Path of Exile

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2202 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,641 out of 2202
  2. Mixed: 258 out of 2202
  3. Negative: 303 out of 2202

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  1. CoolDadTx
    Jun 14, 2020
    4
    Ok ARPG starting out but steadily goes downhill starting with act 5 when you go back through the same areas again. Mostly the same thing every other ARPG has but the skill system is out of control, the crafting is so large as to be mostly meaningless and the boss battles work the exact same way every time with just another paint job. It is clear this game is designed for MMO even thoughOk ARPG starting out but steadily goes downhill starting with act 5 when you go back through the same areas again. Mostly the same thing every other ARPG has but the skill system is out of control, the crafting is so large as to be mostly meaningless and the boss battles work the exact same way every time with just another paint job. It is clear this game is designed for MMO even though you can play it solo.

    The boss battles are probably the worst (or close to it) of any ARPG I've ever played. The all work the exact same way and are guaranteed for you to die. Bosses do some mediocre attacks a couple of times and then do some high powered attack that is sometimes avoidable but often not. If you don't die immediately then you'll need to regen health. Rinse and repeat. Laster bosses also have an area of effect attack that pretty much instantly kills you irrelevant of resistances or anything else. My resists were maxed and I died every time. Early in the battle they tend to affect an area of the (already small battleground) but as the battle goes on they get bigger until they cover the entire field. So there is no defense against this attack and you die. After a while the boss becomes invulnerable and summons minions. This is where you're supposed to recover your health/mana but they some literally entire screen fulls of enemies such that you generally get overwhelmed and die. Even worse is that when you reenter the area they are already on top of you. I died multiple times as soon as I entered the area before I could even move. The boss battles are plain awful. The best choice is to get up close and wail on the boss until you die and then spawn back in. Nothing else works.

    The next issue is that the devs haven't gone to UI 101 training. When you die you get 2 options: return to town or return to checkpoint. The default is town but that almost always involves tracking back through areas (which have probably respawned). The correct choice is checkpoint but if you're mashing buttons to try to attack someone when you die it is read as return to town and so you get screwed over. Every UI person knows you don't put the least popular choice first and choices that have consequences should never be applied just because of a click. I thought games were past these poor UI issues??

    ARPGs are loot based and the loot in this game is pretty poor compared to others. This game is clearly mass RND but most stuff you find late game is worse than what you have now. Most ARPGs start spitting out better equip later in the game but this game keeps spitting out useless stuff. The equipment itself can be good but mostly doesn't help you in larger battles. This is where the crafting comes in. There are so many different pieces of crafting that it is insane. You need it all though because each crafting has minimal impact on anything. It is like the devs knew this was a problem so many crafting items are simply for taking a normal item and making in magical. A better idea would simply to improve your loot system. I never created a single item that was anywhere near as good as what I had.

    The skill tree is out of control as well. Skills are so far apart that to get the ones you likely want you're going to be snaking through useless skills. Most all skills provide bare minimal usefulness anyway. +5% dmg here, +2% health there. Nothing is overly useful in this tree, if you can find it to begin with. It is clear this has evolved so you know can put "jewels" in your tree. But only if you select useless skills to get there. jewels aren't worth it. Again it is like the devs know this so they hand out respec points like there is nobodies business so you can change your mind. I never used them and had 21 by end of game.

    As the game evolves they add new features which could be interesting but all of them are poorly described, scatter everywhere and rarely useful. I can't count the times somebody said I should go here and I went there just to find out it was to clear out yet another area to get something that I had no idea the purpose of. There comes a point where you should just start removing things that are old, stop adding to the chaos.

    The enemies are traditional but in later acts it is clear the devs just pump up the damage and hp to add the challenge. Nothing new here. Even worse is that "uniques" appear around almost every corner and they tend to be more bullet spongy. To the point that I would run away from certain classes of uniques because they weren't worth the fight. There is serious balancing issues in later acts for no real reason. The whole level guide on the map means nothing.

    Overall this is an OK RPG (at least early on) that stays entirely too long (act 5+ is equivalent of higher difficulty in traditional games), has poor loot, meaningless skills and crafting, and boss battles that are just unfair to a single player. Later acts bring this game way down.    … Expand
  2. MrZero
    Nov 1, 2013
    4
    To begin with, props to the developers. They've created a free game that truly tries to keep it grounded so players have to actually play the game to progress, instead of just buy their way through, a la gear from an auction house, RL player, ect.. This product appears to be a true labor of love, and the title screen even touts "After 7 years of development, we are proud to present toTo begin with, props to the developers. They've created a free game that truly tries to keep it grounded so players have to actually play the game to progress, instead of just buy their way through, a la gear from an auction house, RL player, ect.. This product appears to be a true labor of love, and the title screen even touts "After 7 years of development, we are proud to present to you POE!!"

    And that might be where the problem lies: The game feels extremely dated, extremely short, and fails extremely bad in most areas.

    The graphics are very meh, the story is forgettable music is just-okay, and with the way the party system is setup, you can literally win this game within ohhhhh, 4-10 hours? True story.

