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

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. 7chease
    Jun 16, 2023
    10
    The best arpg out there. Has a mode for all sorts of prefered play styles
    Solo
    Group
    Hardcore
    Ladder
    Item scarcity
  2. need666
    Oct 25, 2013
    10
    Absolutely phenomenal game! This is what I have been craving since Diablo 2. I was severely disappointed by Diablo 3. It was dumbed down to the point of an Activision title. Path of Exile feeds the nostalgia feeling I have been chasing for years.

    The game is in constant production by an active game developer. While small, they have created a game far superior to their massive opponent,    Absolutely phenomenal game! This is what I have been craving since Diablo 2. I was severely disappointed by Diablo 3. It was dumbed down to the point of an Activision title. Path of Exile feeds the nostalgia feeling I have been chasing for years.

    The game is in constant production by an active game developer. While small, they have created a game far superior to their massive opponent, Blizzard. They began production with 10 people, in comparison to the thousands Blizzard had. I have been blown away by how deep this game is.

    The skill tree is reminiscent of the Final Fantasy sphere grid. You have skill gems which are altered by support gems, as well as trigger gems. Instead of the ever deflating value of gold found in similar games, Path of Exile uses a barter system with incredible randomization, creating a complex and evolving economy.

    Characters are not limited to their said class. You can expand into passives of other characters, making builds seemingly unlimited. The dark and gritty atmosphere is beautifully reminiscent of Diablo 2. I won't give any spoilers, if you were a Diablo 2 addict, this game is for you.

    While it is free to play, it is not pay to win. You have the option of buying cosmetic items to make your character look cool. If you're a pack rat, you can also buy more stash tabs.

    Don't listen to the reviews upset about end game. While there are great end battles, the developer plans to release new content to expand on the story line every six or so months. However, to keep you busy in the meantime, you find maps you can randomize and play with your friends.

    The only thing Path of Exile is lacking from my point of view, is the cinematic videos scene in the Diablo series. While I enjoyed those, you can't expect such production to come from an indie game developer.

    I hope you give the game a try. If you enjoy the game, consider purchasing some cosmetic items to support future content for this great game!    … Expand
  3. Faytte
    Oct 25, 2013
    10
    Love this game. Its a thinking mans Diablo 3. Its deep, promotes many builds, constantly has great updates from developers. Its basically everything diablo 3 fans wish there game was (and are angry its not. All the low scores here are from D3 people trying to defend their franchise..)

    Try the game out, its amazing (oh and its free. And no pay to win, the only thing you can buy is cosmetics).
  4. 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
  5. alQamar
    Oct 28, 2013
    9
    I played the alpha and beta. Several years later this game is still fascinating and the developer amaze me with frequent patching, very very detailed patch log above industry standards and a definitely not pay 2 win approach for a F2P game.

    Path of Exile, with no exaggeration, spoken from my quite aged Diablo 1 & 2 and other RPG gamers heart is what Diablo 3 should have been.
  6. Meggiroth
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    Best ARPG to date. The true successor to Diablo 2 with a great atmosphere and gameplay.
    Anyone who enjoyed the arpg genre will find a true gem in this game.
  7. TremorAcePV
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    This game is free to play. The developers listen to player feedback and have since they started Open Beta, which I have been in since 1 month after it started (over a year ago).

    The lore is detailed and deep. The game itself is of high quality (art aspects and such, the look/graphics of it). The gameplay is fun and complex. If you enjoyed Diablo 2, you will enjoy this game. One    This game is free to play. The developers listen to player feedback and have since they started Open Beta, which I have been in since 1 month after it started (over a year ago).

    The lore is detailed and deep.
    The game itself is of high quality (art aspects and such, the look/graphics of it).
    The gameplay is fun and complex.

    If you enjoyed Diablo 2, you will enjoy this game.

    One thing though: The ladders change every 4 months. If you don't like something about the game currently, wait 4 months. It's a long wait, but things change drastically when this ladder change happens. So maybe you will like it again.

