Path of Exile 2 Early Access Review: Potential to Be the Best

Path of Exile 2 is undoubtedly one of the best ARPGs I have played and the game is still lacking more than 60% of its content in Early Access. The game does a great job of lowering the barrier of entry for new players to the franchise, which prevented a large player base from trying out its predecessor. However, the game doesn’t forsake its complexity, and in many ways, it can be as complex in builds as the original Path of Exile while also significantly lowering the barrier of entry.

Path of Exile 2 will be a free game, but the Early Access for the version is locked behind a paywall. Although the amount spent on the Early Access key is equally converted to the in-game microtransaction currency, it is still large enough that new players may wonder about its worth. This is why we are doing a complete Path of Exile 2 Early Access review after spending a good 50 hours in the game, so that you know whether to invest in it now or wait for the official release.

The Best Campaign in ARPG Genre, Even as Incomplete

Path of Exile 2 undoubtedly has the best campaign in the ARPG genre, and it’s not even complete yet. ARPGs have always been considered as a game that you play for the mindless slaying of enemies with little regard to the actual storyline. Diablo IV did a good job making players invest in the story with amazing cutscenes, but they failed to deliver a compelling enough storyline at the end.

Path of Exile 2 does it much better, especially when the game only has three of its Acts available, with three more set to be added before the official release. Although there are no high-quality cut-scenes like in Diablo IV, the story progression is compelling, something that was completely missing in Path of Exile 1, and each encounter with a unique campaign boss is memorable not simply because of combat mechanics but also their story significance.

The atmosphere in the game is dark and grim. Each campaign boss fight is a pure spectacle, and the voice acting in the campaign is done extremely well. I cannot be more excited to play the last three acts of the story once the game releases.

Massive Maps Which Feels Like Open World

One of the key elements of Path of Exile 2 is the massive maps. The map size becomes considerably bigger as you progress through the campaign, with Act 3 maps taking more than an hour to completely explore. And it’s not just big empty space; every map has unique optional bosses that drop really good rewards on defeat, optional quest items that are hidden, and even treasure spots in certain areas. Besides the unique optional bosses, you will also come across normal bosses and elite troops while exploring, keeping exploration spicy until the end.

However, not everything is great about big maps, or I might say was in this case. A big challenge in Path of Exile 2 was returning to the point of interests as there was no teleportation inside the map introduced at launch.

Thankfully, only a couple of days after the game’s release, the developers announced that players could soon travel between checkpoints, making navigation much easier and less time-consuming. This update has been implemented in the game and is very easy to use.

The game also has a slower and more methodical approach to combat than its predecessor, making it a visible challenge as you mow your way through the massive map.

Path of Exile 2 Can Be Ruthless, Even to Veterans

Path of Exile 2 is hard, much harder than its predecessor, and that’s true for even veteran players. Dying in an ARPG has always been common, mostly during the end-game content, with only occasional deaths in the early parts of the game. That’s not the case for Path of Exile 2, as each enemy encounter from the very beginning of Act 1 to 3 is challenging and can lead to your death.

• The Bad: Enemies deal a ton of damage, and as the combat is much more methodical and slower, you cannot simply snowball them until you have a good enough build. Even with high resistance, some enemy encounters will instantly kill you if you don’t dodge with the newly added dash mechanic. Most enemies quickly surround the players, forcing them to always stay on their toes at all times to avoid getting boxed in.

• The Good: The part of the difficulty that is done correctly is the boss encounters. From normal to unique bosses in the game, all of them are geared with multiple phases and a wide range of attacks and attack patterns. The bosses are not an afterthought, as it is very normal to die on a unique boss multiple times until you get it right. The boss designs are reminiscent of traditional Souls-like bosses, where you have to actively dodge enemy attacks instead of simply tanking and out-damaging the enemies as common in ARPGs.

The difficulty has been a major concern, especially with the high damage numbers from enemies in the early game. The recent patches have decreased the damage output of many enemies and removed the resistance reduction of maps, so it’s clear that the developers are still figuring out the sweet spot for the difficulty.

No More Mindless Slaying, It’s Much More Methodical Now

One of the best additions in Path of Exile 2 is that most of the Skills can combine with each other. This makes the game more methodical than simply mindlessly bashing your one Skill key while jumping through enemies. In every fight, you must use the correct combo based on the enemy type; otherwise, the enemies will punish you. This slows the combat a lot, in a good way, and makes the combat feel highly impactful.

Other than that, the enemy variety in Path of Exile 2 is insane. Most areas have new enemy types, each with unique mechanics. Some are reskinned, but most enemies throughout the three available acts are distinctly different.

The highlight of the game is the boss fights. Although Path of Exile 1 was also known for really good boss designs, PoE 2 takes it to another level. Every boss feels very unique, and it is an absolute delight to fight them. The methodical approach of the combos becomes much more vital against bosses, as that’s the only way to exploit each boss’s weakness and capitalize on it.

