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. N0rthWind
    Jan 10, 2014
    8
    I just played this for a couple of hours and it CREEPED ME OUT.
    The overall setting is so unnerving it makes you want to quit. Some might even do so.
    But after a few hours you're gonna be turning your PC on again. The graphics are a pleasant surprise -- or not. If you're faint hearted, avoid using Corpse Explosion. The game does not hesitate to show these gruesome moves as they should    I just played this for a couple of hours and it CREEPED ME OUT.
    The overall setting is so unnerving it makes you want to quit. Some might even do so.
    But after a few hours you're gonna be turning your PC on again.
    The graphics are a pleasant surprise -- or not. If you're faint hearted, avoid using Corpse Explosion. The game does not hesitate to show these gruesome moves as they should be -- and sound: SPLOTCH.
    Extremely satisfying visuals (in contrast to other games that "hold up" on their best spell effects to use them on the max lvl skills) combined with harrowing scenery, hindered vision and relatively high skill cap, make for a game that can make you starve in your living room.

    If you want proof of how in-depth it is, take a look at its Passive skill layout. The sheer size of it is mind boggling. o_o    … Expand
  2. stern
    Jan 8, 2014
    8
    I found this game by chance and so far it's being amazing.
    I kept playing Diablo 2 in my life way, way past normal people stopped with it, I tried my hand with many Diablo clones, I never entered in Diablo 3 because I'm blessed by a divine force, protecting me from all the evil in this world (sometimes these evils take the name of Blizzard or EA) who only want money from my pocket and    I found this game by chance and so far it's being amazing.
    I kept playing Diablo 2 in my life way, way past normal people stopped with it, I tried my hand with many Diablo clones, I never entered in Diablo 3 because I'm blessed by a divine force, protecting me from all the evil in this world (sometimes these evils take the name of Blizzard or EA) who only want money from my pocket and then... I found Path of Exile and I'm playing it non-stop.
    I loved the skill system, which is pretty similar to the open point system of Final Fantasy X, I loved the fact that there isn't a proper currency but spendable orbs, and I'm loving how the art of the game is realistic and dark in the same vein as the first Diablo and Starcraft of the 90's instead of the childish tone game nowdays took, and as someone who never buys game and always pirate, except if it's from Paradox or some very obscure creative developer, I love their market model.
    Maybe I'm so excited because like another reviewer said "You didn't reach endgame yet", maybe the game is good in the end.
    I only hope their add more content in the future    … Expand
  3. 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
  4. Pyromancer
    Jan 7, 2014
    8
    Path of Exile is a great action RPG. It has one of the best free to play models I have ever seen (The only one it could compare to is DotA 2). I personally don't like farming too much, but Path of Exile makes farming very well. It doesn't take too long, but it isn't too little.
  5. poisonedyouth
    Jan 7, 2014
    10
    Has everything Diablo 3 wishes it had. And its free. What are you waiting for? Save your money on other uncertain purchases and download this immediately. It will keep you entertained for ages.
  6. Kryonix
    Jan 6, 2014
    10
    Best game of the last 10 years for me.

    If you like loot, this game is for you.
    If you played D2, this game is for you.
    If you like unique builds, this game is for you.

    Truly F2P, truly amazing.
  7. Wordenskjold
    Jan 3, 2014
    9
    PoE is a highly addictive Diablo-style game. Extremely simple at first glance, it has a surprisingly complex skill and item system, which makes for hours and hours of fun free gameplay. There is no Pay-To-Win in PoE, as all In-game purchases are almost entirely cosmetic with item stash slots as the exception. I bought them mainly to support the developers.
    Kudos to you guys at Grinding    PoE is a highly addictive Diablo-style game. Extremely simple at first glance, it has a surprisingly complex skill and item system, which makes for hours and hours of fun free gameplay. There is no Pay-To-Win in PoE, as all In-game purchases are almost entirely cosmetic with item stash slots as the exception. I bought them mainly to support the developers.
    Kudos to you guys at Grinding Gear Games!    … Expand
  8. nymm
    Jan 2, 2014
    8
    This Free 2 play game consists of some excellent and simple gameplay, that will without a doubt keep you entertained for hours on end. It is also worthy of mentioning the game's original skill tree, which lets you decide however you want to play your character. It's a great game that i worth mentioning and free stuff is always a joy.
  9. blackbrrd
    Jan 2, 2014
    9
    I am a arpg-fan and started out playing Diablo 2 some years after release. Have also played quite a lot of Titan Quest and some others. I also played Diablo 3, but I never got hooked on it.

    I think Path of Exile does a really good job as an arpg, better than Diablo 3. It's really fun to level up a character. The fights are fun, with a good variation of mobs, cool boss packs and plenty    I am a arpg-fan and started out playing Diablo 2 some years after release. Have also played quite a lot of Titan Quest and some others. I also played Diablo 3, but I never got hooked on it.

    I think Path of Exile does a really good job as an arpg, better than Diablo 3. It's really fun to level up a character. The fights are fun, with a good variation of mobs, cool boss packs and plenty of good loot. The itemization is really good, with multiple properties being important and you regularily find a good item. For a noob to the game (it's pretty deep with loads of customization options), but familiar to the genre, the game is just hard enough. I died a couple of times and ran around like a headless chicken multiple times. Nothing is as fun as nearly dying, but getting away in a game like this.    … Expand
  10. Gurgl
    Dec 31, 2013
    10
    An ARPG in the spirit of Diablo II with even more depth and complexity and thus infinite replay value. This is a game for people who like to customize their characters, plan out builds and then try them out. Choice matters in this game, you can't just change your mind and alter your build at any point without cost.

    This game brings many revolutionary innovations to the genre. The potion    An ARPG in the spirit of Diablo II with even more depth and complexity and thus infinite replay value. This is a game for people who like to customize their characters, plan out builds and then try them out. Choice matters in this game, you can't just change your mind and alter your build at any point without cost.

    This game brings many revolutionary innovations to the genre. The potion system is brilliant, health and mana potions that replenish charges when you kill enemies. The potions can also have magical affixes that make them gain charges on critical strikes, dispel frozen effects on use or increase armour on use to name a few.

    The game has optional special events that run several times each day where characters compete in leveling as far as possible in a set amount of time. These events alernate between different rulesets that keeps them fresh and interesting. The game has no traditional currency system, instead it uses different orbs and scrolls as currency that are used for crafting gear in the game.

    Path of Exile is free to play done right, you can not pay real money to become more powerful. You can pay for cosmetic items, pets, weapon effects, spell effects and more stash tabs where you can store items.    … Expand
  11. Fawlcon
    Dec 30, 2013
    9
    Path of Exile versus Diablo III

    Path of Exile has more in common with Diablo III than differences; i.e. game play, view, combat, weapons, leveling, etc... But as much as they are alike, they are also different. Diablo III is a more polished game in the realm of graphics, game play, storyline and ability to trade items and buy items…but you also pay a price. I liked Diablo and would    Path of Exile versus Diablo III

    Path of Exile has more in common with Diablo III than differences; i.e. game play, view, combat, weapons, leveling, etc... But as much as they are alike, they are also different. Diablo III is a more polished game in the realm of graphics, game play, storyline and ability to trade items and buy items…but you also pay a price. I liked Diablo and would give it an overall B+. The same can be said about Path of Exile, which I would give a B+; but for different reasons.

    I like or Love; It is free…no risk. Graphics and story-line for this game are very good, not great, but for a free to play I am pleased enough. Weapon and amour system is similar to everything else, but different enough you find yourself tweaking and tweaking. Cool and abundant character selection with mind blowing ways of leveling up and fighting and spell tweaks. Making your own amour & weapons is fun, easy and interesting, but not so easy that you will get awesome amour or weapons without effort. As I am sure most of you know, the skill tree is huge…but if you take a little time to really study it; I believe you will enjoy the system they developed and ways you can level up. Like the currency system of barter, but it can become frustrating; read below. Great and easy co-op if you want to play with a friend.

    I don’t like or hated. Small character inventory which has you running back and forth to town WAY TOO often to unload treasure. I hate having to pick up gobs and gobs of useless stuff, but in order to have plenty of identification and portal scrolls and build up an inventory of needed stones and orbs for later use; you are forced too. The bad part is all they would have to do is add a feature that allowed you to instantly scrap a normal or low level magic item for the required scroll scraps OR to go ahead and hall it back to town if you think it might bring in a better price. This way when your inventory fills up with items worth bartering, you could make the trip back to town; but if you want top dollar for everything, you can still hall everything if you want.

    Towards to end of Act II I began to tire just a little, but about that time the difficulty and abilities of amour and weapons changed a little and “support” stones began to make an appearance. This freshened up things a bit and shows they put thought into the long term evolution of your characters…kudos.

    Recommendations for a better game:
    Have 10 to 20 percent of the story line quests be some type of problem solving, riddles or Tomb Raider type puzzle; versus just finding the key or killing the next boss.

    Fix the inventory system and figure a way you can cut trips to town selling crap by 75%!
    If possible, an auction house similar to eBay’s “Buy it Now” would be awesome, but keep it simple. Each person (free account) can post 5 items for sale and can state what stones, gems etc. they will take for said item.

    Final thought. In some ways I feel like this game is a rip off of Diablo III, in some ways better and in some ways worse. But after playing it for 48 hrs, Path of Exile is just different enough and fun enough that I do feel like I am playing a unique game that is just similar to Diablo III and not a copy of it.    … Expand
  12. jlowe48
    Dec 29, 2013
    1
    POE goes sour, most players quit out of frustration.

    Eventually desync bugs or fruitless grinding will be what drive most players to quit this game. Great games you look back at with fondness after you are done with them. POE you look at with fondness when you start playing, and 10-100 play hours later you are frustrated and wish hadn't given them any money. New players, look over    POE goes sour, most players quit out of frustration.

    Eventually desync bugs or fruitless grinding will be what drive most players to quit this game. Great games you look back at with fondness after you are done with them. POE you look at with fondness when you start playing, and 10-100 play hours later you are frustrated and wish hadn't given them any money.