    The game has different difficulty levels, but who cares? It boils down to monsters hitting harder, not tactics. All you do in this game is mash buttons. There's so many animations and crap flying across the screen, you spend the entire game looking at your health/spirit level waiting to pop a potion, all while just holding down the auto-attack. I literally held "Q" and pressed numbers 1-5 for my potions.

    As far is loot is concerned, this game should be renamed Path of the Ninja Looter, because it becomes a crazy game of Hungry, Hungry Hippo when a rare item (and by god, they are rare) finally drops. You'll then sell that POS item to a NPC vendor who will give you scraps for it (literally) and then you put about 1000 of those scraps together to make some orbs, and then you spam-trade those orbs for other orbs (amassing about 1000 of those, too) and then spam-trade those orbs for other orbs, spam-trade more for another type of orb and when all is said and done you'll come out of it with LITERALLY 1 orb.

    You'll then take that orb and find a spam-trader, whom you will then trade you a sword that he found for you're 1 orb. Congrats after all of that running back and forth to NPC and real-life spam traders, you now have a sword that does 3% more damage, with a chance to evade. If this sounds overly-complicated and un-rewarding to you, let me assure you, it is.

    Now, I won the game at level 38; however, I see people leveling to 70+, grinding away to get the best gear, for a game, they've already beaten ....

    That's is. Let me repeat. Beat the game in level 30's but grind away and spam-trade for gear up to level 70+. Oh, and you cant even inspect another players gear, so it is truly self-gratification unless you wanna be that jackass spam-linking his gear.    … Expand
  3. v3ctor
    Dec 4, 2013
    4
    Pros: its free, dark Gothic style, reminds me a bit of Diablo 2, fun to start with.

    Negatives: frustrating waypoint system especially near bosses. Not suited for solo play (especially with Act 2 boss onwards) as bosses/mobs become incredibly hard. In game trade system confusing and clunky. In game chat annoying. Character stats system confusing and complex easy to get wrong first time.    Pros: its free, dark Gothic style, reminds me a bit of Diablo 2, fun to start with.

    Negatives: frustrating waypoint system especially near bosses. Not suited for solo play (especially with Act 2 boss onwards) as bosses/mobs become incredibly hard. In game trade system confusing and clunky. In game chat annoying. Character stats system confusing and complex easy to get wrong first time. Grinding through mobs later in the game gets incredibly hard. Equipment socketing is confusing at first. Player deaths are not handled very well especially near boss fights where you need to fight your way through massive map of monsters to reach the boss if you die without having a portal open. Inventory system feels like a chore and constant juggling for space. Desync is frustrating beyond belief when fighting large mobs or an end boss. Maps expire too quickly often within minutes the map you just portaled from resets and you lose the portal (especially annoying if you just portaled from a boss fight!!)

    Final Opinion: yes its free (which is a big plus), but for me the negatives way outnumber the positives. I ended up uninstalling after finding myself not enjoying this game at all. It's a shame, because if just a few of the negatives were fixed (especially with boss waypoints) I might consider coming back to it.    … Expand
  4. ratapwnz
    Mar 9, 2014
    4
    This game is boring. No, i mean REALLY BORING. The only reason people play it, is to say "im not diablo3 fanboy, look i play better game". Ah and its free, schoolboys like to grind not work to buy game.
    But meanwhile there is no game at all. Only excel skill planing. Gameplay is boring rightclick like 1000 times before.
    The plot sometimes interesting, but can you write down any NPC name    This game is boring. No, i mean REALLY BORING. The only reason people play it, is to say "im not diablo3 fanboy, look i play better game". Ah and its free, schoolboys like to grind not work to buy game.
    But meanwhile there is no game at all. Only excel skill planing. Gameplay is boring rightclick like 1000 times before.
    The plot sometimes interesting, but can you write down any NPC name after you finish it? Nope.

    How fanboy see it: thousand builds
    In real world: 3.5 actual builds, other is weak and unplayable / playable only with gear grinded 500 hours.

    How fanboy see it: SOOOO MUCH PASIVESS!!!!
    In real world: 99% of nodes are same as "put 5 points in str/agi/int after lvlup".

    How fanboy see it: free game, no pay to win, no money auction
    In real world: bots in every league, black market = same money auction but some people dont know / dont wanna use it

    etc. etc. etc.

    Overrated game. 4.    … Expand
  5. xferix
    Apr 1, 2019
    4
    I cannot recommend this game despite having some fun with it. Why?

    - Loot is unrewarding (quantity over quality) - even unique items suck or are not useful for your build in 95% cases - Too much focus on trading, which is technically cumbersome (3rd party apps/webpage) - Skills are unbalanced - esp. lately, when the power creep has become so obvious (chaos dmg skills **** on melee) -    I cannot recommend this game despite having some fun with it. Why?

