Path of Exile is an action role-playing game from Grinding Gear Games set in a dark fantasy world. It popped unto my radar because many were calling it the spiritual successor to Diablo II, a game that sucked away dozens of hours of my life back when it was released. The open beta for Path of Exile started in late January and from following the media and news releases I was intrigued enough download and try the game and I do not regret doing so.
Path of Exile is free-to-play but has excellent graphics and hack and slash gameplay that coupled with a unique gem based ability system is an interesting online game. The player takes control of one of six “Exiles” (hence the name) – a witch, marauder, ranger, duelist, shadow and my favorite a templar. The classes focus one or two of 3 main stats – strength, intelligence and dexterity which when combined with equipped weapons, armour and gems dictates the abilities that your character has access to. The classes act more as a base that a strict blueprint. The depth is in the skill tree that will allow your to grow your character into almost whatever you wish them to be.
In my case I have been leveling a templar that focuses on a mace and shield as weapons, ice magic and summoning undead minions! It really is fun. I played a bit of the witch and the ranger but settled on the templar who I managed to the level to the beginning of act 2.
I like Path of Exile, its free, its accessible and it is of high quality. There are some rough edges – the main ones being a poor grouping system and unbalanced PvP but the developers are hard at work improving the game regularly. I truly believe that PoE could be a sleeper hit and look forward to doing a full review when the game is released with all the features working and most of the bugs quashed.
Read more about Path of Exile at PathofExile.com, download the game and give it a try!