    New players, look over the official game forums to see what you are getting into. Be sure to look in the feedback forum where the moderators move anything negative. In particular look at the desync and drop rate related threads. Item drops and trading are balanced towords no-real-life players, and the dev team refuses to acknowledge that the desync issues need to (or can be) be fixed.    … Expand
  13. 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
  14. Garethw87
    Dec 26, 2013
    9
    Firstly, I only tried this game because of the reviews and critic scores I seen, here on Metacritic, and I am happy I did. It's free to play. Simple as that. Yes the ingame store can be very expensive, but they are only cosmetic items and don't affect the actual game and the developers claim they will never turn pay to win. If you are a Diablo fan, and you don't like the direction DiabloFirstly, I only tried this game because of the reviews and critic scores I seen, here on Metacritic, and I am happy I did. It's free to play. Simple as that. Yes the ingame store can be very expensive, but they are only cosmetic items and don't affect the actual game and the developers claim they will never turn pay to win. If you are a Diablo fan, and you don't like the direction Diablo III has gone (like myself) you should love this. Yes the graphics aren't spectacular, but they are meant to be playable on a wide variety of systems (as its tells you on the website) which is good as not everyone can have a great, expensive gaming system, but now they can enjoy this great game!… Expand
  15. Ananisapta
    Dec 23, 2013
    5
    You get what you pay for! In this case, that amounts to an entertaining side-scroller that's free and easy to learn. User forums and support are generally friendly and helpful. An asset is the ability to develop your alter in any number of directions with the vast talent tree. I have trouble getting immersed due to the fixed, high-angle perspective. Also game-play gets very repetitious atYou get what you pay for! In this case, that amounts to an entertaining side-scroller that's free and easy to learn. User forums and support are generally friendly and helpful. An asset is the ability to develop your alter in any number of directions with the vast talent tree. I have trouble getting immersed due to the fixed, high-angle perspective. Also game-play gets very repetitious at times. Although you mainly play in an instance by yourself, save points are few and far between. It strives for an open-world feel but you may feel severely constrained and numbed by the milieu. I haven't ventured into the PvP part of this game, and that's not my forte anyhow. The game seems solo-able and I haven't found much in the way of fellowship opportunities. For fantasy role-playing fans, Skyrim and Guild Wars 2 seem much superior experiences, or you can wait a few months of Elder Scrolls Online.… Expand
  16. Farive
    Dec 23, 2013
    10
    This is a superb game. It combines all those elements that you'll find in a action hack and slash game. I highly recommend this game to everyone out there who loves Diablo 2. This is a AAA+ game which is totally free to play. No hidden pay to win styles and its filled with amazing skills and the passive skill board is unbelievable.This is one of the best games out there and i recommend it to you.
  17. Andresitooo
    Dec 22, 2013
    6
    Pretty fun hack and slash with decent story. Played game about 60 to 70 hours total game time playing 3 different class types until i realized how frustratingly complex this game is. Even with the 15 plus hours i went through guides, builds, understanding different moves etc. this game just drained me. I think this is good for people that have no life because it is soooo time consuming inPretty fun hack and slash with decent story. Played game about 60 to 70 hours total game time playing 3 different class types until i realized how frustratingly complex this game is. Even with the 15 plus hours i went through guides, builds, understanding different moves etc. this game just drained me. I think this is good for people that have no life because it is soooo time consuming in order for it to be effective. I think game could be sooo much better if re-spec was so much easier. The fact you get through the game and realize you should've gone a different rout, your better off re-rolling a new character which sucks.… Expand
  18. Rowsol
    Dec 21, 2013
    0
    List of things I don't like about the game:

    Trading is a terrible experience due to chat spamming and no interface for buying/selling items. General game balance, in particular the scaling of skills. For instance, raise zombie is useless until the very late game and it's been like this forever. The lack of cooldowns for skills means you only have to use one, the best one. Desync.    List of things I don't like about the game:

    Trading is a terrible experience due to chat spamming and no interface for buying/selling items.

    General game balance, in particular the scaling of skills. For instance, raise zombie is useless until the very late game and it's been like this forever. The lack of cooldowns for skills means you only have to use one, the best one.

    Desync. Their refusal to modify their game to combat this menace means there is no solution in sight and either you can accept it or you can't.

    The passive tree is a great concept but it's just as unbalanced as the skills. Many nodes will never be used because of how bad they are.

    Leveling takes way too long at higher levels (40+). A playthrough of normal difficulty is fun because you can run through each area once and complete the game. When you get to Cruel you have to start grinding the same areas over and over so you can keep up with the level of the monsters. Testing new builds is the most fun part of this game but the slow leveling combined with no option to respec your character makes this a chore.

    Grouping with other players is made easy by the notification board in the game but there's a serious flaw. It shows people from all over the world instead of just people in your realm. There's no way of telling where they are at so when you join a group and enter their instance it's pure luck whether your ping will stay the same or skyrocket to 200-300 because they live in australia and you live in US.

    The races that they do periodically are a good idea but the problem with them is that you always start at lvl 1 and often times they are only 1-2 hours long. Why not have some races start you in cruel difficulty at lvl 35 with some starting gear and skills?

    You can just press esc and close the game if you are about to die. Very hardcore if you ask me.

    I'm giving a 0 because I feel 8.9 is too high of a score for all these flaws. A more fair score would be a 6.    … Expand
  19. 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
  20. ROGUELEGACYSUCK
    Dec 19, 2013
    10
    This game is really good,its a really good coperative game,the difficulty is balanced,there are a lot of items and a lot of characters,a must play and its free to play.
  21. kavinh
    Dec 19, 2013
    7
    Quite a good diabloish title with its own unique twist on the genre. The game itself has an enormous amount of depth and due to the way the gem system is implemented it's possible to use any skill in the game on a separate character allowing players to level a character and bring over their skills should they ever want to do so.
    The game also allows a ridiculous amount of customization    Quite a good diabloish title with its own unique twist on the genre. The game itself has an enormous amount of depth and due to the way the gem system is implemented it's possible to use any skill in the game on a separate character allowing players to level a character and bring over their skills should they ever want to do so.
    The game also allows a ridiculous amount of customization when it comes to character builds to the point where it's viable to use a ranger to create a 2 handed charging swordsman due to their increased dexterity.
    Unfortunately this game also has some problems firstly it's really hard to understand and get into the game from the start. the passive tree is a huge mess for newcomers which means most likely the first and second character may become throw aways due to bad point distribution and while there are refund orbs it's generally faster and easier to simply recreate a charecter then purchasing enough to reset an entire tree.
    Second the game has no auction house and currency instead it uses different orbs that each have a use in improving equipment as tradable currency this makes it very hard for newbies to effectively trade for what they want without getting scammed or being clueless on the matter as well as making it very difficult for players who don't use fanwebsites to purchase items.    … Expand
  22. Claytality
    Dec 17, 2013
    7
    I've played an analyzed this past year's biggest ARPGs; D3, Torchlight 2, and Path of Exile. Torchlight 2 is the best, Path of Exile is next, while D3 is last. PoE is a good game, no denying that. Good combat mechanics and skills. Unfortunately this is combated by poor map exploration (due to map color; blank space indicates where you are while a line-pattern indicates the boundaries,I've played an analyzed this past year's biggest ARPGs; D3, Torchlight 2, and Path of Exile. Torchlight 2 is the best, Path of Exile is next, while D3 is last. PoE is a good game, no denying that. Good combat mechanics and skills. Unfortunately this is combated by poor map exploration (due to map color; blank space indicates where you are while a line-pattern indicates the boundaries, its confusing). The environments are bland without any real depth. The environments are also extremely bleak and depressing. The camera is zoomed in too far compared to D3 or Torchlight, and there is no option to zoom it out further. When I am trying to explore or being ambushed by a mob, it helps to have the extra vision.

    Overall, great game considering its free.    … Expand
  23. chillarius
    Dec 17, 2013
    10
    POE is very worthwhile. First of all, it is free to play, giving everyone a chance to play and enjoy the game. Most free to play games tend to transform into pay to win schemes, causing great imbalances for non paying users. So far this not the case at all in POE. Yes, POE does offer micro transactions offering increased inventory space, pets, visuals for weapons & abilities, however nonePOE is very worthwhile. First of all, it is free to play, giving everyone a chance to play and enjoy the game. Most free to play games tend to transform into pay to win schemes, causing great imbalances for non paying users. So far this not the case at all in POE. Yes, POE does offer micro transactions offering increased inventory space, pets, visuals for weapons & abilities, however none of these have an effect on the strength of your character.

    POE offers an amazing tech tree for each of the classes. Interesting skill system. Easy to get into hard to master.

    Give it a shot. 10/10 from me.

    -chillarius    … Expand
  24. Carpetmuncha69
    Dec 16, 2013
    0
    I played POE in early launch. I call it launch, but it was technically the first day of open beta. In my opinion, when a game has a functioning cash shop and is making money, and opens up to everyone. It should be called launch. I'm thinking of all the games that had the testicular fortitude to call their game "launch" and got bad reviews. Then got better with updates, but somehow don'tI played POE in early launch. I call it launch, but it was technically the first day of open beta. In my opinion, when a game has a functioning cash shop and is making money, and opens up to everyone. It should be called launch. I'm thinking of all the games that had the testicular fortitude to call their game "launch" and got bad reviews. Then got better with updates, but somehow don't get a second chance or a re review down the road. This is what happened. PoE would've gotten terrible scores if it called it release. There's no denying that. It was unfinished, and is completely un fair to any game.

    If I were a dev, i'd learn from this. Release in open beta, so no one can review you, continue to make money, develop the game and call it release when you know for sure you'll get a good score.

    Shame on reviewrs, shame on you sheep for following this.    … Expand
  25. drseventies
    Dec 14, 2013
    10
    Path of Exile is the best modern hack n slash I've played. The visuals and sounds are well done and the combat and interface are second to none. Player skill combinations and character builds are as numerous as you can imagine. Which is good, because the maps and enemies present an ever-changing threat, and adaptability is key. This is the game I've been waiting for for ten years.
  26. Menacetech
    Dec 13, 2013
    8
    Well After the D3 disappointment PoE has restored my faith in the ARPG genre. Path of Exile has turned out to be a great game that will only get better with time. GGG is a breath of fresh air in a time where the gaming industry as a whole wrecks of
  27. fl3shy
    Dec 13, 2013
    7
    Despite being free, it's better than Diablo 3. There are some interesting concepts here, the barter system, the skill tree and the weapon gem systems. Really though, this is a hack and slash game at its core and it does a good enough job.
  28. xtrmsnpr
    Dec 11, 2013
    7
    a good diablo 3 clone.
    Nice scene,a nice rpg,gameplay feels better than other arpgs.Overall it has all the things that diablo 3 was missing.Although the grind,it is addictive without noticing too much of it.
  29. 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
  30. keefbaker
    Dec 8, 2013
    10
    So basically you get a game with the depth that Diablo 3 should have had with the fun levels of torchlight? And I don't have to pay for it? Well Played, path of exile, well played! As it's free I find it impossible to not give this a 10
  31. Illusion
    Dec 6, 2013
    5
    PoE is that cool girl you see and idolize in your mind.
    But as you got to know her better the illusion falls apart.
    PoE had the potential to be the best ARPG ever. But it is far far away from that in its current state. So what is wrong with PoE? For starters the most important thing in an ARPG is the gameplay quality. There is no point in complex mechanics if the game is not    PoE is that cool girl you see and idolize in your mind.
    But as you got to know her better the illusion falls apart.

    PoE had the potential to be the best ARPG ever.
    But it is far far away from that in its current state.

    So what is wrong with PoE?
    For starters the most important thing in an ARPG is the gameplay quality. There is no point in complex mechanics if the game is not working properly, or not responding to your commands. PoE suffers horrible in terms of gameplay.