    - Loot is unrewarding (quantity over quality) - even unique items suck or are not useful for your build in 95% cases
    - Too much focus on trading, which is technically cumbersome (3rd party apps/webpage)
    - Skills are unbalanced - esp. lately, when the power creep has become so obvious (chaos dmg skills **** on melee)
    - Outdated gfx engine
    - Very laggy in maps (ping jumping from 20 ms to 3000 ms!), connection problems resulting in death of your character (also, you lose precious XP needed to level up)
    - Too much RNG, esp. in crafting
    - Too much grind for currency if you want to get to the endgame content
    - Too much repetition, esp. when levelling new characters - and the campaign is nothing special (you just eagerly wait for it to end ffs)
    - So much time consuming that I'd rather play 10 other (better) games in the same timespan
    - Unbalanced/unrewarding boss battles (bosses can be either pathetic or OP; you'd expect something special for killing Kitava in the final act. Nope, there is only trash!)
    - You need to buy expensive stashes to hoard stuff to improve your characters, etc. - the game is falsely advertised as F2P; it's like "free to try out" but then you need to invest heavily if you want to keep it going.

    League specific problems (Synthesis):
    - Badly designed, bloated content - even more unrewarding/time consuming than other parts of the game. F*** that!    … Expand
  6. Airek
    Oct 28, 2013
    4
    Bland graphics, bad animations, lack of variety in mobs, laughable tryhardy currency system, and the over reliance on spamming a single ability.

    The skill system, while at first glance seems interesting, ends up being a mess with a bunch of support gems making a single skill more powerful, which allows (promotes) you to spam a single ability even more than the average ARPG.
  7. mthomas768
    Oct 30, 2013
    4
    I really want to like PoE. Really. It's heart is in the right ARPG place, but the troublesome details kill the experience.

    The game has always been plagued with network problems, and launch has not improved things on that front. I get that creating a secure online experience is tough, but massive desync issues really suck the fun out of the game. The gem skill system is an excellent    I really want to like PoE. Really. It's heart is in the right ARPG place, but the troublesome details kill the experience.

    The game has always been plagued with network problems, and launch has not improved things on that front. I get that creating a secure online experience is tough, but massive desync issues really suck the fun out of the game. The gem skill system is an excellent idea, but the fun there is countered by an overly complex and mind-numbing passive skill tree with hundreds of nodes.

    There are also some implementation details that could be easily addressed but stick around despite the touted seven years in development. Random sized item stacks, inventory stash items that don't auto-stack, and requiring 40 mouse-clicks to fully upgrade and item's quality (seriously guys, 40 frickin' clicks?)

    I'll keep watching the game, but right now the launch woes (random disconnects on a regular basis, killer lag spikes), coupled with ongoing design and game-play issues make it a so-so game at best right now.    … Expand
  8. Barnews
    Dec 10, 2013
    4
    Path of Exile is FREE diablo-like action RPG from unforgiving world of Wraeclast. Music, Sounds, Graphics are at fair level. Yes, they could be better but it's ok for diablo-like game. Locations, especially dungeons are dark and really cool.

    This game has potential to hold for months or even years, becouse there are so many combinations of pasives and active skills that you can try out.    Path of Exile is FREE diablo-like action RPG from unforgiving world of Wraeclast. Music, Sounds, Graphics are at fair level. Yes, they could be better but it's ok for diablo-like game. Locations, especially dungeons are dark and really cool.

    This game has potential to hold for months or even years, becouse there are so many combinations of pasives and active skills that you can try out. But there are some big flaws also that can drive you from playing PoE. The combat is very boring after some time, playing game is not fun, leveling is not fun, grinding is not fun, even creating new characters and trying out new own builds is not fun, becouse they all strongly depends on your items and gems. The more you play, the more unrewarding the game is. Items are very generic and boring. Same with skills.

    The PoE is simply like very strong drug with horrible effects. This game is very very very unrewarding and not fun to play in long term.

    I recommend you to try PoE, becouse it is free game. It will be most propably fun for you at least several hours. Maybe you will be adicted on it for very long time. But if you want to play PoE seriously, you have to be nolifer.    … Expand
  9. Scoobydooby
    Jan 7, 2014
    4
    For starters, I don't understand how so many of these reviews are 10.. 10 means a perfect or epic beyond epic game.. either you people work for GGG or you are willfully ignorant to the many flaws this game has.. why is a mystery to me, but this game is nowhere near a 10. To say this game is the deepest or best RPG ever made is laughable.
    Clearly these people have not actually played this    For starters, I don't understand how so many of these reviews are 10.. 10 means a perfect or epic beyond epic game.. either you people work for GGG or you are willfully ignorant to the many flaws this game has.. why is a mystery to me, but this game is nowhere near a 10. To say this game is the deepest or best RPG ever made is laughable.
    Clearly these people have not actually played this game for any substantial amount of time, otherwise they would not be giving it a 10 or even an 8.
    Tough to take this site seriously at all with such ridiculous ratings..

    Now to the game.

    I started playing POE in Open Beta and have leveled a dozen or more characters in that time, several hardcore, several in Onslaught/Domination. All my characters have leveled to between 40-70
    In that time I have learned A LOT about this game and all of its systems and nuances, as well as the gear, trading rates, orb rates, etc.

