Path of Exile 2 Will Be My Favorite Game One Day

It’s already closing in on Diablo IV

The game’s lighting and materials are often impressive, even though your ray tracing hardware will lie there dormant. Xbox Series S screenshot taken by the author.

Last week, Grinding Gear Games launched Path of Exile 2 in early access after so many years of development. The game will be finished sometime in 2025, and at that point it’ll be free, but right now it costs a minimum of thirty dollars to get in. You can spend way more than that if you want to, but you probably shouldn’t…especially if you’re not one to tolerate some technical issues.

The game already has enough content to “count” as a full game release, but the early access label here is real. The game’s servers crashed due to demand on launch day, and the game has several performance hiccups that I think must get ironed out before launch. I paid for the base thirty dollar pack to get in and try it on Xbox, and the performance issues are such that I wish I had started out on PC instead.

I’m a modest fan of the first game, but I spent most of its decade of existence playing Diablo III instead. I preferred Diablo’s speed and accessibility over PoE’s depth and tactical build-based play. I’ve always acknowledged Path of Exile as a very cool game, but it never quite connected with me in the same way as Blizzard’s threequel.

Path of Exile 2 is its own unique thing, and I find its gameplay and vibe charming in a way that no other…