The Endgame in Path of Exile 2

So, now let’s talk about the actual Path of Exile 2 gameplay, which is the end game. For ARPG players, the end game is the main part of the attraction. Path of Exile 2’s endgame is massive, especially for an early-access game. The end-game of Path of Exile 2 can be broken into three parts — Atlas of the World, Trial of Sekhemas, and Trial of Chaos.

After finishing the first three acts in PoE 2, players will need to complete those three acts again but with Cruel difficulty. After you have done that, it unlocks the Atlas of World, which is the end-game content of PoE 2, having its own unique bosses, enemies, and skill tree.

The Atlas of World is a massive map of interconnected points, each holding a certain event, enemy, or boss that you can fight to progress the map. As you complete the map, the Atlas grows stronger, making the enemies stronger and equally increasing the quality of the rewards.

A big part of the end-game is to farm for better equipment, but there is also a final objective — The Pinnacle Boss. After defeating three of the Uber bosses in the Atlas map, players can unlock the Pinnacle Boss fight, which is the main final boss in Path of Exile 2.

Other than the Atlas, there are the end-game Ascendancy trials — Trial of Sekhemas and Trial of Chaos. Now, you can access these two fairly early in the game, one in Act 2 and another in Act 3. Completing these trials will give you Ascendancy points, which can be invested in the Ascendancy passive tree to strengthen your character.

Currently, neither of these systems is great and requires some serious changes. Trial of Sekhemas has an honor system that depletes when taking damage, making it completely against melee characters. On the other hand, Trial of Chaos is flooded with difficulty, making even the tankiest of builds cry when trying to clear it.

Still Needs a Lot of Work Before Release

Although I have enjoyed Path of Exile 2 immensely in the Early Access, it doesn’t mean that the game is flawless. Let me be very clear: the game is not nearly complete at the current stage of Early Access. Here are all the issues I faced in Early Access that are still there at the time of writing this review:

• Melee feels terrible: The Melee classes in the game currently feel terrible to play. This is largely due to the missing weapon types, as only 30% or less of the Melee skills and weapons are currently available in the game.
• Maps are too big in later Acts: Don’t get me wrong, I love the big maps in Path of Exile 2, but the massive maps in late Act 3 were a bit unrewarding. Compared to the earlier Acts, the map in Act 3 felt a bit more empty of unique enemies, especially compared to the size of the maps.
• Structures block vision: One of the big complaints I have in PoE 2 is that some of the structures block the player’s vision from enemies. Although most of the structures become transparent, there are still many that can hide enemies behind them. It can be very frustrating when you cannot see the enemies, especially against bosses who can one-shot you if you don’t dodge.
• Ascendancy Trials need a lot of work: There are not many fans in the community with the current Ascendancy Trials in Path of Exile 2. Both the game modes are unique and sound cool, but they don’t feel good to play. The Honor system in the Trial of Sekhemas just appears terrible, while the Trial of Chaos seems extremely hard, even with late-game builds.
• Crash and Bugs: Crashes and bugs are not that common, but they still happen, and that can put off some people. The good thing is that the game starts from the same location you were at before the crash.

Now, these might seem like a lot of issues, but the game has only entered Early Access, and such issues are common at this stage of development.

Graphics and Performance

Path of Exile 2 runs really well for the most part, and the game looks excellent. The graphics are a big step forward from its predecessor while keeping the system requirements fairly low. The game runs smoothly for the most part; however, the FPS tanked for me in the main encampments, which you will share with other players.

My Setup: CPU: Intel i3 12th Gen
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060
RAM: 8×2 DDR4 RAM @ 3200MHz
SSD: WD SN570 500GB
Monitor: 1080p and 144hz

Furthermore, I did encounter some crashes or forced log-outs mid-game, but they were not that frequent and understandable for an early-access game. The server status in the initial days of the launch was terrible, with a Login Queue and terrible ping; however, that was mostly fixed at the time of writing this review.

The game ran at a solid 50-60 FPS for the most part but would tank to 30 FPS or below in settlements. Other than that, a few maps in Act 3, particularly the Drowned City, also tanked the performance a bit. Overall, the game runs smoothly for an early-access game, but there is still much room for improvement.

Verdict: Should You Buy Path of Exile 2 Early Access?

If the question was whether you should play Path of Exile 2 or not, my answer would have been a clear yes without much pondering. However, the game’s early access is not actually free, as the game will be after its official release. So, the money you invest now to get the Early Access will be given back as micro-transaction currency, which you can use to buy many of the inventory convenient tabs or get a nice skin.

The entire point of early access in Path of Exile 2 is to open the game to players who love the franchise only and are volunteering to help the developers make it better before release. The price is also a buffer to keep players away who want a complete game, as the game is not complete yet.

However, it is fair to say that Path of Exile 2 now has more content in Early Access than most fully released ARPG games we have seen recently. Most of the issues I had at the game’s launch were also fixed within a week, like teleportation between checkpoints, increased loot in the early game, and decreased damage from enemies.

If you understand that the game still needs to be improved and want to contribute to its progress, I recommend that you buy it. So, that’s our review of Path of Exile 2 early access. Tell us your opinion on the game in the comments.