    What people need to understand is that this game is decent, but certainly not great. On the surface, its easy to start playing and be enamored with POE. It isn't until you delve more deeply into the game that you see the huge fissures which unfortunately show the game's true colors. In fact for almost every good thing in the game, it has a flipside that is equally, if not more so, negative. There is nothing in the game that is outright amazing, so again, to give it a ten is a silly joke.

    I will break down my post into sections.

    The Skill System: Overall the vast variety of skills provides a user with options of how to build their character. Support gems further alter the usability of these skills and provide a good amount of variety and customization. What sucks however about these skill gems is that many of these are either underpowered or downright useless. Some are not strong enough on their own until paired with support gems to buff them, and some are just pointless entirely.

    Loot: When you find something in this game, there is a feeling of excitement, like any RPG. The problem is that stuff DOES NOT DROP. Take it from me who's put in around 1k+ hours. If I could sum up the game in one word, especially when considering loot, it would be "UNREWARDING". You will feel like you play for lifetimes only to find trash that is worthless and will net you a couple alts at the vendor. Good luck finding any gear that is a direct upgrade for the character you are leveling. By all accounts, unless you get insanely lucky, that AINT gonna happen. You will need to trade for anything you really need in this game, whether it be gems, orbs, or gear.. which leads me to..

    Trading: To get anywhere in this game, you need to trade. That is all there is to it. If you prefer to play self-found, run away from this game now.. I've just saved you a lot of time and heartache. Trading is a pain because not only do people overvalue every item they wish to sell, many people do not even set a fixed price on items and instead ask for "offers". If you offer less than what they wish to sell for, its not uncommon for them to set you on "ignore" or reply with vile speak. It takes forever to sell anything and the trade chat is nothing but a wall of spam on every channel.

    Crafting: There really isn't any crafting in this game, which to me is a humongous let down. You have all these different base items, with all these different rolls and affixes, and yet to try to craft you need an absurd amount of orbs to do so with any effect. Orb drop rates are pathetic (after leveling now 6 characters in Domination, I have a total of 7 found Chaos Orbs, 1 divine, 3 Gemcutter Prism, and around 10 Chisels) so once again, you need to trade to get orbs. Orbs are more used for currency than for crafting in almost every aspect of the game. The worst part though, is that there is no progression.. you can use orbs on an item, and there is a small chance it will improve, but a better chance it will regress in quality.

    Content: The maps are pretty boring after a while. Nobody give a toss about the story, because its unmemorable, and generally its a slow grind with numerous gear checks instead of any real innovative monster skills or mechanics. Its just Up the damage and resistances and implement bosses with single shot capabilities. Graphically, the game is good but nothing amazing.

    What makes me laugh the most though are all these reviews saying that this game isn't pay to win. Are you all unaware of the rampant botting and selling of Orbs and other items for real money? There are a slew of RMT sites where you can buy gear for this game and even some high end players have been known to partake. Anyone who thinks it isn't pay to win is kidding themselves or just ignorant.

    Also, does a game being free mean its automatically a 10? Apparently that is this game's best quality.. that its free to play. Well, that's not saying much then is it?

    Overall, if you have no life and are masochistic, this is the game for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere for an RPG    … Expand
  10. night4
    Sep 18, 2017
    4
    Other red reviews have covered the specifics very well, but I'll restate the important ones:

    -Trading is AIDS
    -The community is half AIDS
    -The lag is AIDS
  11. dchrist2
    Sep 29, 2022
    4
    Was once good. Put developer is putting their head in the sand and trying to squeeze players for more time and money. Just not fun anymore.
  12. Fuz
    Nov 3, 2018
    3
    What a shame, a potentially excellent game dragged down by nearsight.
    PoE would be nice if it wasn't so anachronistically obtuse. Apart the fact that it's way overcomplicated and unnecessarily punishing (things like no ah or that it has a such a huge and complex skill tree and so little respec possibilities), I stopped playing when I started receiving XP penalities for deaths. NOPE,    What a shame, a potentially excellent game dragged down by nearsight.
    PoE would be nice if it wasn't so anachronistically obtuse. Apart the fact that it's way overcomplicated and unnecessarily punishing (things like no ah or that it has a such a huge and complex skill tree and so little respec possibilities), I stopped playing when I started receiving XP penalities for deaths. NOPE, that's the 90's. Not even the first Diablo had that.

    Play Grim Dawn instead.    … Expand
  13. Vitaly
    Oct 24, 2013
    3
    One or two runs through this game can be fun, but not more than that. End game (maps system) is based on pure and very unfair gambling and design to keep you as long as possible within the game.

    Maps have levels from 66 78. Anything worth farming and crafting (crafting is based on gamble too) starting from lvl 71 maps which will be unreachable to most of players since maps drop rate    One or two runs through this game can be fun, but not more than that. End game (maps system) is based on pure and very unfair gambling and design to keep you as long as possible within the game.

    Maps have levels from 66 78. Anything worth farming and crafting (crafting is based on gamble too) starting from lvl 71 maps which will be unreachable to most of players since maps drop rate will decrease dramatically (drop rates lowered in background without any note to player) with each subsequent level of maps and will form a very high wall at level 71 maps. To counter that you will need insane amount of currency which can be acquired only through farming or trading. Since most items worth selling or using hidden behind lvl71 maps you will find yourself in process of very unrewarding farming.