    DESYNCH: imagine you play Mario, and on the other side of the wall there is a small monster wandering there. When you get there you will need to pay attention to it, but no need to worry now because it is not near you. And Bam! "GAME OVER" !?
    Well it turns out that this monster was not far away, it was actually near you, even better actually you were not even where you thought you were!!
    The screen position of your char and enemies may always be wrong in PoE, and if you rely on the information on your screen you will die.. ALOT!

    You may ask "But if screen information are unreliable, how do I maneuver to avoid things in fight?"
    Well game saves you from that problem, because DESYNCH is almost certain when attempting to maneuver away from enemies, and especially doing that with high move speed or with mobility skills. So you simply dont even attempt.

    COMMAND RESPONSE: PoE is a "pick a skill/spell and spam it whole game" type of ARPG. Nothing but nothing pays as well as overfocusing a single skill for DPS. Also skills not having cooldown, and reaching ridiculous attack/cast speeds like 2-10 per second; only viable way of sustaining DPS is spamming without interruption. So even if you had 2 skills it would not be possible to use them consequently.
    So we do spam in PoE. Now the real problem; game has no command queueing code, and completely ignores the commands given while spamming attacks. Everyone in game uses auto-cast supports for their auxilary skill for that reason.

    BLAND MONSTERS: PoE has a very boring monster design, they just rush to you with a single attack/spell. ONLY utility monster in game is necromancer to raise back undead. As there are no utility monsters to drive difficulty up, as you progress game difficulty increases only by making monsters deal more damage. Spike damage scales so ridiculously that you get one shot by everything unless you invest %70 of your passives to increase max life or reaching life nods.

    TRADE FOCUSED GAME DESIGN: Drops are based on trade oriented economy. So it is as bad as D3 AH. But it is even worse because game does not have an ingame trade system other than a horrible trade chat, so ALL players use an external trade find site named poe.xyz which is exactly same thing as AH.
    Trading 15 mins will get you gear which you can not get by grinding for 10 hours.

    In conclusion PoE is an ARPG where you should
    not try to maneuver mobs,
    not rely on position of enemies or your char on screen,
    spam a single skill keeping everything else in autocast,
    increase max life nonstop to avoid one-shot kills.
    Also trade oriented drops are as bad as D3 AH.

    That is not what I expect from an ARPG.
    (based on the experience of a player who completed all endgame content)    … Expand
  32. Mochito
    Dec 6, 2013
    7
    I have played this game since March 2013. I rate this game a 75/100 overall. I am not a Fan-boy, or a hater. I do like playing it overall. I am not going into the numerous minor likes, and dislikes. Try to stay on the major points.

    Pros 1. Endless character creation ability 2. Free game to start 3. Constant biweekly updates, and real fast emergency patches to fix major bugs 4.    I have played this game since March 2013. I rate this game a 75/100 overall. I am not a Fan-boy, or a hater. I do like playing it overall. I am not going into the numerous minor likes, and dislikes. Try to stay on the major points.

    Pros
    1. Endless character creation ability
    2. Free game to start
    3. Constant biweekly updates, and real fast emergency patches to fix major bugs
    4. Overall good graphics, and improving with each patch.
    5. Massive passive skill tree- It has over 1450 in it. Many are not needed for your particular build, but it's there for you to choose.
    6. Guild system

    Neutral

    1. You eventually need to buy micro-transactions for stash slots, not free in the end-run.
    2. Drop/crafting system have way to much RNG layers. Need to reduce the RNG v.s. toying with the magic find quality, and rarity. Hard, but not impossible to get anywere with the current structure.
    3. Map system is the end-game. Due to RNG again it's hard to progress in this area. Just as likely to run out of maps and be totally stuck. This last point is being addressed currently.

    Con's
    1. Horrible Trade system- Needs massive changes. Right now it's run by 24/7 players who have the time. It can take hours, or even days to find what you want to buy. And finding a buyer who will sell it without trying to rip you off. The sell side is no better. You must learn to use poe.xyz/ poe.explorer, or your never going to figure out anything. Of-site websites dealing with availability/ prices for buy/sell.
    1A- In-game spam trading is the pits, worse thing I have ever seen, no way to even filiter it, it's just endless fast scroll. RMT sites start spamming you too for next 20 minutes.

    2. Desync- Major problem in this game with several of the melee builds like cyclone. Lesser of a problem for casters/ranged.

    3. Lag issues- Dropping, I suspect over the next several months this will be a thing of the past.

    4. No real PVP system for those who care, for those who don't..... no negaitive here.

    I do believe that if they fix the trade system, get the drop/craft RNG lessened, and fix desync/lag this game currently has the potential to be the WOW of the ARPG market. However it will only be a niche game (50.000 players) if they don't correct these areas over the next few months. Only time will tell now.

    Again overall score 75/100 with potential to be 97/100    … Expand
  33. didofo
    Dec 5, 2013
    10
    Right now, POE is the best game of the genre. You can have any build you want, you only need imagination and skills to make the build right. All this for $0.00, and some games cost like $40 and don't get even close to POE
  34. 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
  35. WabbaWay
    Dec 4, 2013
    10
    This game deserves the 10/10 score simply because of the amount of content you get for free. The deceptive gamer might be thinking "F2P is a myth because of micro-transactions, durr, it's not free", and they'd be right luckily the PoE micro-transaction system is purely for cosmetic items, with the most Pay to Win-type thing you can buy being extra bank tabs.

    Add that to the fact that    This game deserves the 10/10 score simply because of the amount of content you get for free. The deceptive gamer might be thinking "F2P is a myth because of micro-transactions, durr, it's not free", and they'd be right luckily the PoE micro-transaction system is purely for cosmetic items, with the most Pay to Win-type thing you can buy being extra bank tabs.

    Add that to the fact that is has smooth combat, (very) regular updates, huge talent tree ('talent forest' seems more appropriate), actual difficulty and no AH... Yeah.

    There are problems with the game for sure, but comparing PoE to any other ARPG out there makes those issues easy to overlook. Put in other terms; If D3 has a 88 meta score, then PoE deserves a flawless 10.    … Expand
  36. Lambo442
    Dec 3, 2013
    10
    Three weeks has passed since I started playing POE and I'm still asking myself 'is this really free?' This is a slick, in depth title with hugely customizable characters that offer an endless amount of play styles. It really is everything you could ever want out of game of this genre, especially seeing as it's online and has a pretty good community of hardcore gamers. There are also a shedThree weeks has passed since I started playing POE and I'm still asking myself 'is this really free?' This is a slick, in depth title with hugely customizable characters that offer an endless amount of play styles. It really is everything you could ever want out of game of this genre, especially seeing as it's online and has a pretty good community of hardcore gamers. There are also a shed load of competitions and events which mean that playing online always easy and rewarding. I haven't played Diablo 3 yet but it's going to have a tough job beating this.… Expand
  37. Caspian_dk
    Dec 3, 2013
    10
    Played this game for almost a year now. And I still enjoy it, almost every day. It is everything i missed in diablo 3. Great items, awesome skill system combined of skill gems and a huge skill tree. that makes your option endless. New skills being added, new builds invented regular. I could keep praising this game all night. And its Free. my only advantage over friends that have neverPlayed this game for almost a year now. And I still enjoy it, almost every day. It is everything i missed in diablo 3. Great items, awesome skill system combined of skill gems and a huge skill tree. that makes your option endless. New skills being added, new builds invented regular. I could keep praising this game all night. And its Free. my only advantage over friends that have never payed a penny is a larger stash the rest is only cosmetic… Expand
  38. daskind
    Dec 3, 2013
    10
    jsut to start with i didn´t play diablo 3 so i will not comment on any of these two games being better or worse then the other. i just truly want to say THANK YOU to grinding gear games for developing such a title and make it free to play. i was surprised that all the stuff you can buy in the ingame shop is not necessary for having a fun game. in fact, most of the stuff is only cosmetic,jsut to start with i didn´t play diablo 3 so i will not comment on any of these two games being better or worse then the other. i just truly want to say THANK YOU to grinding gear games for developing such a title and make it free to play. i was surprised that all the stuff you can buy in the ingame shop is not necessary for having a fun game. in fact, most of the stuff is only cosmetic, there is not even an exp boost. thus this gem can be played for free completely without any disadvantage ..

    thanks.    … Expand
  39. Smokeymountains
    Dec 3, 2013
    10
    I actually had to make an account on metacritic to give this game a review. I've used steam for years and read the metacritic review on many games...the 85 Path of Exile has received did not sit well with me. This is a free to play game similar to Diablo 3, yet has what D3 lacked for me....customization of your character. The skill tree is amazing, and you will spend a large amount ofI actually had to make an account on metacritic to give this game a review. I've used steam for years and read the metacritic review on many games...the 85 Path of Exile has received did not sit well with me. This is a free to play game similar to Diablo 3, yet has what D3 lacked for me....customization of your character. The skill tree is amazing, and you will spend a large amount of time planning the path your character will take on it. The skill usage in this game is also a unique aspect to me, every skill is able to be augmented in some way, want an extra projectile on that skill? You've got it...want extra magic find on that skill? You've got it. This game has 10+ all over it and I want everyone using this review site to know it!… Expand
  40. sirkel
    Dec 1, 2013
    9
    Wow amazing game and it is free? Are you kidding me, yes that is right, they make money off of the item store sales and that is it. You would think that would mean the game is some cheap Chinese junk, well it isn't, this isn't, and it isn't Chinese at all, it is western. Dare I say this game is better than Diablo 3? Yeah I would say it is by a long shot. The graphics, music, and atmosphereWow amazing game and it is free? Are you kidding me, yes that is right, they make money off of the item store sales and that is it. You would think that would mean the game is some cheap Chinese junk, well it isn't, this isn't, and it isn't Chinese at all, it is western. Dare I say this game is better than Diablo 3? Yeah I would say it is by a long shot. The graphics, music, and atmosphere is nice, as is the gem skill system. The map randomization is good as well. Is the game 100% perfect, no, but it is good. If you are a Diablo type fan, definitely check this out. You may have a few issues at first getting it to install, some do and don't.… Expand
  41. Simbosan
    Nov 30, 2013
    5
    There is a semi decent game, but I can't put up with only being able to see about a 10 foot square of it. The view is TINY tiny tiny. Crazy, can't see how it gets such good scores.
  42. Jo0ker
    Nov 30, 2013
    10
    This game surprised me, the gameplay seemed strange at first, but over time it is easy to pick up and still giving to play with a friend. With nothing cloying and very addictive phases, besides the beautiful graphic!
  43. rolandsaul
    Nov 28, 2013
    8
    Great ideas abound in this game. Lots of fun (for a while) and ran flawlessly in my case. Graphics were polished, music and sound were great. Loved the skill tree; something like 1200 nodes of incremental skill/attribute boosts... obviously designed with the long, long term player in mind. The long term play is what starts detracting in my view, but keep in mind it's FTP so what do youGreat ideas abound in this game. Lots of fun (for a while) and ran flawlessly in my case. Graphics were polished, music and sound were great. Loved the skill tree; something like 1200 nodes of incremental skill/attribute boosts... obviously designed with the long, long term player in mind. The long term play is what starts detracting in my view, but keep in mind it's FTP so what do you expect. Before I forget, I will state that this game runs like a top. I suffered a few fatalities due to "lag" issues, but I have had those in just about every server-based game I have ever played. Not a real problem for me anyway. Life of a gamer and all that....