    This rating is an overall rating of the game. Not based purely on it's current state, but it's track record for being awesome. Some people don't like the current state of the game, that will always be true, but it changes just often enough to balance making your progress worthwhile but giving something new to refresh your interest in the game.    … Expand
  8. Artinuis
    Oct 11, 2013
    9
    Anyone who enjoyed Diablo 2 (especially the Median XL mods) will find the game they have been looking for in Path of Exile.

    There are many things that make PoE great, but the one that stands out the most is build diversity. You can make literally dozens of characters that all have real, functionally different play-styles. If you get bored of one character, there's always another build    Anyone who enjoyed Diablo 2 (especially the Median XL mods) will find the game they have been looking for in Path of Exile.

    There are many things that make PoE great, but the one that stands out the most is build diversity. You can make literally dozens of characters that all have real, functionally different play-styles. If you get bored of one character, there's always another build to try (whether based on Keystone passives, or unique items). Finding combinations of passives, skill gems, support gems, and unique items that work well together is the core strategy aspect of this game. Oh, it's also FREE and (starting October 23) will be available (for FREE) on Steam. The game will continue to receive meaningful updates (skills, uniqes, new playable areas, etc.) *frequently* for the forseeable future (1 year+ guaranteed).

    The negative aspects are as other reviewers have mentioned: non-negligible desynchronization issues sometimes causes unpreventable deaths, and issues with item crafting feeling more like gambling than upgrading. The developers have already stated that they do not like the current crafting system, and have hinted that the system will be changed or even overhauled, whereas the desync issue is their biggest headache and may not be entirely fixable based on how their server/client system currently operates. These problems, among a small selection of minor issues, are why I did not give it a 10/10.

    Regardless, as a long time ARPG player, I can safely say that PoE has set the bar higher than all who have come before.    … Expand
  9. xhorathor
    Oct 26, 2013
    10
    better than diablo,
    +great economy
    +great skill diversity
    +superb skill tree
    +great enemy abilities
    it is awesome in anyway

    the only negative is the game engine itself ,still some desyncs here and there.
  10. chronoT
    Apr 5, 2014
    10
    I remember the days when I used to play a variety of games, this abruptly stopped when I really got into POE. I have spent a great deal of time with this game, thousands of hours I am sure, and even though it has flaws(some that make you want to break things at times), it is still the most addictive game I have ever played. You can view my profile to see my gaming history, I feel myI remember the days when I used to play a variety of games, this abruptly stopped when I really got into POE. I have spent a great deal of time with this game, thousands of hours I am sure, and even though it has flaws(some that make you want to break things at times), it is still the most addictive game I have ever played. You can view my profile to see my gaming history, I feel my opinion here is pretty valid. I can't really explain the depth with PoE, you will have to play it for a while to experience it, but this is definitely a game for hardcore gamers in the ARPG field. The way items drop, how the economy works, and crafting, all make for a wonderfully challenging and time consuming experience. The skill tree is of course incredible and the amount of builds are endless.

    This is the first 10 I have given in a long time but I do feel it is necessary to say that this game is not perfect. I give it a 10 because although it is not perfect, the amount of entertainment (play time) I have received is beyond any other game and it has all been for free. In the future I hope to see improvements with the servers in general, including lag, disconnections, and desync. There also needs to be more end-game content, I have consistently ranked in the top 20 on ladder seasons but grinding the same four maps is getting a little stale ;x

    All-in-all though if you are an ARPG or Diablo fan this game is a must try!!!!!! Collapse    … Expand
  11. Qgal5kap
    Jan 31, 2014
    10
    Amazing Diablo clone, with some amazing new innovative features added. It offers a great gaming experience,
    as well as being FREE!!! It is not pay to win, the only micro transactions in the game are purely cosmetic.
    Except for buying more slots in your stash/guild stash. Play it, try it, love it!

    Did I mention that it is FREE???
  12. xferix
    Apr 1, 2019
    4
    I cannot recommend this game despite having some fun with it. Why?