    Stash space is limited. If you will run this game more than once or will want to reach end game you will need more. This is where free to play model comes in. Set of tabs for your stash will worth you 15$ (6 simple tabs) or 20$ (6 premiums). And you will buy them, because early game is so fun... But when you will reach end game, this will change into frustration of how it was designed (to keep you as long as it possible in game in hope you will buy some cosmetics effects or will run out of stash space again).

    After release they introduced Guilds which can help solve main problem of this game it was designed for party not for solo players. Solo players will die a lot and in most cases you won't be able to find out why by yourself (game is based on many things most of which is not self explanatory). But, again, to get from guilds most you will have to pay with real money again.

    The currency system is a pure gambling. Instead of gold this game have usable orbs which can change properties of items and maps in many ways. But they based on chance so heavily that you can trash all of your hard-earned currency in minutes and will not get anything in return. Go back to farming to repeat this process later.

    Dsync is another huge problem. You will die a lot because of dsync. Period.

    Game has "old school" (read outdated) leveling system. You will need to repeat process of leveling for every build you want to make. And since you will fail your fist build for sure, you will have to repeat this process over and over again while you learn this game. Follow the tip: go to the forum, find yourself a build and just follow. This will help to avoid much of frustration when things will not work as you was expecting.

    And some more if you got hacked, company will not restore your stolen items or deleted characters.    … Expand
  14. alientude
    Nov 18, 2013
    3
    The game is fun and, for the most part, well designed. But for a game that was in a closed beta for years and open beta for half a year, it's a very poorly optimized game. Creatures teleport around due to lag, as does the main character.

    The worst, however, is the constant BSODs that occur for just about anybody using a Creative sound card. This has been going on for years, and the only    The game is fun and, for the most part, well designed. But for a game that was in a closed beta for years and open beta for half a year, it's a very poorly optimized game. Creatures teleport around due to lag, as does the main character.

    The worst, however, is the constant BSODs that occur for just about anybody using a Creative sound card. This has been going on for years, and the only solution given is a command line switch to bypass using hardware audio at all. The good news? The "solution" kind of works. The bad news? Yeah, it doesn't really work while the BSODs are lessened, they still happen. As far as I can tell, the official response to this is to use a command line switch to disable sound entirely. That's just poor programming and poor customer service. Yeah, it's free, but that doesn't excuse shoddy code.    … Expand
  15. foxchicken
    Apr 18, 2014
    3
    Game is fun for a couple of weeks, but like a lot of these games suffers from bad loot, incoherent nerfs, meaningless stats, bad scaling, useless dodge/defense mechanics and extremely limited game-play. There is no trading system. Pretty clear the developer is lost with this one.
  16. relaxingtomato
    Oct 25, 2013
    3
    Path of Exile is a great complex game...on the surface.

    Sure theres thousands of skill gem, support gem and passive node combinations, but comparing to its obvious competitor Diablo 3, you realise it actually offers less true character customisation. All Path of Exile offers is tons of ways to SCREW UP your character. I'm a gold closed beta supporter, and I can tell you there are    Path of Exile is a great complex game...on the surface.

    Sure theres thousands of skill gem, support gem and passive node combinations, but comparing to its obvious competitor Diablo 3, you realise it actually offers less true character customisation.

    All Path of Exile offers is tons of ways to SCREW UP your character.

    I'm a gold closed beta supporter, and I can tell you there are less viable endgame builds in PoE than Diablo 3. The devs haven taken steps like increasing aura costs to increase build diversity, but judging from the highly negative community response, its unlikely PoE will ever live up to its promises

    I'll be back in a few years. Until then, enjoy 1 or 2 builds dominating the ladder, before GGG nerfs them and another 1 or 2 take their place.    … Expand
  17. Paoz
    Jun 4, 2017
    3
    As defined by the distribution of the reviews, either you like the game or not.
    I am a long time Diablo fan, from D1 to our days ... Hack&Slash (ARPGs) is a genre that either you love or you hate, because you find it repetitive, so my review will be from the side of a genre-lover, not a hater.
    The story is crap... but as always, nobody cares about the story in ARPGs, decent music/sound    As defined by the distribution of the reviews, either you like the game or not.
    I am a long time Diablo fan, from D1 to our days ... Hack&Slash (ARPGs) is a genre that either you love or you hate, because you find it repetitive, so my review will be from the side of a genre-lover, not a hater.
    The story is crap... but as always, nobody cares about the story in ARPGs, decent music/sound effects, D2-like revamped graphics (yeah ... ok ... but this is 2017, not 2007) ... but let's talk about the game pros and cons:

    Honestly, after 1 week of gameplay and about 30 hours on it, i can only find 2 good points about the game ... first is the absence of a primary currency (no golds or whatever money you name) and the fact that build/characters/classes are not linear and can be built in whatever way you want, making the game hyper customizable.

