Path of Exile: Turning The Looter Genre On Its Head

It’s the season of looters, in case you haven’t heard. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will offer New Game Plus and its Fate of Atlantis DLC in the coming days, further bolstering its smorgasbord of action RPG content. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 from Ubisoft Massive will look to continue the success of the original while introducing new concepts and ideas (while also fixing a number of bugs present in the private beta).

BioWare’s Anthem has been dominating headlines for the better part of last month, either because of its cosmetic microtransactions or whether the full game will be “worth” getting into. Heck, even Destiny 2 should have an announcement about its next “premium content release” Joker’s Wild very soon.

In these constant conversations about monetization and value for money, whether on-going support and new content justifies RNG loot boxes, which game will the “hot” new thing for players to waste their lives on and whatnot, there’s a curious free to play action RPG that continues to impress. No, not the one crafted by the mad geniuses in the north, Digital Extremes. This one hails from New Zealand and was developed by fans who wanted a true follow-up to Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 2. From there, it morphed into what’s arguably the standard-bearer for action RPG looters today. Say hello to Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile.

"When talking about value, people look at the major updates that the game has received as evidence that it’s the superior game."

Not that it’s anything new so think of it as more of a “long time no see” than a hello. You’ve probably heard Path of Exilementioned in subjects like “Diablo Immortal is a major disappointment” or “Where is Diablo 4?” In a rather infamous stunt following the reveal of Diablo Immortal, someone purchased the web domain for “playdiablo4.com” and made it redirect to Path of Exile.

When talking about value, people look at the major updates that the game has received as evidence that it’s the superior game. Look at some of the expansions introduced in 2018 alone. There’s the Bestiary League in March 2018 which introduced a new monster capturing mechanic and Beastcrafting (or sacrificing beasts for creating and augmenting items). The concept wasn’t half-bad, even if the capture mechanics were somewhat clunky. Next was the Incursion League in June 2018 which saw players time-traveling to ancient ruins and influencing their overall construction for better rewards when raiding them in the present day.

The Delve League arrived in August 2018, adding an endlessly scaling dungeon that’s been requested heavily by fans. Players would gather Sulphite, venture into the Azurite Mines and stick close to a crawler to avoid the encroaching darkness. Varying encounters like Azurite creatures, rogue Exiles, reanimated machines and whatnot would provide items, currency and Azurite. Azurite was used to upgrade the crawler or craft dynamite to destroy cracked walls for hidden secrets. Despite a number of issues – many which were resolved throughout the league – Delve was a success, especially when it came to the mechanically challenging fight with Aul, the Crystal King.

"All this new content is great and will attract players, new and old, back to the game but how does Path of Exile keep incentivizing players to get on the grind, yet again?"

Betrayal arrived in December 2018 and is currently on-going. The mysterious Immortal Syndicate is enacting their conspiracy of necromancy on Wraeclast. Teaming with Jun Ortoi, players bust up Syndicate operations, enticing members to betray their comrades and gather more intelligence about the big boss. Syndicate members can be imprisoned for more intelligence, opening up information about the different department heads and their safe houses (which can then be raided). You can manipulate and promote members to influence the appearance of certain rewards. All of this goes towards eventually uncovering and battling the final boss, the Lifegiver.

Everything mentioned above is noteworthy for one big reason – they’re all Leagues. Much like Diablo 3‘s Seasons, Leagues are around for three months or so, giving you a limited amount of time to complete their respective challenges. The new gameplay content – and not the new Unique items and Skill Gems – is limited to the League until eventually rolled into the main game.