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

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

    League specific problems (Synthesis):
    - Badly designed, bloated content - even more unrewarding/time consuming than other parts of the game. F*** that!    … Expand
  13. forbiddenidol
    Apr 5, 2014
    9
    Path of Exile combines lush atmospheres and an original setting with deep mechanics for character customization and solid, satisfying ARPG gameplay. It is a title of so-called AAA quality that is completely free to play and lacking in any pay-to-win elements. Grinding Gear Games regularly adds new content patches, and runs daily 'race' league events that provide additional variety andPath of Exile combines lush atmospheres and an original setting with deep mechanics for character customization and solid, satisfying ARPG gameplay. It is a title of so-called AAA quality that is completely free to play and lacking in any pay-to-win elements. Grinding Gear Games regularly adds new content patches, and runs daily 'race' league events that provide additional variety and challenge. The sprawling tree of passive character upgrades allows for robust development of different playstyles, and the skill gem system lets players effectively tweak and craft their own skills and spells. The game is only marred by the occasional occurrence of 'out of sync,' a lag-like problem that pops up when players or enemies begin spamming movement skills. While mildly annoying, it's generally infrequent enough not to be a problem.… Expand
  14. SpleenSplitta
    Feb 24, 2019
    2
    I supported this games company since 2014 up until 10cent bought 80% of the company when that happened i stopped buying supporter packs, i was happy supporting a small company grow but not when a large company comes in for a piece of the pie ggg would of been better off keeping 100% of the pie and keep supporting them self.
  15. Frozen_Phoenix
    Oct 23, 2013
    10
    This game might not be very newbie friendly at first, but when you really get into it it provides such diversity and compares to no other ARPG game out there. All of the best features from Diablo 2 are used here and so much greatness has been added. Is not, and will never be a P2W game, just fantastic. The graphics are dark and gritty, not bad; some people are just used to more colourfulThis game might not be very newbie friendly at first, but when you really get into it it provides such diversity and compares to no other ARPG game out there. All of the best features from Diablo 2 are used here and so much greatness has been added. Is not, and will never be a P2W game, just fantastic. The graphics are dark and gritty, not bad; some people are just used to more colourful environments.
    And you do NOT need to spend your time trading for good items if you don't want to, just play the game.    … Expand
  16. remphz
    Oct 23, 2013
    9
    The game is really awesome, lots of things to do, a huge possibilitys of buildings and a well done endgame, and GGG is doing all they can do to make the game even better, the game really deserve a 10/10 but i'll but 9/10 for some persona reasons.
  17. MxZeal
    Oct 25, 2013
    10
    One of the best games in the past decade for PC. If you loved Diablo 2, there is no doubt you will like Path of Exile.. as critics say "the true Diablo 2 sequel" PoE has the most insane character customization in any game i have ever seen. I have been playing this game for 8 months now and still to this day i feel like i have never seen 2 other players ever be the same. Not only is POEOne of the best games in the past decade for PC. If you loved Diablo 2, there is no doubt you will like Path of Exile.. as critics say "the true Diablo 2 sequel" PoE has the most insane character customization in any game i have ever seen. I have been playing this game for 8 months now and still to this day i feel like i have never seen 2 other players ever be the same. Not only is POE full of challenging and fun content the developers (GGG) are awesome, they REALLY listen to the community and respond quick (they don't take months to respond to a problem the community pointed out) bi weekly patches added content and no pay to win what so ever! What makes this game 10/10 for me is the items, and how they are designed which is what an action RPG is all about. The item system is so deep and detailed, you will either get intimated or fall in love at first sight. There are a lot of items in this game worth keeping and man oh man when you get an upgrade you can feel it!! Unique are insanely well made.. most of them come with a huge additional benefit.. with a cost however. But last but certainly not least is the end game. PoE is the ONLY Action RPG with a TRUE end game. Maps.. randomized maps which YOU roll the stats for (using items you find) and grinding your way up to level 100 but don't worry.. its not an "MMO fantasy grind" its the kind of grind that gets you at the edge of your seat everytime you play. I highly recommend reading up guides before playing the game because it Is challenging, however if you prefer to learn with trial and error thats ok too Path of Exile to this day, is now my top 3 games of all time. Im so excited and happy for GGG (they really earned it) and can't wait to see what kind of crazy amazing things they add in the future … Expand
  18. chevmech
    Nov 24, 2013
    10
    It goes D2, Fate/Torchlight, Titan Quest, PoE. Best clone to date. Suck it Bliz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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.
  22. star7989
    Mar 25, 2014
    9
    this game is free to play so i gave it a try after being disappointed with diablo 3. I like the fact that it has a very complicated skill tree and it is really fun especially when you play with party members. Only downside is that there is a 1 second delay sometimes and it gets really annoying.
  23. Bullzz
    Dec 7, 2017
    3
    hi, habe Path of exile jahrelang am Radar gehabt und hab jetzt mal bis Akt 3 angefangen zu spielen ... hab vorher D1 D2 D3 titanquest und co gespielt also ich mag den Stuff eigentlich.