    The cons are reeeeally to many. The story is really short ... ok, you don't look at the story ... but it's really short ... so is the content that is available to be grinded.
    Too many stats, none are easy to be understood. Loot sucks, you drop too many trash items, too many secondary currencies ... so many things that must be learned about the game to be played in a good way .... and so we come to the main flaw of this game: IF YOU ARE A NEW PLAYER, BE READY TO WASTE THE FIRST X HOURS OF THE GAME ... because nobody is going to somehow guide you towards leveling your first character in a good way, you will waste passive points like eating candies ... i'm tired of writing this **** 3/10 is even too high for this game, iet's say 3/10 just for trying to be a good D2 sequel, but overcomplicated stuff is not going to work, in the long run.
    Props: it's pretty much F2P, but botting is everywhere.    … Expand
  18. Bullzz
    Dec 7, 2017
    3
    hi, habe Path of exile jahrelang am Radar gehabt und hab jetzt mal bis Akt 3 angefangen zu spielen ... hab vorher D1 D2 D3 titanquest und co gespielt also ich mag den Stuff eigentlich.

    Was mich am meisten gestört hat und warum ich aufhöre .. ich bin Akt 3 und hab keine Ahnung von der Story. Diese Piety da rennt immer davon vor mir und blockiert meine Wege. Wollte so ne Story wie in    hi, habe Path of exile jahrelang am Radar gehabt und hab jetzt mal bis Akt 3 angefangen zu spielen ... hab vorher D1 D2 D3 titanquest und co gespielt also ich mag den Stuff eigentlich.

    Was mich am meisten gestört hat und warum ich aufhöre .. ich bin Akt 3 und hab keine Ahnung von der Story. Diese Piety da rennt immer davon vor mir und blockiert meine Wege. Wollte so ne Story wie in Diablo 3 erleben wenigstens mit Ingame Animationen und nicht x millionen texte bei den NPCs durchlesen. Videos alla Blizzard würde ich gar nicht erwarten bei dem Budget.

    Mit den Gegenständen bin ich auch nicht so warm geworden ... beim Händler kann ich nicht gleichzeitig verkaufen und kaufen und auch Gegenstände anlegen währendem ich am Verkaufsbildschirm war ging nicht. War sehr nervig weil einfach unnötig. Die Gems und co ... fand ich interessant .. ich konnte nie auf den ersten Blick sagen ob das ein Unterstützungsgem oder ein Fähigkeitengem ist... und ob ich in überhaupt kombinieren kann. ( Vielleicht war ich auch einfach zu doof ) ..

    Mir kam auch nicht vor das ich stärker werde über die Akte .. in Diablo 3 sieht man den Damage den macht.. und wieviel Hp die Monster haben ... die machen es dort sehr Gut das man merkt wieviel man stärker durch nen neuen Gegenstand geworden ist. Ich hab mit nem 2 Hand Kolbenbarbar fast alles bis auf Bosse onehitet.

    Wo der nächste Punkt wäre. Hab auf Hc gespielt .. und es war zu leicht. Fast alles onehit ... hätte gerne mehr Herausforderung gehabt das der Schwierigkeitsgrad einstellbar wäre mit besseren Loot ... ( wink zu Diablo 3 die das super hinbekommen haben. Jeder kann den Schwierigskeitsgrad einstellen wie er will )

    Was ich selber nicht mitbekommen habe nur gelesen habe ist das man ab akt5 wieder in den alten Akten unterwegs ist. Wenn das so stimmt ... wäre das zuviel Recycling für mich gewesen.    … Expand
  19. XposingMods
    Jun 19, 2020
    3
    The in-game moderators and forum moderators are very toxic and give preferential treatments and abuse their power to have your account locked or mute you in chat. Once instance I merely used the phrase "ALOHA SNACKBARZ" and my account was locked but uhh people who used that word in forum was not banned or that word was not even censored and they even allow guilds to have guild names suchThe in-game moderators and forum moderators are very toxic and give preferential treatments and abuse their power to have your account locked or mute you in chat. Once instance I merely used the phrase "ALOHA SNACKBARZ" and my account was locked but uhh people who used that word in forum was not banned or that word was not even censored and they even allow guilds to have guild names such as "ALAHO/ALLAHU snackbarz" for 4 years ++. The fact that they allowed this is an acknowledgement that the word is ALLOWED to be used in forums or in the game itself since guild members are allowed to have their guild name tags shown in game chat OPENLY. I reported these preferential treatment to the support email and guess what? They are not even interested in what i have to say..All they cared are about erasing those records and cover their tracks and deleting all evidence of it. But uh... little did they know I made screen shot proofs BEFORE I submit those evidence links and after they have shamelessly deleted/amended those proof, I made a screenshot of it as well.
    … Expand
  20. Gwimpon
    Nov 22, 2021
    3
    Way too buggy and has been buggy since launch. No trading post is a **** atrocity and should be banished to the outer realm of death penalty allah smite mashallah
  21. Jingo
    Nov 19, 2013
    2
    Got to admit, I only played it for an hour so don't mistake this for a deep review. Took about an hour of gameplay for me to delete it off the hard drive. It's basically an online version of the tired old genre that started with games like Titan Quest. Click, click click on far too many identical enemies and watch their health bars go down. Then loot and repeat.
    If that's fun for you,    Got to admit, I only played it for an hour so don't mistake this for a deep review. Took about an hour of gameplay for me to delete it off the hard drive. It's basically an online version of the tired old genre that started with games like Titan Quest. Click, click click on far too many identical enemies and watch their health bars go down. Then loot and repeat.
    If that's fun for you, then be happy. The game is free.    … Expand
  22. Goatsecks
    Dec 21, 2013
    2
    This game doesn't deserve the 8.8 user score and here's why.