    I took one character to level 45 and "finished" the game as it stands now. While I had a blast in the 3 weeks or so I played it, I found that sifting through the literally thousands of pieces of gear that would drop in a night's gaming got to be slightly tedious. Also tedious to me is the prospect of going through the gameworld again, albeit at a harder difficulty. I've seen the 3 act gameworld, found it uninspired if really nicely rendered, and it holds no more charm for me somehow.

    The characters on the other hand I found to be a little more imaginative, eclectic if goofy in spots, but altogether decent and interesting.. The mobs were well thought out, nicely rendered for the most part, and even beautiful art in a few cases. In my case, it gets kinda stale after slaying 1,000 identical mobs in 5 minutes, most of whom will drop some utterly useless gear. I had to laugh when I found a piece of armor that actually increased the amount of loot by 11 percent. I distinctly remember thinking to myself
    "My God, who in blazes would actually want to look through more of this stuff?"

    Maybe I'm looking for something a little more cerebral in a game..... I'll shorten this up a bit by saying that POE is a very well made ARPG with enough fresh ideas to keep you interested for a while. It IS a slasher, AND a grinder make no mistake, if you're looking for a classic story or real rpg elements you'll find hints of them here but not much more. This game is about combat, levelling, and wanting to invest the endless hours into multiple builds of your character. In the area of build customization, I will state that it has the most advanced skill tree that I have ever seen. The amount of work that went into this facet alone must be staggering. This would be better suited to you if you are into hardcore gear swapping, trying out builds and kits, and grinding... I had good fun on the first play through, but can't seem to get interested in another go, regardless of the fact that GGG has innovated again in their of randomization of map orientation so that at least you get a different physical perspective on the 3/4 iso field whenever you replay a map.

    Final thoughts: Great innovation in a few areas, lots of fun, EXCELLENT coding, I feel that if GGG can expand the best ideas in this game the sky is the limit. As it stands, this level of quality in a ftp game is almost unheard of. If it were a standalone retail game the first 40 hours of gameplay would get a 70 something from me, because I just don't get into the hack n' slash that much, but seeing as how it's free and I had a really good time for a couple weeks I'm going into the upper 80's.

    The lasting impression I get is that GGG has enormous potential and some serious game creation juice to pull this off. I will be listening hard for news of their next venture, if only because my personal taste is not along the lines of staying with POE. They currently have "it". These guys could make a Baldur's gate for the next generation, and coming from me that's saying a lot. There are improvements that could be made, but there is some really good stuff here.

    I still sees the ghostly pirates when i closes me eyes...... yaaaaargh....    … Expand
  44. jojojo777
    Nov 28, 2013
    10
    Path of Exile is amazing in so many ways that i dont even know where to start. Its truly f2p, has incredible build diversity, a great crafting system and a very rewarding endgame.

    On top of that GGG improved some of the more lackluster features of its spiritual predecessor Diablo 2 in very smart ways. For example, you can reset areas without leaving the game. You cant fill your    Path of Exile is amazing in so many ways that i dont even know where to start. Its truly f2p, has incredible build diversity, a great crafting system and a very rewarding endgame.

    On top of that GGG improved some of the more lackluster features of its spiritual predecessor Diablo 2 in very smart ways. For example, you can reset areas without leaving the game. You cant fill your inventory with potions and spam them nonstop, only recharge the ones you have when you kill monsters or visit a town.

    The "real" endgame consists of so called maps, areas based on specific areas from the campaign, but with semi-random monsters. You can improve those maps with various currency items, which makes them significantly harder but also increases the amount of loot.
    The lower tier maps are easy to come by and cheap to roll, but going all the way to the top tier maps requires serious commitment, research, and lots of currency. However, once you get there it may well be worth it, since virtually every other item you find in those maps will sell for a decent amount (and ofc those maps themselves are worth a lot).

    So,in conclusion, i rate POE 10/10.    … Expand
  45. Slipper
    Nov 28, 2013
    9
    Played for some time and loved it all the way. This free game is a must play for everyone. Invite your friends and start slashing. Very complex skill upgrade, many ways to upgrade your character, not very hardware demanding i even played on single processor core machine Thumbs up My score 9 why not 10. Well, sometimes is very repetitive.
  46. 1ManAndHisDroid
    Nov 27, 2013
    6
    What's not to like? It's free.. it looks good.. it's a damned site more impressive than Diablo 3 (just for variety of skills, etc.)
    You've got nothing to lose by trying it I was pleasantly surprised!
    :)
  47. funk021
    Nov 26, 2013
    10
    A FREE game that is so well developed and fun that you will put over 40 hours into not sure why you would rate this anything less than a 10, even if you are a demanding gamer. I keep coming back to it, between these 60$ games that can only keep me interested for a few hours.
  48. chevmech
    Nov 24, 2013
    10
    It goes D2, Fate/Torchlight, Titan Quest, PoE. Best clone to date. Suck it Bliz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  49. LGFTW
    Nov 24, 2013
    10
    Dark, gritty, atmospheric. Fantastic fun both solo and multiplayer. Intriguing race event system. Interesting dynamic skill (gem) system, and the passive tree is spectacular. The only things I don't particularly like about it are the currency system and the respec system, but these are just personal preferences and shouldn't stand in the way of you trying out this gem of a game.
  50. 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
  51. Hereticus
    Nov 24, 2013
    10
    PoE is the Greatest action RPG ever created... bar none!, It starts off very simple and gradually becomes more complex as you level up and plan your path on the massive passive skill tree. The skill tree while only affecting passive traits is complex and requires much thought as to where you want it to take you, the flash and bang part of the game lies in the gem system and how you linkPoE is the Greatest action RPG ever created... bar none!, It starts off very simple and gradually becomes more complex as you level up and plan your path on the massive passive skill tree. The skill tree while only affecting passive traits is complex and requires much thought as to where you want it to take you, the flash and bang part of the game lies in the gem system and how you link gems on an item for more devastating effects. PoE is not perfect there is some occasional De-sync and the grouping system is only ok imop. The graphics are not as smooth as say D3 but still very nice. All this and its F2P but not at all P2W!! I have over 100 hours in this game and it is currently one of my most favorite games ever.… Expand
  52. Orionsbelt
    Nov 24, 2013
    10
    Amazing graphics, amazing customization, amazing old school diablo. Diablo 3 is a pay to win game. Path of Exile is a game where you can grind to win, and your investment has real gratification in the game.
  53. Bionicvapour
    Nov 23, 2013
    10
    Best free to play game out there. POE's store items do not effect the game play only the looks of characters and what not. You can purchase extra storage for loot and that would be the only big thing that your money can buy. I will purchase more storage for convenience and to support the staff. Say goodbye to pay to win (free games). Skill tree is massive! It has its bugs but for a newBest free to play game out there. POE's store items do not effect the game play only the looks of characters and what not. You can purchase extra storage for loot and that would be the only big thing that your money can buy. I will purchase more storage for convenience and to support the staff. Say goodbye to pay to win (free games). Skill tree is massive! It has its bugs but for a new indie game that is expected and can be over looked.… Expand
  54. Brosilocybin
    Nov 23, 2013
    10
    This is the dark and adult ARPG many of us have been waiting years for. Gone is the silly meaninglessness currency systems that have ruined game economies for years and it is place is a trading system of all usable orbs, crafting items, ability gems and gear.
    POE also rejects the generic ARPG skills system where you either choose as you level or unlocked as you level, instead POE takes a    This is the dark and adult ARPG many of us have been waiting years for. Gone is the silly meaninglessness currency systems that have ruined game economies for years and it is place is a trading system of all usable orbs, crafting items, ability gems and gear.
    POE also rejects the generic ARPG skills system where you either choose as you level or unlocked as you level, instead POE takes a risk and hits a home run with the gems, sockets and link system. Rather than just have your 1 base ability POE lets you link up to 6 gems in a chain, usually 1 active and 5 passive, making your moves even more powerful.
    The gear is better too, there are less useless stats that plaque RNG rolls on other ARPGs and making gearing a often a pain. Most of the possible item rolls are relevant to the gear so a player can feasibly play the whole game through lvl 68 with only found gear, this is a big thing for me and other ARPG fans on the first play through.
    You can grind if you want to, it's not a necessary part of the game unless you want to play maps because there is sufficient content all the way up to the end game, there are constant races from lvl 1 for X hours, multi-player and PvP. The endgame is a grind fest with potential for insane gear drops if that is more your style.

    PvP is not great yet and there are some desync problems but otherwise this is the best and only free-to-play micro-transaction free ARPG. Overall it is much deeper than D3 or Torchlight and community has lasted and will continue to last longer as well.    … Expand
  55. popalazarou
    Nov 20, 2013
    10
    after just tinkering with the beta and thinking it might be just ok, i have come to see how amazing this game is in every way. There is nothing you can moan about, graphics are good, sound is good, gameplay is great. I think this game is uderrated when you consider its ftp. There is a ton of gaming to be had. And all for free. I cant believe there are so many negative comments aboutafter just tinkering with the beta and thinking it might be just ok, i have come to see how amazing this game is in every way. There is nothing you can moan about, graphics are good, sound is good, gameplay is great. I think this game is uderrated when you consider its ftp. There is a ton of gaming to be had. And all for free. I cant believe there are so many negative comments about this game. These developers should be praised for showing how it can be done… Expand
  56. ConorHat
    Nov 19, 2013
    1
    I gave it a shot and really didn't find it fun. If your idea of fun involves a skinner box with bland colors and monotonous gameplay, you're in luck: this game is free to play and requires you to do nothing more than spam click your mouse for hours on end. Enjoy!
  57. 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
  58. SupaChigga
    Nov 19, 2013
    8
    Single Player/Multi Player (1/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If the multiplayer is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no single player) Gameplay (2/2) Visuals/Story (1/2) (If the visuals are better than the story, review this section as if it had no story) (If the story is    Single Player/Multi Player (1/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If the multiplayer is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no single player)

    Gameplay (2/2)

    Visuals/Story (1/2)

    (If the visuals are better than the story, review this section as if it had no story) (If the story is better than the visuals, review this section as if the visuals didn’t matter)

    Accessibility/Longevity (2/2)

    (Review this section only on Accessibility if the game has no longevity) (Review this section only on longevity if the game isn’t accessible)

    Pricing (2/2)

    Wildcard (0)

    This is a guideline for how to properly review games. Many reviewers like to get a “feel” for a game, and arbitrarily give a game a score that they believe it deserves. This results in wildly different scores between different reviewers, and vastly different scores between similar games. This guideline addresses these problems and scores games fairly and consistently. This guideline also gives scores that are usually similar to the metacritic score.

