Path of Exile

Free to play

About

Path of Exile is an action role playing game (ARPG) in which the player chooses one of seven character classes to play. See below for more about the character classes. About the Game The game is set in a dystopian fantasy world in which characters are exiled from the island nation of Oriath to the continent of Wraeclast: a now-ruined continent. The continent was formerly a fabulous and civilised centre of empire, but now is home to prisoners and criminals. It is also, as you will soon disc...

Developer:

Grinding Gear Games,

Publisher:

Grinding Gear Games,

Release date:

22 October 2013

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Indies, RPG,

Recent Steam reviews:

Very positive (3058)

All Steam reviews:

Very positive (230219)

User tags*: Steam Deck playable dark fantasy action rpg hack and slash loot mmorpg dungeon crawler isometric character customization rpg inventory management online co-op action pvp horror massively multiplayer fantasy adventure ...

Visuals

Game features

Single-player

Online PvP

Online Co-op

Steam Achievements

Steam Trading Cards

Remote Play on Tablet

Xbox Controller Support

DualShock Controller Support

DualSense Controller Support

MMO

In-App Purchases

Description

Path of Exile is an action role playing game (ARPG) in which the player chooses one of seven character classes to play. See below for more about the character classes.

About the Game

The game is set in a dystopian fantasy world in which characters are exiled from the island nation of Oriath to the continent of Wraeclast: a now-ruined continent. The continent was formerly a fabulous and civilised centre of empire, but now is home to prisoners and criminals. It is also, as you will soon discover, the home to many ancient gods.

Your task is to fight your way back to Oriath, defeating those gods and other great evils along the way. There are remnants of the once-mighty Eternal Empire for you to uncover, and even signs of the Vaal civilisation from earlier times. Team together with fellow exiles to avoid falling into the clutches of the blood-thirsty bandits that throng the continent, as you struggle through the desolate wasteland in your efforts to return home.

You must defend other exiles from bullies and monsters, accept quests and missions from NPCs and uncover the secrets behind the horrors of Wraeclast. You will soon find that once the antagonists of Wraeclast have been despatched, the game is actually only just beginning to warm up!

You return in triumph to Oriath, to find there are still more bullies and monsters to defeat albeit those in the guise of being good and honest leaders – so there is some detective work to be done too, to uncover who is not as pure of intention as they claim to be.

The Nitty Gritty

As so often with these types of games, the beginning stage is simple, with little in the way of weaponry or strategy required – simply beat up the villains with pieces of driftwood until they explode!

Once you are embedded in the game, and many levels away from those desperate early moments, you can look back to these earlier hours with fondness, especially immediately after a battle in which you have just used sophistication and high-powered weapons to take down a god or two!

But the game is so much more than just a linear storyline game – there is an astonishing amount of sandboxiness too. In the League System (a wonderful way of encouraging you to replay the game over and over), you can set up a monster zoo, create a hideout in which to chill, and even make yourself a (temporary) world with its own rules and unique twists.

The game also keeps things fresh by changing the environment and systems every so often, with a new batch of bosses coming along to keep you on your toes and your sword sharp and ready to go.

The passive skill tree is immense and your class level is only your starting point. From there you can choose almost any direction to go in. The Ascendancy skill set (an active one) is smaller tree but still offers an almost ridiculous amount of choice even were you to stay strictly within your own class’s abilities – which you do not have to do.

At the top of the skill trees, you get such goodies as AFK (away from keyboard) builds which reflect attack damage back on the perpetrator as a form of defence, so you don’t even have to be online to score a win – which really is winning!

Pay attention to loot gems as these are the goodies which can boost your skills amazingly: they’re called skill gems and you can place them in your equipment, wherever you want to improve. However, the gems’ colour must match that of the slots, and not all equipment has gem slots, which can be frustrating. Although some pieces of equipment – those higher up the tree – can have as many as five for a seriously superpowered weapon!

The endgame is heralded by your discovery of the Atlas of the Worlds. This leads you to the Dream World which holds a new series of dungeons for you to explore. They are packed with unique powers and rewards that will stand you in good stead once you come back to the higher tiers to complete the overall game arc.

Class Ways

Choose one of seven classes to play as in this game. The crime you are charged with in the opening cut scenes is dependent on the class you choose to play.

Marauder: a great brawler and an asset to any team

Duellist: fantastic for one-on-one combat and tactical thinking

Shadow: stealth and silence lurk in the dark

Ranger: distance weapons are great for picking off enemies before they see you coming

Witch: hex an enemy, cast a protective spell – witches are magic!

Templar: noble and chivalrous, they fight without fear

Scion: this is a great class that can draw from the skill set of any of the other classes, making it an excellent all-rounder!

Path of Exile is a multi-part adventure that you will love getting lost in.