Yes, there are even identification and town portal scrolls.īut where Path of Exile shines is not in its myriad similarities to Diablo, but its clever divergences. The controls are a mixture of mouse clicks and hotkey quickfire uses, and areas are connected via waypoints across a series of Acts. The game features six character classes, a 3/4 overhead camera angle, and endless fighting through hordes of loot-carrying monstrosities.

Players familiar with Diablo 2 will be immediately at home in POE. It’s no exaggeration to say that anyone who loved Diablo 2 will love Path of Exile, especially considering it is completely free to play. In development by a small New Zealand studio called Grinding Gear Games, Path of Exile is an unabashed Diablo clone that has improved upon almost every aspect of the series’ strengths and fixed the majority of its weaknesses. Well, dear reader, you need to check out Path of Exile. You need a game that has the soul of Diablo and Diablo 2 without whatever bullshit Bobby Kotick tries to ram violently into Diablo 3. You know every drop rate, every unique weapon variation, every farming route. And while there’s always the option of dropping back into numero dos for another thousand hours or so, you’ve probably exhausted every PvE and PvP build known to man by now if you’re anything like me. And the dark, hopeless tone of the original Diablo has all but disappeared.Īnd in the decade since the second game in the series, Blizzard was acquired by Activision.* The game’s entire soul has effectively been sucked out, chewed up, and spit out in a nasty, console-friendly pile of filth.īut what’s a gamer to do? Most dungeon-crawling action/RPGs since Diablo 2 have been a far cry from perfect.

The story and acting are, at initial glance, laughable. The character classes look like they’ve been pasted together from a few different anime series. There’s no polite way to frame this, so here it goes: in all likelihood, Diablo 3 is going to be a huge disappointment.

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