    The review score is based out of 10 points. There are no “half” or 0.5 increments. It is impossible to have a score above 10 or below 0. The review score will change as the game gets new dlc, drops in price, or if more secrets are found through the game increasing its appeal.

    The scoring is split into 6 sections. The first five sections can add a possible 2 points to the final score. The first 5 sections are Single Player/Multi Player, Gameplay, Visuals/Story, Accessibility/Longevity, and Pricing.

    Notice that 3 of these sections have two parts. These particular sections will be scored based on the stronger part of the game of the two. For example, if a game has a lousy single player campaign, but an excellent multiplayer component, that section will be based solely on the multiplayer as if the single player did not exist. This allows games to be based on their own merits, as many unnecessary features are shoehorned into video games by publishers to reach a “feature quota”. Games that excel in both areas of a section don’t receive should be noted in the written review, but cannot increase the score past 2 in that section. However, it can be taken into account in the final section

    The final section can add 1, add 0, or subtract 1 to the final score. This final section is the “wildcard” section. This section is for how the reviewer “feels” about the game, but limits this only to this section, rather than the entire 10 point review. This section can include any positive or negative point that was not covered in the previous 5 sections.    … Expand
  59. 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
  60. sucktackular
    Nov 18, 2013
    8
    I could go on about everything that is amazing about this game, but instead, I'll tell you why I'm not giving it a 10 (like many others mistakenly have). It is flawed. It isn't fatally flawed I plan on playing it for months (or maybe even years) to come however, there is definite room for improvement. On the bright side, the developers are amazing and responsive, and I'm sure there willI could go on about everything that is amazing about this game, but instead, I'll tell you why I'm not giving it a 10 (like many others mistakenly have). It is flawed. It isn't fatally flawed I plan on playing it for months (or maybe even years) to come however, there is definite room for improvement. On the bright side, the developers are amazing and responsive, and I'm sure there will be fixes that address the flaws as the game matures. On to the bad stuff.

    Desync. Left-clicking to attack; attacking through doorways; walking through doorways; walking in confined spaces; melee attacks; leap slam. From what I understand, these things and more can all affect how the server predicts your character's movement. As a result, the server predicts that you will be standing ion one spot, while your local client displays you as standing somewhere else. This can and will lead to death, unless you're very careful. This hasn't been noticeably worked on since I started playing during the closed beta, and is extremely infuriating, but is not extremely worse than other online aRPGs with "rubberbanding" (like you-know-who). This major point takes off 1.5 from my score.

    Balance: Some classes, skills, and skill combinations are much more powerful and useful than others. This is only a small issue, as the developers frequently add new skills and rebalance the skills. In the past year, they've added a new class, many new skills, rebalanced much of the ranger tree, rebalanced physical bow attacks, rebalanced melee, rebalanced life nodes, and much more. Balance is a moving target, but I think GGG is doing an excellent job of addressing it. Until the game is completely balanced, I'll just take .5 off for this.

    I really have no complaints about the game besides these 2 things. Everything else is practically perfect.    … Expand
  61. metacritiq
    Nov 18, 2013
    8
    Fairly fun. If you liked Diablo II, download this free game, you'll probably like it. I don't feel compelled to keep playing, but it's pretty fun in the same respect. There is no gold, the currency is scrolls, which is a little confusing. Also, instances regenerate after 5-7 minutes of you being off a map, so you might leave the "tamoe highlands" to sell stuff in town, and come back,Fairly fun. If you liked Diablo II, download this free game, you'll probably like it. I don't feel compelled to keep playing, but it's pretty fun in the same respect. There is no gold, the currency is scrolls, which is a little confusing. Also, instances regenerate after 5-7 minutes of you being off a map, so you might leave the "tamoe highlands" to sell stuff in town, and come back, and the entire map is unexplored again. I think most games are awful these days, but this one's decent.… Expand
  62. Synol
    Nov 18, 2013
    1
    If this game was offline, or had decent servers/code it would be a great game.

    However it has none of those things. De-sync is out of control, a quick google search will show you this has been a problem since forever and the devs have no idea how to fix it or just do not care. Their solution thus far was to put in a command /oos to sync you back to where the server thinks you are. One    If this game was offline, or had decent servers/code it would be a great game.

    However it has none of those things. De-sync is out of control, a quick google search will show you this has been a problem since forever and the devs have no idea how to fix it or just do not care. Their solution thus far was to put in a command /oos to sync you back to where the server thinks you are. One has to wonder why they don't simply bind this functionality into skills if they already have it. So that when you use a skill it checks to make sure you are where the server thinks you are.

    Apart from the apparent lack of skill on the devs behalf the in-game staff are much worse. If you disagree with their sexual preferences (gay btw) and you state that in any capacity you will be muted for Hate Speech. Want to say that being straight is normal (even though it is and this is simply a fact) Muted. The irony being that imposing their own views on others and muting anyone that disagrees is actually Hate Speech against straight people. Want to point out that if humans were all gay we would have gone extinct a long time ago? Hate Speech. Muted.

    There are many other things wrong with the game, like the map being horrendously drawn and looks like absolute garbage, but it would take far too long to list them all here. Go to their forums and read some of the threads there before the mods lock and delete them for being honest.

    If you want to play a good ARPG just go play Diablo 2 or wait for the Diablo 3 expansion. This game is filled with bigots and their staffs entire job is to hide negative feedback and not actually improve the game. Everything that is fun in this game is a direct copy of Diablo 2 anyway but with less depth. 7 years to make an average game that most people didn't even play past the first week? What an absolute disgrace.    … Expand
  63. plescure
    Nov 17, 2013
    10
    Excellent game. initially seemed a little basic and boring, but scratch beneath the surface and there is wonderful depth to the game. Repeating content is not an issue because for me its all about the builds. have taken 3 character to level 60+ now and i still have at least 5 or 6 other builds that i want to try

    And the best thing is: Ive spent 200+ hours on this game so far and not had    Excellent game. initially seemed a little basic and boring, but scratch beneath the surface and there is wonderful depth to the game. Repeating content is not an issue because for me its all about the builds. have taken 3 character to level 60+ now and i still have at least 5 or 6 other builds that i want to try

    And the best thing is: Ive spent 200+ hours on this game so far and not had to pay a penny    … Expand
  64. sh4dow
    Nov 17, 2013
    6
    When I first played the game in closed beta about TWO years ago, I thought the visuals looked pretty promising although I expected they would still be a bit improved, the animations (both character and vegetation) looked a bit stiff, there was quite a bit of clipping while walking around, there were issues with footsteps being heard even though no enemies were around and possibly more. IWhen I first played the game in closed beta about TWO years ago, I thought the visuals looked pretty promising although I expected they would still be a bit improved, the animations (both character and vegetation) looked a bit stiff, there was quite a bit of clipping while walking around, there were issues with footsteps being heard even though no enemies were around and possibly more. I felt that the gameplay was great and now they just had to work on the presentation.
    But over those two years, not ONE of the things I just mentioned was fixed (there is also no sound via SPDIF something I've never experienced before and an issue that was reported to them a long time ago). It seems to me they only worked on more and more content. And apparently, that's what people enjoy. Good for them. But not for me. Personally, I don't care about one playthrough taking 100 hours (or whatever I haven't actually finished the game and possibly never will). I'd rather have 20 hours of a game that is all-around polished. And if you happen to feel like that too, try The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing instead. That felt a lot more like a top notch ARPG, despite having its own minor flaws.    … Expand
  65. Cpt_Brutality
    Nov 15, 2013
    10
    The depth of this game is unmatched. The greatest Arpg since Diablo 2. Pretty high learning curve but all worth it once you pass that! Im playing the game for over a year now (closed beta) and loving every single minute of it. Also the development team is epic as can be!!
  66. Rodundra
    Nov 14, 2013
    6
    Path of Exile is a fun game with a lot going for it. It has a unique progression style, great artwork, and fun items. It deserves a lot of the praise that is being given to it, and it certainly our-shines a lot of the competitors. Though, there is also quite a lot wrong with the game. It's quite short, the skills are dreadfully boring, and you are almost forced into being a melee class asPath of Exile is a fun game with a lot going for it. It has a unique progression style, great artwork, and fun items. It deserves a lot of the praise that is being given to it, and it certainly our-shines a lot of the competitors. Though, there is also quite a lot wrong with the game. It's quite short, the skills are dreadfully boring, and you are almost forced into being a melee class as the others are quite bad in comparison. Other than that, it's a fairly good game and it's definitely worth going through at least once, as it is free to play.… Expand
  67. RaggedyAttorney
    Nov 13, 2013
    10
    An amazing aRPG from an awesome, and dedicated developer. This game is everything I wanted Diablo 3 to be, and so much more. It brought back that loot addiction I had when I would play Diablo 2. The build diversity that is possible in this game is just insane, and allows for the ability to almost never see the same build twice. (Unless you copy a cookie cutter build). The community is alsoAn amazing aRPG from an awesome, and dedicated developer. This game is everything I wanted Diablo 3 to be, and so much more. It brought back that loot addiction I had when I would play Diablo 2. The build diversity that is possible in this game is just insane, and allows for the ability to almost never see the same build twice. (Unless you copy a cookie cutter build). The community is also awesome. The developers actually care about their fans, and are constantly updating the game with new skills, items, races, and content. And to top it all off the game comes the nice price of free 99. It is absolutely one of my most played, and favorite games of this generation. Thank you GGG.… Expand
  68. kharaa
    Nov 13, 2013
    6
    You have a handful of classes, with very little that separates them, except what they can skill up in their passives tree. the game is extremely bland, it was an obvious attempt to mimic diablo 2, in almost every way shape and form that was realistic, except it has none of diablo II's flavor, or it's uniqueness, all of the said classes share the same exact skills. Of course there will beYou have a handful of classes, with very little that separates them, except what they can skill up in their passives tree. the game is extremely bland, it was an obvious attempt to mimic diablo 2, in almost every way shape and form that was realistic, except it has none of diablo II's flavor, or it's uniqueness, all of the said classes share the same exact skills. Of course there will be skills that benefit a hunter more, or a witch, but in general you have a single pool of spells that all classes share.

    The game is also very unforgiving, you end up making it to max rank, realized you were building like a jerk and the game does not help you at all. You're either forced to find the LARGE amount of orbs of regret, or reroll the character from scratch.

    This game is for only the most hardcore of diablo players, and will probably be forgotten by anyone beyond that.    … Expand
  69. edgil215
    Nov 13, 2013
    5
    I really liked this game at first but soon after about level 50 or so on a character it becomes more and more apparent the lack of polish and blatant oversights of fundamental game design issues.

    There was a review below by user "Rowsol" that hit a lot of the key points for flaws and holes in the game and other than the fact that you actually can respec, contrary to what he mentioned.    I really liked this game at first but soon after about level 50 or so on a character it becomes more and more apparent the lack of polish and blatant oversights of fundamental game design issues.

