will work in perfect tandem with each other in the early hours of the game, but based on what was shown during the presentation, it seems like there’s a decent chunk of customization there to keep everything feeling fresh. There is, of course, the sprawling passive skill tree system that has made a return. This time it feels even larger, somehow, and no less threatening. I cannot speak to what this means for the end game, as I wasn’t given a chance to dive into late-game content, but it seems like you can still build your character out in some interesting ways. Whether or not this can result in an absolute dud of a character has yet to be seen. Either way, I have a feeling that I will find out once Path of Exile 2 does release.
Concerning the addition of WASD controls, I actually preferred them to the standard point-and-click that is the given control option in most isometric action RPGs. I’ve spent a lot of time using WASD to move around in games, especially as I’ve gravitated towards using a controller less and less, with my PC becoming my go-to gaming machine. I had some issues sticking with it at first, even as the Mercenary eased me into it, but once I got the hang of this new control system, it seemed to catch on. It was also just nice to swap between that and clicking around with my mouse when my arm or hand would get too sore from long stretches of playing.
Visually, the game is still gorgeous. It’s very dark in terms of aesthetic and lighting, which will no doubt please fans of the first game and those who still ascribe to the old visual design language of action RPGs of old. Forest paths caked in mud weave through puddles and a turbulent ocean of black water swirls and laps against jagged rocks. Felled logs look absolutely rotten and the aforementioned crypts look worn, old, and foreboding. We were given a look at some locations that would appear further on, and despite the color that saturated verdant jungles and temple ruins, everything still looked sufficiently grimy.
Overall, my time with Path of Exile 2 was a pleasant one. I’m not entirely sold on the early game, as momentum in this style of action RPG is essential to getting players through the story and into what really matters — the end game. But I think this sequel will be a surefire win for those already invested in the game. I’ll certainly give it a shot, because even if it doesn’t end up being for me, sometimes you just want to trigger that specific reaction when numbers go up. And Path of Exile 2 will definitely scratch that itch, even if it takes a while.
Full Disclosure: Uber Vouchers were provided by PR to facilitate travel to and from this event.