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

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

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

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

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

    Was ich selber nicht mitbekommen habe nur gelesen habe ist das man ab akt5 wieder in den alten Akten unterwegs ist. Wenn das so stimmt ... wäre das zuviel Recycling für mich gewesen.    … Expand
  24. DarkBee
    Jun 23, 2018
    10
    The work of the independent studio Grinding Gear Games from New Zealand has long attracted the attention of players, and those who made their way to the closed beta test, said that the Path of Exile is even more interesting than Diablo 3. Now that the open beta test has started, it can check anyone who wants. The entertainment program is familiar: choosing a hero (marauder, archer,The work of the independent studio Grinding Gear Games from New Zealand has long attracted the attention of players, and those who made their way to the closed beta test, said that the Path of Exile is even more interesting than Diablo 3. Now that the open beta test has started, it can check anyone who wants. The entertainment program is familiar: choosing a hero (marauder, archer, templar, duelist, shadow or witch) you go to fight with Evil, that is, click on the numerous enemies. When inventory is packed with trophies dropped from them, you have to open a portal to the city where you can sell unnecessary, buy the right one, and also get a quest from characters that are shouting exclamation marks over their heads.
    The scheme is familiar, but the Path of Exile is clearly not a simple clone of Diablo: there are enough original ideas in it. Take at least a role-playing system. Characteristics of the hero - strength, intelligence and dexterity, indicators of different types of damage and protection - grow automatically, but with the skills of things are more interesting. Each class has more than a thousand passive skills. Having reached a new level, the player receives a point, which can be acquired skill from a certain group. For example, a duelist starts with skills that increase the speed and effectiveness of attacks with blades, and the witch from those that increase mana regeneration and spell power. And nothing prevents you from moving freely from one group to another, regardless of the specialization of the character. For example, a Templar, being a hybrid class, makes a bet on both strength and intellect. Immediately there will be a dilemma - to pump his elemental spells, moving further in the magical direction, or develop attacks with weapons, and then the ability to own a shield?