    There was a review below by user "Rowsol" that hit a lot of the key points for flaws and holes in the game and other than the fact that you actually can respec, contrary to what he mentioned.

    The passive tree is a novel idea but is just jam packed crammed full of useless nodes, it needs to be made smaller with better benefits. At first it feels like there are a lot of options and room to grow but there are only 1 or 2 logical paths to even take because of the surplus of pointless nodes. In turn the excess of useless nodes grants the game absolutely no level of customization when there is only 1 "correct" or most 'powerful' path.

    The majority of the vendor recipes never even come up or are completely useless anyways. For example iron ring skill gem a completely useless ring? There are lots of pointless ones like this if you look at the wiki page for vendor recipes. Skill gems are completely worthless to sell to vendors. The only skill gem "sink" is the onyx amulet needed 1 of each type and that is even if you want a worthless white amulet with +jack to all attributes.

    The race events/leagues are made a complete static joke by the fact that the starting positions on the passive tree force you to play in 1 direction. The end game maps are extremely repetitive and don't really make any sense to me as far as the progression of the "story".

    You can just use waypoints or portal scrolls in the game at ANY point or boss battle to go back to town and completely refill all of your flasks. And if you refuse to participate in such idiotic redundancy, there are simply not enough flask slots for how many different types of flasks there are that can be utilized. The keys 6-0 are not used for anything else by default why not have at least 6 to 10 flasks? Or possibly 2 sets of flasks (like with 'X' and weapon sets), that way you could have health/mana etc on one and then maybe resists on the other

    I just think for how many things were designed in a great where there are WAY too many things that are completely obvious quick fixes that for some reason go addressed? Just because a game or something is free doesn't mean people want to play or use it if it sucks or is no fun and serves no purpose. There are A LOT of free games nowadays this is not the 90s anymore where you had to play OG Runescape.

    The idea of an economy without gold is amazing but the consequences delivered in this game are in no way worth it what so ever. All of the consumable items have insanely terrible chances of giving you anything good or actually upgrading gear to be better than what you are currently wearing.

    Trying to level and grind levels in the later game (50+) is not rewarding in any sense of the word. Literally your only option to continue progressing (especially due to drought of any useful item drops) is to clear and re-clear the same exact boring instances over and over again. The leveling curve is waaaay too skewed and unbalanced. The game needs at least another act (Act IV) to spread out the rest of the levels throughout all 3 difficulties. Right now everything is jammed within the first 60+ levels or so and it makes no sense so it forces you to repeatedly farm "end-game" maps, SNOREFEST! I know often ARPGs in this style are referred to as a "Dungeon Crawl", well never in my entire life more have I felt like I was "CRAWLing" through a game or character levels. And then in the end what is it all for? Even if you get to a high level and get nice loot and gear on a league eventually all of your crap just becomes Standard, so ridiculously pointless.

    Plain and simple this game heavily favors people who are already in end-game and have been contributing donations since closed beta and before. These people have infinite orbs of all types and can readily farm even more for all of their lower characters. So yeah if you have the ability to farm hundreds of thousands of orbs and gear then maybe it is fun to gear up a lower level character and play around. But if you are playing with your highest level character don't expect jack to ever drop that will improve your character or keep you from dying.

    Beyond countless performance issues and bugs with this game it is still a great game to try because the initial price is right.. This game has an unlimited amount of potential but as far as I'm concerned had no business leaving beta. "Room to grow" doesn't mean "let's go", disappointing. DO NOT expect this to fill the void for fans left by "Diablo II" that "Diablo 3" completely failed absolutely miserably at delivering on. This game can be fun for short periods of time, however in it's current state is nowhere near ready or capable of bringing the ARPG experience that is deserving of over a decade now removed from Diablo II.    … Expand
  70. Azill
    Nov 13, 2013
    10
    If you loved Diablo 2, download this immediately. So much depth and countless hours of game play. The only problem i can see is the desyncing problems, which will most certainly be fixed in the future. The people giving this game a score of 5 or lower are casual scum and think the game needs to hand hold them through.
  71. Snivonim
    Nov 13, 2013
    9
    Excellent game and the best Diablo Clone out there. Way Better than D3. Outstanding flexible and variable skill development combined with above average graphics and nice game play. If you enjoy hack and slash game play this is a must-have. Oh, and can't beat the price.
    main criticism at the moment is rocky server stability which I am sure is being worked out. However, although I like    Excellent game and the best Diablo Clone out there. Way Better than D3. Outstanding flexible and variable skill development combined with above average graphics and nice game play. If you enjoy hack and slash game play this is a must-have. Oh, and can't beat the price.
    main criticism at the moment is rocky server stability which I am sure is being worked out. However, although I like the random maps (ala D2) I don't think they should be rest on a timer. As long as you are logged in, what you have explored should be remembered; this is one aspect I would change.    … Expand
  72. NoMore
    Nov 10, 2013
    10
    (+)
    -free to play
    -no pay to win (you can buy stash tabs but no big deal)
    -pay for cosmetics
    -challenging game in harder difficulties
    -so much customization options
    -race events/leagues
    -coop with friends

    (-)

    -trading is hard
    -no cinematics
    -little laggy sometime(Its bad if die because of lag in hardcore)

    I give a 10 because its free.
  73. vahn
    Nov 10, 2013
    8
    Despise I haven't touched endgame yet, I've played for few weeks this game and I managed also to get past through the huge lagspikes that the game had.

    First things first, I applaud the developers for making a very deep game: each class, which are very well detailed in stats and mechanics, have their own passives distributed in a way very similar to FFX spheregrid (basically it's one    Despise I haven't touched endgame yet, I've played for few weeks this game and I managed also to get past through the huge lagspikes that the game had.

    First things first, I applaud the developers for making a very deep game: each class, which are very well detailed in stats and mechanics, have their own passives distributed in a way very similar to FFX spheregrid (basically it's one huge grid that every class share, but each class starts from a different position), while skills are instead splitted from the character under the form of orbs that you attach to weapons and armor (same for other types of orbs). Each skill orb also level up on their own (which I think is up to 20) and it's pretty easy to level them since you only have to kill enemies and grind like crazy, without mentioning that it only matters on your stats in order to use them: this means you can potentially equip any kind of skill or armor, all depending on your 3 stats (strength, intelligence, dexterity). However, considering you don't upgrade your stats with points, you'll most likely focus on one set of skill.

    Secondly, the game also well implemented into the online, with villages and such as hubs to gather your teammates, and with a strange mechanic of not having gold in order to trade because you use items (orbs mostly) in order to buy or sell items, same thing with other players: I see this is a way of avoiding goldsellers and I'm not entirely sure how this works yet, since I hardly trade with other players.

    Lastly the game plays very smoothly controls so good, with also a good amount of challenge in some sections that really pays off: items are as usual are divided in colors for their quality and the areas are big enough for letting you do some exploration (and more grinding).

    And all this is in a good F2P game, with basically nothing to upgrade your stats: it's only cosmetics and skins, which is admirable considering almost everything is open and there's almost no limitations to anything as far as I could see.

    Which brings me to this point: this game should have been a retail from the start

    The cash shop hasn't much to offer and annoyingly you can only play online, despite you'll ONLY see other people on villages, wondering why this isn't retail instead so we could also play offline, especially because of immense lags that still happens whenever I play alone.

    Also, for this next part I have to mention Torchlight 2 which is another indie ARPG, and the reason of mentioning is because PoE is considered highly complex and deep, while it's not: the huge grid in PoE is all show considering you'll just want to maximize by going one path, (while TL2 has far more depth with each stats giving different stats all together), without forgetting that each class in PoE, despite having different starts, they'll basically get passive boosters for damage and extra stats for their main stats, which only really determines their armor, some skills they can use and their weapons (which is the same in TL2, except it also grants additional stats such as critical chance, health, armor, weapon damage, magical damage, etc)

    It's also true that both games offer various way to play your class by giving them different weapons and using a different path in the grid...but in PoE (IN MY OPINION) feels less rewarding since you basically gain nothing but passive bonuses, and for skills you either buy them or find them during your dungeon runs or quests, and they are many to find which is a nice touch (while for TL2, at each level up you gain 5 stat points and 1 skill points, plus 1 from fame, to use on either your active or passive spells, for a total of 30 unique skills for each class).

    My main motive of using TL2 as a comparison is also because people believe this game being the best ARPG ever, but it's not. It's good, yes, and very well made, and has some features that TL2 could have used from this game too (the online is better implemented in PoE), but feels unrewarding at times and less complex than TL2, an indie (retail) ARPG game, almost beating him on every level (almost: TL2 hasn't the same graphics and it's much easier to play).

    But to keep it simple, PoE is a great F2P ARPG game, with interesting new ideas that aren't always good and some mechanics that aren't as complex as some other games have done, and I will happily suggest this game to whoever wants a good action rpg game that has well made f2p mechanics, with the only flaws (IN MY OPINION) are the less rewarding mechanics in the level up, massive grindings for both you and your skills, with the latter being completely separated from the class itself, and and a lack on complexity that can be a benefit or not.

    Give it a look as it's a great f2p gane, especially if you already downvoted my review, and see for yourself instead: you'll be either immensively satisfied, or terribly disappoi    … Expand
  74. mr_cyberpunk
    Nov 9, 2013
    9
    This game is awesome Co-Op fun. I haven't played it singleplayer because its an MMO. But I've really enjoyed my time in Hardcore mode so far. This game hasn't made me rage quit yet, it feels pretty fair and has a lot of polish to it. I give it a 9 because as great as the game is.. That Chat interface is dreadful. They really need to work on that. if it were possible to give this a 9.8 IThis game is awesome Co-Op fun. I haven't played it singleplayer because its an MMO. But I've really enjoyed my time in Hardcore mode so far. This game hasn't made me rage quit yet, it feels pretty fair and has a lot of polish to it. I give it a 9 because as great as the game is.. That Chat interface is dreadful. They really need to work on that. if it were possible to give this a 9.8 I would. Because its pretty damn good but it just has that one annoyance.

    The skill system is a breath of fresh air in RPGs. This game doesn't have classes so much as a massive sprawling skill tree system that is incomparable and unparalleled in its complexity. Its also extremely intuitive as well however I did discover that its possible to build you character wrong or rather at least not as optimal is it should be. The loot is surprisingly complex and I love the gem system which reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy 7's Materia system.

    The games non-linearity and choices are actually pretty meaningful and interesting.. Very refreshing for an MMO.

    The icing on the cake is the price.. The game is free powered by Microtransactions which are purely cosmetic. This is one of the most hardocre ARPGs I've played in a long time and I've enjoyed everything about it. Its also shocking to see a bunch of Indies from New Zealand make a better game than Blizzard and charge nothing for it. I hope to see a long career for these developers and this studio. Our industry is better because of them.

