The name 'Path of Exile' has shifted throughout time.

I’ve played a lot of ARPGs. I bought Path of Exile (POE1) in early access back in 2012 and played it through the independent client until around 2018, which explains my limited playtime on Steam. I’ve put hundreds of hours into Diablo 2 and spent even more time modding it. After years of exploring the ARPG genre, I’ve now arrived at Path of Exile 2. My TL;DR? POE2 is the closest we’ve gotten to Diablo 2 with a modern twist. Let me explain.

Path of Exile 1 was heavily inspired by Diablo 2—this was obvious to anyone playing the game during its early days. Grinding Gear Games made it clear, through forums, YouTube, and official content, that their goal was to create a game reminiscent of Diablo 2. And for a while, they succeeded. During the beta and shortly after release, POE was a brutal game. Endgame bosses were tough, forcing you to carefully consider your character build and itemization. Finding a strong rare drop was thrilling and felt earned. But as time passed, so did the game’s identity.

As the years went on, POE changed. Power creep became unavoidable, and what began as a spiritual successor to Diablo 2 evolved into something entirely different. Speed, damage output, droprates, and overall clearing times skyrocketed. By the late 2010s, players zipped through maps, detonating entire screens of enemies. While this iteration of POE was undeniably fun, it was no longer the game I had initially bought in 2012.

And now, Grinding Gear Games brings us Path of Exile 2. Why? Because they’re trying to return to their original vision.

In 2024, we look back on 12 years of Path of Exile’s legacy. It’s become one of the greatest ARPGs ever made, standing tall on its own merits. But POE2 exists because Grinding Gear Games saw an opportunity to revisit what they originally intended.

POE2 is hard. It’s slow. Loot doesn’t rain from the sky. Playing it brings me back to the old ARPGs that demanded you learn their mechanics and adapt to survive. It adds elements from Souls-like games, which blend seamlessly with its core combat. GGG's intention is to create a slow and methodical ARPG in the modern era.

What POE2 offers is an ARPG Grinding Gear Games originally envisioned: brutal, demanding, and deeply rewarding. It combines modern mechanics with a classic approach to gameplay. The game is slow and difficult, no doubts there, but it is done in a way that combines the old POE1/D2 feel with modern gameplay mechanics.

An excellent step in the correct direction for Victoria 3 - my only concern is the ability to stack modifiers off of power blocs that do not add to the simulation. It feels too much like EU4 in that way. Victoria 3 is about an interesting economic and political situation, not stacking modifiers to win the game.

With that being said, it's very good.

After patch 1.5 the game has become a worthy successor to Victoria 2, IMO. As long as the developers do not lock game play changes behind expensive DLC this could become something even greater.

If you told me I could only play a single video game for the rest of my life this would be the game. The depth of its content and storytelling capacity is seemingly never ending, and the absolute star of a community and modding capabilities make me really, truly believe I could play this game till the end of time.

Tarn Adams needs to be preserved by storing his mind in an AI so he can develop this game for forever.

A perfectly designed exploration game.

A case study on why asymmetry is good in strategy games, and gaming in general.

There is a lot of DLC, but it is very good DLC. None of it is essential and it sells specific lords to you that you might enjoy in a piecemeal way.

Seriously among the best strategy games I have ever played. It sits up with SC2 and AOE 2 in my personal book.

I personally have not had any of the issues here regarding optimization, for me it feels like an extremely smooth and well polished port. More than I could ask for. 343 is looking into the port issues that some people are having and hopefully they will be sorted soon.

The absolute best mystery/puzzle game ever made. If you like a good story look no further.

Game good. Buy game.