     
    It is planned that in the future guilds or groups of players will pay for the creation of their own leagues with special rules of the game
    For active skills, there are no developmental branches. You do not even know what abilities are available to the hero, because they depend on the precious stones that you find or receive as a reward - they need to be inserted into the corresponding in color slot on the weapon or armor. To each class stones with thematic abilities drop out more often. A witch, for example, will immediately get a blue gem with fireball. Given that at any time it is allowed to replace one stone with another, you have a huge freedom of choice when and on what ability to bet. By the way, stones also get experience in combat, which increases the power of abilities. The point of preservation is not only cities, but also portals, with which you can quickly navigate between open locations
    Trade in the Path of Exile is based on the principle of exchange - instead of gold or another currency, scrolls and artifacts that change the properties of weapons and equipment are used. If you give something valuable, you will immediately get a powerful artifact. Cheap junk can be exchanged at best for part of the artifact. But if you accumulate more trash and fuse everything at once, there is a chance to get something useful. And here you have a choice: regularly get rid of unnecessary things or accumulate them for profitable exchange. This is unusual for the Path of Exile. As in any part of Diablo, you can play in two modes: normal and hardcore, where the death of the character is irreversible. The trick is that the hero who died in hardcore mode does not disappear, but becomes available in the usual mode. Consequently, one can not worry that after the death of the hero, the objects and abilities that have been extracted will disappear without a trace. Many active skills only work with certain types of weapons
    To effectively deal with serious and numerous enemies, we recommend joining any party. In every big city there is a message board where you can see the list of available lots and determine the location where they are. The game is implemented and PvP. Some NPCs offer teleportation to special locations, where you can take part in a duel with another player of about the same level (the winner is determined on the basis of several rounds) or team to team. However, while Path of Exile does not bet on battles between players. Another interesting point is that the heroes and most enemies have an energy shield. Before damaging health, it is necessary to eliminate this barrier, and its effectiveness can be increased through special subjects and passive skills. Finally, the game is a curious system of potions. Do not clog inventory with a dozen red and blue bottles. At the start you are given a few bottles of reusable use. When you use them to regenerate health or mana, the amount of potion decreases. But it is restored with every killed enemy. It is possible to squander the reserves only in battle with a really strong opponent. As you pass, there will be more capacious bottles that give all sorts of additional effects    … Expand
  25. wyzeguyy
    Oct 23, 2013
    9
    The fact that this game is free and isn't pay to win makes me confused as to how major publishers get away with the stuff they release sometimes... Anyways, Path of Exile for me is the game that Diablo 3 should have been and for that I say thank you grinding gears!
  26. Grexxor
    Apr 14, 2014
    9
    PoE is really what I expected as a successor to Diablo 2. The game is a bit late to the scene and did not have enough advertisement to make it what it should/could have been. However it is amazing in it's own right.
    Things it does right:
    - Story line (The story line is complex and gives the character motivation for moving place to place) - Intuitive design (it is very similar to most of    PoE is really what I expected as a successor to Diablo 2. The game is a bit late to the scene and did not have enough advertisement to make it what it should/could have been. However it is amazing in it's own right.
    Things it does right:
    - Story line (The story line is complex and gives the character motivation for moving place to place)
    - Intuitive design (it is very similar to most of the games in it's genre including the popular Diablo line)
    - Skill tree (There is only one skill tree, each class begins at a different place, and there are many many choices and paths to take)

    Things I'm not content with:
    -the trade system (it is not coin based, each item is worth a type of base magic item [ident. scrolls, teleport scrolls etc.] and items are purchased from the vendor in the same sort of barter, it makes it difficult to flat purchase items and limits trade considerably, but this may have been their intent)
    -The Grouping System (I feel it is a little clunky but if more players were to use it, it would be manageable, but the player base is not what it could have been)    … Expand
  27. Adhesive33
    Oct 23, 2013
    10
    One of the best f2p models I've ever seen, and one of the best ARPGs I've ever played. It's hard to believe a game like this is free. If you liked D2, I'd highly recommend checking this game out. Combat and animations aren't as fluid as something you'd see from Blizzard, but pretty much everything else in the game is an advancement of the genre. Many of the features introduced by this gameOne of the best f2p models I've ever seen, and one of the best ARPGs I've ever played. It's hard to believe a game like this is free. If you liked D2, I'd highly recommend checking this game out. Combat and animations aren't as fluid as something you'd see from Blizzard, but pretty much everything else in the game is an advancement of the genre. Many of the features introduced by this game will be common place years from now. Even D3 is starting to incorporate aspects of PoE, such as itemization and user-designed legendaries.… Expand
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. CoolDadTx
    Jun 14, 2020
    4
    Ok ARPG starting out but steadily goes downhill starting with act 5 when you go back through the same areas again. Mostly the same thing every other ARPG has but the skill system is out of control, the crafting is so large as to be mostly meaningless and the boss battles work the exact same way every time with just another paint job. It is clear this game is designed for MMO even thoughOk ARPG starting out but steadily goes downhill starting with act 5 when you go back through the same areas again. Mostly the same thing every other ARPG has but the skill system is out of control, the crafting is so large as to be mostly meaningless and the boss battles work the exact same way every time with just another paint job. It is clear this game is designed for MMO even though you can play it solo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Overall this is an OK RPG (at least early on) that stays entirely too long (act 5+ is equivalent of higher difficulty in traditional games), has poor loot, meaningless skills and crafting, and boss battles that are just unfair to a single player. Later acts bring this game way down.    … Expand
Page:

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
See all critic reviews »