    Thanks for the great game guys. Looking forward to see what comes next.    … Expand
  75. d4haxor
    Nov 8, 2013
    10
    This game is the true successor to Diablo 2. Dark, gritty graphics, old school action, and a phenomenal skill and talent system make this game miles ahead of its competition. Its even free to play! Whats not to love?
  76. Enaio
    Nov 8, 2013
    10
    Great story, great game-play mechanics, and even more. More than likely one of the top 5 games of the year for me and it's a free to play game. You can't beat that. I know it has been out in open beta for awhile but wasn't notified of this until AFTER the release. Would have loved to play it during the beta.
  77. JRPGmaniac
    Nov 8, 2013
    9
    The "TRUE" successor to Diablo 2, this other game Blizztards name Diablo III is a sh1ty game with cartoon graphics & washed out colors it's nothing like the past 2 original Diablo games, D3 was made for WoW fans not Diablo fans, PoE have unparalleled depth when D3 have not even char builds, u can learn all the skills & change them anytime u want, so in D3 they remove attribute points, theyThe "TRUE" successor to Diablo 2, this other game Blizztards name Diablo III is a sh1ty game with cartoon graphics & washed out colors it's nothing like the past 2 original Diablo games, D3 was made for WoW fans not Diablo fans, PoE have unparalleled depth when D3 have not even char builds, u can learn all the skills & change them anytime u want, so in D3 they remove attribute points, they remove skill points, they remove char builds, they change the visuals to WoW-like cartoon graphics & strip the game from Gothic/horror atmosphere, in comparison PoE have the right atmosphere amazing Gothic dungeons, it's full of gore & blood, it have nice gritty/more realistic graphics, there is hundreds of possible char builds & customization that never seen before on any ARPG ever, yep PoE is truly the real successor to Diablo 2.

    This is the game all old school Diablo fans asked for & the most crazy thing? it doesn't cost a penny to start playing right NOW! so what u w8 for if u r an old school Diablo fan or ARPG fan in general that's the best game of this genre ever made by far!    … Expand
  78. brafcauknid
    Nov 6, 2013
    6
    I really want to score this game higher then a 6, but what appears to be a roaring lion of a game, is really just an old scruffy tomcat yowling in the alley out back. I had heard soooooo much about this game and how it was everything that D3/Marvel Heroes/Torchlight etc etc wanted and tried to be. It was finally bringing back the true spirit of D2....yea, not really. Its not a terribleI really want to score this game higher then a 6, but what appears to be a roaring lion of a game, is really just an old scruffy tomcat yowling in the alley out back. I had heard soooooo much about this game and how it was everything that D3/Marvel Heroes/Torchlight etc etc wanted and tried to be. It was finally bringing back the true spirit of D2....yea, not really. Its not a terrible game, and its worth giving a shot simply because its free to play and reasonably fun for awhile. I mean it has a huge skill tree offering amazing options and customization, huge amounts of skill gems that add to variety, any class can be anything! Sounds fantastic....

    ... but it all is smoke and mirrors. Trust me, go ahead and try to customize your character through the skill tree without exact duplication of a cookie cutter build listed on forums....it will be an effort in futility and leave you frustrated restarting characters over and over. Try and make a high dps character by going for the dmg/crit nodes and skipping most of the 8% life nodes, I dare you. 9 out of 10 viable builds will go like this...pick up all life nodes and either blood magic or eldritch battery...done. Now for all the skill gems...well, simply join some random groups and see how many lightning strike/ethereal knives/spectral throw builds you see compared to anything else....there are a few other builds, but not many...again 90% of the skill gems you'll never see used.

    Basically you can either role some form of a tank build or you can role anything else and never see past normal difficulty. The combat while not bad is the same thing every other arpg does, spam 1 button, only way mobs get harder is increase hp/damage/resists. The orb currency is good in theory but really is just a pain, as someone said earlier...farm a bunch of low orbs, trade for higher orbs, then trade those higher orbs for a couple high end orbs, rinse repeat till you have enough high end orbs to buy something decent.

    I know I sound overly critical but I just felt deceived by this game, if it would have just said upfront that all this variety and customization was bulls**t and 99% of its "options" are only really options if you have no interest in progressing I could have dealt with that. But it feels POE really attempts to be complicated just for the sake of being complicated. Spending the time to learn all the systems just to realize its mostly worthless nonsense is a serious buzzkill.    … Expand
  79. GameWalkers
    Nov 6, 2013
    10
    The graphics took quite a while to get used to after playing D3 for a couple hundred hours. I'm glad I stuck with it, it's a masterpiece. I've been playing for over a year now and I still learn new things every week. It's one of the most complicated(in a good way) and fun games I've played in quite a while.
  80. skritikos
    Nov 6, 2013
    10
    This game deserves to be on the top of all existing Action RPG games.

    The positive signs were there since the beta. The recent final release is so polished and balanced that offers a perfect gameplay experience with unlimited options and tricks available to the player. The creators made some very nice choices to differentiate Path of Exile from the ARPG pack. And they were 101%    This game deserves to be on the top of all existing Action RPG games.

    The positive signs were there since the beta. The recent final release is so polished and balanced that offers a perfect gameplay experience with unlimited options and tricks available to the player. The creators made some very nice choices to differentiate Path of Exile from the ARPG pack. And they were 101% successful on their mission.

    All those nice options combined with perfect dark and moody graphics, excellent music and sound effects and absolutely smooth control and motion.

    Try Path of Exile if you are in this type of games. You will soon forget Diablo III or any other similar game.

    (and all for F R E E How did they manage that?     … Expand
  81. KoosKing
    Nov 6, 2013
    1
    This really is the best game ever! I can't recommend it enough. It's got beaches and caves and stuff. Also monsters and loot. Even weapons and magic. Awesome.
  82. melchaios
    Nov 5, 2013
    8
    In terms of getting the best value for money, this is probably as good as it gets, since path of exile offers a game compelling enough to rival triple A titles of the same genre, and completely free. Upgrades obtained through donations and microtransactions are purely aesthetical and have no advantage over regular gear, so..... that means it's really "free". Tackling the gameplay aspect,In terms of getting the best value for money, this is probably as good as it gets, since path of exile offers a game compelling enough to rival triple A titles of the same genre, and completely free. Upgrades obtained through donations and microtransactions are purely aesthetical and have no advantage over regular gear, so..... that means it's really "free". Tackling the gameplay aspect, it plays really well, it offers deep character development via the huuuuge passive skill tree (a la Final Fantasy X) and a wide array of active skill gems, wich level up as you pass by wrecking havoc. This is one of the defining features of how skills are handleled to you in this game, in other games "skill gems" offer passive bonuses, while active skills are gained through character leveling via skill tree; Path of exile goes the other way around, giving the skill tree purely passive bonuses, while active skills must be earned through gems obtained quests or random drops, and socketed into specific gear in order for it to be active. It's a bold strategy, and one that may not convince a lot of players, but it's functional overall, and even more importand: it's addictive and engaging (the only quality action RPGs need to succeed).
    Character classes are interesting, they have a particular charisma, being gritty and enchanting at the same time, with fancy names like Maraunder (instead of the generic title of barbarian), Shadow, etc. 6 initial clases that are aligned to 1 or 2 of the main stats: Strenght, Dexterity and Intelligence. All classes have access to all passive skills in the skill tree, with the only difference being the point at which they start. That means that role playing is not completely restricted, with options for melee characters to have magic and viceversa. It's up to you to decide if this feature is a strong point because of the freedom it provides, or a weak spot in how it turns things a little bit generic.
    Graphically, the game is the bomb. It hits all the aesthetic and enviromental points that made Diablo II the dark gothic RPG it was, and in that sense, Path of Exile looks more Diablo than Diablo III will ever look like. Enemy design is good, although they tend to recicle previous models, and levels are really big and intrincate.
    The only gripe I have with the game is the lag....... it's really bad at some points. I didn't take into account this factor into the score, since I'm not sure if the problem is their server or my connection, but you can be certain I'm not alone in this one. The game has a bad tendency to "ultra" lag, making an unexpected pause for a few minutes, after which you find yourself killed by a miriad of enemies that weren't there before. But the most annoying tendency is the fact that the game just disconects every once in a while; log in again and you'll find yourself in the last town you visited, with your current progress in a dungeon ranging from partially to completely lost. In the best case scenario, the map will stay the same (enemies killed, chests looted, map discovered) and you'll just have to walk to where you left off; in the worst case scenario, the map will be randomized and EVERYTHING...... map discovery, enemy position and loot will be respawned like if you'd never set foot on the place, which is complete BS. If it happens to you in a multilevel dungeon prepare to ragequit, you've been warned!!
    This last aspect might deduct points for some of you, but in my view this game is a work of love, an art piece made for the sake of art, not gain. It deserves to be celebrated even in it's excentricities and faults, and in that regard it's one of the rarest gems, even if it's not the most polished one.    … Expand
  83. Dangles
    Nov 5, 2013
    9
    A much deeper, more balanced ARPG compared to Diablo III and certainly a better spiritual successor to Diablo II. The vibe is dark and griity much like D2 and the skill tree is vast and intertwining across every class. Currency is now dealt in useful items, eliminating player generated markets (such as the SoJ) and no god awful auction houses.

    Best of all, it's F2P and not P2W    A much deeper, more balanced ARPG compared to Diablo III and certainly a better spiritual successor to Diablo II. The vibe is dark and griity much like D2 and the skill tree is vast and intertwining across every class. Currency is now dealt in useful items, eliminating player generated markets (such as the SoJ) and no god awful auction houses.

    Best of all, it's F2P and not P2W (micro-transactions only give you cosmetics and stash tabs). Definitely worth your time if you feel jaded by the disappointment of D3.    … Expand
  84. emiliorf
    Nov 5, 2013
    10
    To me a great game. It captures the feel and dark vibe of Diablo2. Really dark setting. The gameplay is great and the character customization is probably the deepest I've seen in a long time. I also love the fact that you are always evolving. It can be through the passive tree, gear or gems leveling up. The lack of gold and the alternate currency they created is also a strike of genius.To me a great game. It captures the feel and dark vibe of Diablo2. Really dark setting. The gameplay is great and the character customization is probably the deepest I've seen in a long time. I also love the fact that you are always evolving. It can be through the passive tree, gear or gems leveling up. The lack of gold and the alternate currency they created is also a strike of genius. For sure this game has enough to please the casual guy, since it's free and fun to play, but with an amount of depth to please any hardcore guy. Other features that I appreciate a lot are
    - Leagues/ladders with features that are exclusive for that season (like the shrines in domination/nemesis league)
    - The amount of possible builds and the otimization which is huge.
    - The secret vendor recipes
    - Patches with new content every 2 weeks, like guild wars 2 but on an ARPG, which is more of my liking.

