Path of Exile 2 review: The best in show is back and better than ever

The difficulty in reviewing a game in early access, well, one that hasn’t even reached that point yet, is what I’m playing could change in a matter of weeks. Of course, I don’t expect the story to warp into something new, though what’s here is pretty light in the first place, but when I’m tearing through a dungeon and seeing occurrences I’m left thinking, is this a bug that will be squashed? Is this intended? What really can I take away from my hours with Path of Exile II?

I suppose that instead of looking at what the game is, it might be best to look at what it will swiftly become, using the basis of the mechanics I experienced. If that’s my brief, then I can say that Path of Exile II will be one of my favourite games in 2024 - if I’m including early access in my final list - and it will definitely be one of my games of 2025 when that rolls around. It’s good. It’s very good.

If you’re already familiar with the formula, you can rest comfortably knowing that Grinding Gear Games has been cooking for the past five years. If you aren’t, allow me an attempt to explain. Path of Exile II is an ARPG, kind of in the same vein as Diablo, but I’d add a side note here. While the core gameplay is similar - you choose a class and build a badass around it - there’s more complexity here and a large dash of retro adventuring.

Grinding Gear Games

Diablo IV players coming to POEII hoping for more of the same are in for a rude awakening as the game takes no prisoners. Whether that’s through the enormous passive skill tree that encompasses all character classes in one place, or through the incredibly difficult boss battles. I’d dabbled in Path of Exile - though not as much as I'd like - and even I was staggered by the wealth of options open to me and the number of attempts it took to take down a boss.

I don’t say this to gate keep, but as a warning. Diablo and Path of Exile are not two sides of the same coin. For example, playing through the recent expansion for Diablo IV, I rarely died while taking on the campaign. There are only a few acts available for POEII, spanning around 10-15 hours, and I died numerous times. This is not to highlight my ineptitude, but to show that this is a game where complexity thrives and micromanagement is key.

If you don’t like those things in your games, you’re going to have a bad time here.

And this isn’t something the developer shies away from. From the opening moments, the game sets up a wealth of possibilities. Just a cursory glance at the skill tree will get players drooling, scheming ways to combine possible skill nodes with others to create monstrous characters. It’ll take some time to get there, but by the end of my play time with the review build, I had a great sorceress who specialised in lightning, with some tasty ice powers in reserve, and while I had faith in her, she sometimes needed a tweak to smash out a boss.

Grinding Gear Games

What I can’t do in this review is give potential players any scope beyond my mage. My time with the review build was short, and I only got to put my hours into elemental spell casting, forgoing any time with melee class builds, or any rogue trickery.

The same goes for the story, which is thin on the ground. Of course, it pervades the side quests, but I wanted to mainline the core experience, so I didn't get a great deal of the story. There are the usual demons, black magic, and dark spirits washing across the land to corrupt the pure. What I can attest to is the sheer brilliance of both world design and attention to detail.

The bosses are staggering, ranging from monstrous creatures with design details pulled from the wealth of fantasy and grimdark influences throughout the world, to horrific humans warped by demonic powers who attempt to lay waste to the land. Every encounter is memorable, whether that’s due to the aforementioned visual design, or mechanics - learning attack patterns, switching elemental damage, dashing from danger zones for brief respite.

Every moment in Path of Exile II is a thrill. Lush jungles pose danger at every turn but look no less impressive under waves of enemies; towering bone-like structures in deserts inspire awe; and underground caverns feel like discovering wonder while filling me with claustrophobia.

Grinding Gear Games

The world, which is randomly generated, feels like an ever-evolving theme park of macabre. It’s vast and intricate, always shifting like a fever dream, offering up new challenges with each revisit. Oddly, the lack of an interconnected overworld didn’t feel constrictive, especially when reaching act two to find a caravan of vehicles under your control. Breaking the world down into smaller chunks felt natural, making the world feel like dungeons as we’d play them traditionally, with sub-dungeons littered throughout and branching off. There's a better sense of discovery here.

While I don’t want to lay out negatives, after all this is an early access title to be changed constantly, there were moments of frustration. Playing as a ranged character had me feeling hemmed in at times by level design that kept me closed in by dangerous enemies, causing death after death. There were attacks from enemies that felt a little too overpowered, especially when cast by a mage off-screen. But these were the only things I spotted that couldn’t be negated by character tweaking or a juggling of items and weapons.

These felt like either design choices I didn’t agree with, or kinks to be ironed out when the masses get their hands on the game. Which brings me to the toughest part of this review. With only two acts to play through, and no endgame to dabble in, I can only really review what feels like a snapshot of the game.

I know that when the early access runs through, and we get nearer to a complete game, there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of hours for us to experience. Here, I got only a fraction of that. This doesn’t mean I can’t confidently say that Path of Exile II is brilliant, but it’s all in the realm of possibility. There’s that word again.

Grinding Gear Games

We can take something from what has come before, which was an incredibly deep RPG that revolutionised the genre. Grinding Gear Games is only building on that with more depth, more options for players, and a new look at a familiar world that astonishes in its details. From what I saw, we’ve got passive skills for days, gems to be socketed into that same board to bolster skills, and a ludicrous combination of abilities to create characters that break from the norm of class structure. A monk isn’t just a monk when they can channel magic if they choose; a rogue can heft a large weapon with the right skill points. It’s all possibilities.

This extends to the numerous items that can transform your gear (which is also plentiful) or add random buffs, reinforcing your character beyond simple skill choices. Just as a mage, I had so many options that often I earned a passive point and worked several steps ahead, planning for potential, sitting there for minutes weighing up my choices. I felt more connected with my mage than I have with other characters in other ARPGs.

As my time with the game came to an end, with servers going live the day after this review is posted online, I felt sad. I was already pining for more. I yearned for those challenging moments, I wanted to reach further points in character build, I wanted to revel in that possibility. While I can’t give a definitive opinion on the game as a whole, I can deliver a verdict on the slice of what will be available on release day. Which is an ARPG of sheer brilliance. One that I know will consume many more hours, will please an already established and eager player base, and evolve over time into something even more special.

Pros: So much potential, great level of difficulty, skill points for days, stunning to look at

Cons: Some minor enemy design quibbles

For fans of: Diablo, Dark Souls, Baldur’s Gate

9/10: Exceptional

Path of Exile II is available now for PC (version tested), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.