    The Good: -The game is free and although there are micro-transactions, they are just for cosmetics. -You are able to customize skills and your own passive skill tree which ever way you want. -Trading system revolves around dropable orbs which you can use to improve gear instead of a single base currency. -Lack of bots.    This game doesn't deserve the 8.8 user score and here's why.

    The Good:

    -The game is free and although there are micro-transactions, they are just for cosmetics.
    -You are able to customize skills and your own passive skill tree which ever way you want.
    -Trading system revolves around dropable orbs which you can use to improve gear instead of a single base currency.
    -Lack of bots.
    -Party system is simple and anyone can join any group at any time.
    -Regular updates.

    The Bad:

    -Massive lag and desync issues.
    -It's a terrible wannabe Diablo 2 clone where there is no auction house, and massive trade spam that lags you even more. The developers are obviously stuck in the past, and if most people wanted to play Diablo 2 they would do that instead because it's a much better game. It's like a bunch of old guys that say 60s cars are much better than cars today (they're not).
    -By level 50, it's just a GRINDFEST like any typical mmo.
    -The passive skill tree is big, but the +10 to whatever doesn't do much for your character. Furthermore, if you lead yourself into a bad tree, you can't reset your passives and undo skills unless you (grind) orb of regrets. This becomes a problem when you reach merciless, and realize your build is awful and really gear dependent. Then you have to spend another 20 hours finding another build that works.
    -By completing Normal difficulty in 5-10 hours, you've already won the game. Past that it's just collecting items with different colored names to pvp with people that will always have better gear than you.
    -Hold the Q button and win. No tactics required.    … Expand
  23. Cytolol
    Nov 24, 2013
    2
    This game looks like crap, feels like crap mechanically, and has some of the most annoying concepts which seem overly rebellious against games like Diablo 3.

    The items are so overly complex that getting upgrades comes so rarely once you start to level up more. What's even more annoying is that 100 items are commonly on screen and literally 0 of them will be of any use whatsoever.    This game looks like crap, feels like crap mechanically, and has some of the most annoying concepts which seem overly rebellious against games like Diablo 3.

    The items are so overly complex that getting upgrades comes so rarely once you start to level up more. What's even more annoying is that 100 items are commonly on screen and literally 0 of them will be of any use whatsoever.

    Getting an item with the exact things you need is borderline impossible. I'm not going to get into it in detail, but basically theres infinite combinations of sockets which are very important and you commonly need a very specific setup for them, which requires overly specific items.

    There is awful lag/desync issue and yet you are punished on death by a 10% experience penalty. I very rarely die due to a mistake I made, but commonly die due to desync and I lose 20 minutes of experience at higher levels.

    There's also no respec option. At all. If you end up making mistakes with your character build, you may as well delete the character. Same thing if they significantly nerf a skill, since you have to build all around one or two abilities.

    It makes me mad that they cling on to these archaic game concepts:

    -No Respec
    -Punishment on Death
    -No easy way to trade (yet trading is sooooooo overly necessary)

    That's another big part of it. Trading is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY and is basically the only way to get to true end game.

    When you hit the higher levels, you expect that your self-found 1000dps is satisfactory, but then you learn that you actually need 40k dps.    … Expand
  24. zerebruin
    Dec 28, 2013
    2
    A really bad Diablo II clone =

    Here's the good news: interface and short cuts are almost exactly the same as Diablo II. Sadly, they've been redesigned very badly. Take the overlay-map as an example: it's next to useless because there no landmarks are visible for the player to orient himself. The game's graphics are worse than those of the 13 year old Diablo II. Of course the     A really bad Diablo II clone =

    Here's the good news: interface and short cuts are almost exactly the same as Diablo II.
    Sadly, they've been redesigned very badly. Take the overlay-map as an example: it's next to useless because there no landmarks are visible for the player to orient himself.

    The game's graphics are worse than those of the 13 year old Diablo II. Of course the resolution is a lot better, but PoE lacks details and most of all lighting. The character selection menu is so bad, I almost closed the game again instantly. The characters are hidden, and yes, that IS bad design, even if they're supposed to be 'in the shadows' (there are no shadows, everything is grey). Showing off the characters is the point of a character selection, so why not use some contrast and light?

    Character and monster design seems equally uninspired, although that may change in higher levels (I only played two characters to level 8 and 10 respectively).

    The gameplay is boring to say the least. A very simple hack'n'slay but even that isn't really fun. Diablo 3 isn't much more than a hack and slay after playing the story through but at least it feels perfect and looks stunning.