    Overall a great game!    … Expand
  85. TankGeorge
    Nov 5, 2013
    9
    No doubt, this is actually the best ARPG in the market and here is why:

    cons: - Connection issues aka de-sync. - Hostile to new players. No tutorials, no guides. pros: + Bones, bodies, gore, blood. No rainbows and voice acting. + Very high difficulty, even if you know the game and have solid character. Yet still, skill and knowledge helps overcome this difficulty. Not luck and    No doubt, this is actually the best ARPG in the market and here is why:

    cons:
    - Connection issues aka de-sync.
    - Hostile to new players. No tutorials, no guides.

    pros:
    + Bones, bodies, gore, blood. No rainbows and voice acting.
    + Very high difficulty, even if you know the game and have solid character. Yet still, skill and knowledge helps overcome this difficulty. Not luck and gear.
    + Complex game mechanics. You have to decide, how to solve mobility, survivability and damage from multiple possibilities. Therefore, you have to decide your way in skill tree, active gems usage, flasks, equip.
    + Endgame.
    + Events, leagues, ladders.

    The "problem" with Path of Exile is, that GGG developers are miraculously awesome. They are fixing and improving things so fast, that's scary to think, where all cons can be in few weeks, or months. They fixed major disconnecting issue during one weekend! I believe, they can fix de-sync over time. They are planning to add content. Improve graphic, sound etc I was blown away, how they improving specifically this during beta! Being witness of the scale and speed of improvements, I'm starting to think, if a new World of Warcraft was born? Since Path of Exile killed Diablo 3 oneshoot crit over 9000.    … Expand
  86. bdplaya
    Nov 4, 2013
    10
    At first glance I thought it was another DIABLO 2 clone with no essence. First impression was not that good, plain flat terrain and combat. But once you are in to the game OH BOY. First impression of the skill tree WTF, first impression of the complex and rewarding skill system OMFG. Impressive work of the developer for being a F2P game it deserves a 10/10. To the first starters give theAt first glance I thought it was another DIABLO 2 clone with no essence. First impression was not that good, plain flat terrain and combat. But once you are in to the game OH BOY. First impression of the skill tree WTF, first impression of the complex and rewarding skill system OMFG. Impressive work of the developer for being a F2P game it deserves a 10/10. To the first starters give the game at least 4 fours so you can check out every aspect of the game.
    PD DIABLO 3 Sucks.    … Expand
  87. jeidi1984
    Nov 4, 2013
    9
    gioco solido che ti impegna e ti attacca alla sedia. ambientazioni varie e interessanti, sistema di livellamento fantastico!un gioco fatto per stare ore ed ore con gli amici!
  88. Necrotaur
    Nov 4, 2013
    5
    Take away the F2P and you have a very, very average ARPG. The skill tree that looks so amazing at first glance is entirely passive, so you will spend all your points increasing health by X% or damage by Y%. The graphics are good, but overall the world felt uninspired. The trading and economy could have been done better, and there being no gold or money really annoys me for some reason.Take away the F2P and you have a very, very average ARPG. The skill tree that looks so amazing at first glance is entirely passive, so you will spend all your points increasing health by X% or damage by Y%. The graphics are good, but overall the world felt uninspired. The trading and economy could have been done better, and there being no gold or money really annoys me for some reason. Netcode is very spotty, and endgame is extremely grindy, though to be fair most ARPGs are like that. I think if I had spent money on this I would have walked away feeling disappointed.… Expand
  89. Crimson
    Nov 3, 2013
    5
    A average game that despite some clever ideas, doesn't really play out well. In the end it becomes a very grindy hack'n'slash with poor, laggy, and uninspired combat.
  90. Dexyt
    Nov 3, 2013
    10
    A spiritual successor to Diablo II, a creative masterpiece, and probably the game with the best character customization ever made. While the graphics are a bit dated, and the servers are currently suffering from the sheer amount of players, it's hard to fault a game of this quality that is free to play (do not worry, it's not pay to win).
  91. Gamer147
    Nov 2, 2013
    10
    A deep RPG with what seems to be a lot to offer. Genuinely nice, mature, helpful and witty (sometimes too witty *awkward wink*) community as well, which you really don't see often in games these days. No pay to win either, I can't believe this game's free. Sure beats the hell out of WoW and definitely puts GW2 a run for its money.
    Try it, now, it's epic fun and seems very deep. Grinding    A deep RPG with what seems to be a lot to offer. Genuinely nice, mature, helpful and witty (sometimes too witty *awkward wink*) community as well, which you really don't see often in games these days. No pay to win either, I can't believe this game's free. Sure beats the hell out of WoW and definitely puts GW2 a run for its money.
    Try it, now, it's epic fun and seems very deep. Grinding Gear Games, I hereby thank you for making this rad piece of gaming content! (another awkward wink goes here)    … Expand
  92. TheVividLight
    Nov 2, 2013
    10
    Path of exile is a breath of fresh air for the ARPG genre as a whole. The shear depth to the passive skill tree (over 1300 different nodes) and the insane amount of item and skill customization truly means that no two characters will be the same! Currency in the game comes in the form of orbs which are a sink at every level of the game, and can drop at any level in the game an amazingPath of exile is a breath of fresh air for the ARPG genre as a whole. The shear depth to the passive skill tree (over 1300 different nodes) and the insane amount of item and skill customization truly means that no two characters will be the same! Currency in the game comes in the form of orbs which are a sink at every level of the game, and can drop at any level in the game an amazing concept that removes rampant inflation that usually occurs in online ARPG games, eventually rendering the currency worthless after several months of the game going live. I am excited about this game. My friends are excited about this game. And I am not on the hype train anymore this game is the real deal. Great job on releasing a complete game Grinding Gear Games! Its a rare feat that even some of the largest AAA developers have failed to wrap their minds around.… Expand
  93. SeveredWing
    Nov 1, 2013
    9
    Diverging from most of the online micro-transaction games you find these days, Path of Exile takes a refreshing turn and opts to have a pay system that is purely "Pay to Awesome" rather than "Pay to Win". That is the real money market is all about cosmetic upgrades and a few utility upgrades (such as increased storage and the like). It is refreshing to find that there is such an attitudeDiverging from most of the online micro-transaction games you find these days, Path of Exile takes a refreshing turn and opts to have a pay system that is purely "Pay to Awesome" rather than "Pay to Win". That is the real money market is all about cosmetic upgrades and a few utility upgrades (such as increased storage and the like). It is refreshing to find that there is such an attitude in the online gaming community. That being said the game itself has a few issues. Most notably is the ability to connect and stay connected to the servers. I routinely have found myself "timed out" for no particular reason and then waiting in a queue of anywhere from 200-2000 people trying to get back in. High latency also can be an issue and as it is an ARPG such things can get you killed, this is a really big deal in the higher end Leagues where death is permanent or carries severe penalties. Aside from that is also the issue of graphical optimization. While the game runs great on a current gen PC (anything with 512MB video card and a decent CPU) it suffers on portable systems such as laptops with integrated GPUs (it even ran sluggishly on my laptop with an nVidia GTX 760M with 1GB dedicated RAM). This is only an issue for those who like to play on a mobile unit like a laptop, but the graphics settings are sparse with little in the way of "low quality" for graphical settings (the lowest texture package is medium). It is hard to draw a comparison from this game to Diablo 2 as much of the game seems to be taken straight from Diablo 2, especially the overhead map and Life/Mana bubbles. That aside it has a refreshing progression system that literally has hundreds of possible avenues of progression and with the socketed skill system the customization of a specific character is practically limitless. This alone makes the game endlessly fun.… Expand
  94. 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
  95. Charan
    Nov 1, 2013
    8
    There is no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such a thing as a free ARPG, unless it costs you money to download the client, in which case don't bother, because there are very frequent patches too.

    Path of Exile is worth every cent you'll spend on it.
  96. Hurlock
    Nov 1, 2013
    8
    As somebody who doesn't have much interest in aRPGs. I can say with 100% certainty that this is one of the best. And since Path of Exile is free to play I feel like I should start off by saying there is no "pay to win" in this game. The only things you can buy related to your account would be: 1. More character slots.(and you start of with 24 of them). And 2. Stash tabs to store more lootAs somebody who doesn't have much interest in aRPGs. I can say with 100% certainty that this is one of the best. And since Path of Exile is free to play I feel like I should start off by saying there is no "pay to win" in this game. The only things you can buy related to your account would be: 1. More character slots.(and you start of with 24 of them). And 2. Stash tabs to store more loot in, and you start with 4 of those.

    I paid to get into the closed beta long ago and I am pleased to say that I haven't felt even a teensy bit of regret, the massive passives tree adds so much to the game, as well as the skill system. It is a blast to try out different combinations of skill gems and support gems.

    Trading in this game however, still leaves a lot to be desired, as most of the trade channels move so fast it makes it difficult to keep track of/find things that may be worth while. And it doesn't help when somebody decides it is a good idea to show off a whole inventory worth the items.

    As mentioned in my first segment, there is no pay to win, there is however, some really high prices for somethings. Stash tabs are pretty useful but are very pricey too, at the current prices, a single tab will cost about $3, or you could buy 6 of them for $15. Most of the legitimately interesting cosmetics are also very pricey. But I suppose this is better than, lets say, making one pay for accessing content, or making certain characters paid only.

    My only other major complaint is desync. and that without knowing you can suddenly end up in a horde of mobs a whole screen over, which means if you want to make a build that trades health/defence, for MAXIMUM POWER, you will need to play very carefully, or just not play the hardcore leagues entirely.

    Well I think that about sums up the major complaints, which when you compare it to the rest of the game, dwarf in comparison to how much fun you can have in this game for the low, low cost of absolutely nothing.

    Seriously, if you liked Diablo 2, go and download Path of Exile right now.    … Expand
  97. MaxPay
    Oct 31, 2013
    10
    Innovative and gigantic skill system, great variety of enemies and gear, challenging difficulty, high graphical fidelity, infinite level of customization, meaty combat, high replay value, 100% Free2Play... Path of Exile nailed everything. One of the best.
  98. LD9000
    Oct 31, 2013
    7
    Think diablo 2 clone with better graphics and more interesting skill system, and you get Path of Exile. Nothing more, nothing less. Free to play is a good model for this game, it's not pay to win.
  99. SlySherZ
    Oct 31, 2013
    10
    Blizz fanboys pls stop giving negative ratting to PoE. The game is awesome!
    Sure it has his flaws as any other game, but you enjoy every minute you play.
    Best ARPG, free to play, NOT pay to win. What else do u want?
  100. PovilasDebilas
    Oct 30, 2013
    10
    Awesome game. The gameplay ant story line is awesome. There is very big list of items you can get, and visual content of the game is very high quality. The graphics are stunning. The PVP in the game is really really balanced and fun to play. To complete the quest you can invite people to help you. And you can feel that game is alive with people. They game is not Pay for win, everything isAwesome game. The gameplay ant story line is awesome. There is very big list of items you can get, and visual content of the game is very high quality. The graphics are stunning. The PVP in the game is really really balanced and fun to play. To complete the quest you can invite people to help you. And you can feel that game is alive with people. They game is not Pay for win, everything is balanced. They payable items with real money is just visual, they dont affect your character. Really fun to play game. I hope in the future it will succeed.… Expand
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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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