    I've not seen any story to speak of, the characters are almost as bleak as the levels are boring. The latter are also not very well designed, making them more of a maze. They're also not dynamically created (probably because that would be difficult for an MMO).

    The skill system looks amazing at first glance with an incredibly complex skill tree dazzling the player. Mostly that is because all character classes are shown at once, though, making the whole thing quite confusing at the beginning. This super complex skill system stands in stark contrast to the lack of character customization. There are no stat points for strength, dexterity or intelligence that would make a truly complex character system.

    At least there's one interesting thing to note: Gems can be levelled and changed from weapons and armour without any cost. This allows for a lot of experimentation in character creation. Then again, most players will probably just not think about their characters as much if they know they can change weapons and armor at any time without penalty.

    Overall the game is quite well characterised by the Grinding Gear Games logo: ugly, rusted cogs that do not work smoothly, if they work at all.
    The only reason this game gets any good reviews must be that a lot of young players never played Diablo II.    … Expand
  25. GGG_LOSERS
    Feb 2, 2014
    2
    One of the company's moderators are **** I was trying to trade my rares in the chat rooms and was muted. I think the moderators need to go out and get a life. Maybe that moderator is a wannabe police geek. It makes me laugh that games are nowhere near competitive sports, and you get penalized from gamer nerds. These moderator nerds and geeks need to get out from behind their screens soOne of the company's moderators are **** I was trying to trade my rares in the chat rooms and was muted. I think the moderators need to go out and get a life. Maybe that moderator is a wannabe police geek. It makes me laugh that games are nowhere near competitive sports, and you get penalized from gamer nerds. These moderator nerds and geeks need to get out from behind their screens so that real men can confront them. Probably they would get pounced out and hide like cowards. If the moderators are reading this, they should really back off of players who are trying to just play and chat game related stuff. These moderators are losers for sure. I give this game 2 points only because I play this free game called Dota 2. I can talk smack all I want and I do not even get penalized. Haha.… Expand
  26. AeonForm
    Apr 22, 2014
    2
    This is a diablo-like, but this is not definitely not Diablo, the combat are so slowww, i feel like hitting a piece of butter with a plastic fork. the graphics are ugly...some people will say "it's dark, not like diablo", well it's not dark for me, it's ugly, everything is static, nothing lives in this game.
  27. SpleenSplitta
    Feb 24, 2019
    2
    I supported this games company since 2014 up until 10cent bought 80% of the company when that happened i stopped buying supporter packs, i was happy supporting a small company grow but not when a large company comes in for a piece of the pie ggg would of been better off keeping 100% of the pie and keep supporting them self.
  28. LittleBigTruth
    Feb 23, 2021
    2
    I have no idea why people like this game. I tried starting it 5 times and all I saw was dull boring story, boring spells, the whole vibe of the game is desperation and depression.
    No thanks, I'd rather play something as outdated as Diablo 3 than this crap
  29. whoami1
    Feb 5, 2022
    2
    This is one of the best and worst games ever created. It's great because of its interesting logic and flexibility. But you forget all good emotions at the end of the game. The end-game dynamics get exponentially and excessively hard. The biggest issues are
    - diminishing experience gain with each level and
    - big experience penalty of 10% on death You can purchase the most expensive    This is one of the best and worst games ever created. It's great because of its interesting logic and flexibility. But you forget all good emotions at the end of the game. The end-game dynamics get exponentially and excessively hard. The biggest issues are
    - diminishing experience gain with each level and
    - big experience penalty of 10% on death

    You can purchase the most expensive build and you will still die once in a while. Combined with quickly diminishing experience gain you end up with very long and tedious experience farming just to erase all day work with a few quick deaths. You have to play slow and be very careful, which is not fun. Or you must find a party and grind the same Beachhead Harbinger Map over and over again, which gets boring.

    As soon you get to love this game because of all the intricacies, the whole experience is ruined by poorly balanced experience dynamics.

    Developers should at least halve the death penalty or considerably increase experience gain. I thought the idea of the game is experiment with more builds, so there is no problem making dynamics to reach level 100 a bit easier.    … Expand
  30. weallone
    Aug 22, 2022
    2
    I really loved this game few years ago. Started from Essence and Breach. But more and more GGG artificially force you to spend more time in game. I'm not respect companies or people, who not respect my time! For me GGG now like EA or Blizzard( R.I.P.
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Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Best PC Game of 2013
18
#18 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. RPGamer
    May 9, 2014
    100
    Grinding Gear Games has created something special here, and given it gratis to the world.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 11, 2014
    88
    Hack & slash games are addictive because they follow a simple formula: kill, kill and kill some more. Path of Exile is no different in this regard. During your quest in the perilous continent of Wraeclast you need to slay thousands and thousands of monsters but it never gets boring because there are a plenty of fresh ideas like the very vast skill system and barter-based economy that differentiate it from other similar games. But it's not a perfect game. The story is weak and the difficulty level is too low in the beginning. [Dec 2013]
  3. PC Gamer
    Jan 13, 2014
    84
    An exceptionally generous free-to-play action-rPG. What it lacks in punch it makes up for in depth and value for money.
    Read full review
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