If at first you don’t succeed, die and die again.
Path of Exile 2is hard - there’s no getting around this simple truth.
“That’s it, I quit!
This game is s***!”
they say, and then storm away from their keyboard, probably to return quietly an hour later.
Chat’s favourite response?
“Skill issue.”
These players have deliberately made a choice.
So where does the confusion come from?Diablo 4, it seems.
Glance quickly at them and they could easily be the same game.
But, importantly, their hearts are different.
Somehow, you’ll have to find a way through, and usually this involves dying.
Hard-earned progress and satisfaction: that’s what you get.
To that degree, it’s a slightly slower experience.
There’s a more tentative feel to exploring the world rather than romping around recklessly through it.
Here, you edge forwards so as not to aggravate too many hidden enemies nearby.
It actually reminds me a lot of the original Diablo games, which were quick to punish overconfidence.
There are lots of bottlenecks, lots of potential hazards by design.
The biggest inconvenience is having to wade through some trash or in-between enemies again.
It all makes for a nervy experience - a leant-forwards one rather than a sat back one.
Some of the game’s spectacles made me “wow” out loud, too.
Typically, it’s the bosses, the game’s centrepieces.
No one will forget the Count at the end of Act 1 in a hurry.
The zones themselves are visually impressive, too.
It’s a large, large game, even in early access.
In other words, there’s a substantial amount here, and it’s an impressive package.
A more pertinent question might be should you jump in now?
I haven’t tried this on console, but I assume that it’s the same there.
But it’s nice to have other people around - it’s nice not to do this in isolation.
Share your pain here and the community winces with you (or says “skill issue”).
But it is a bit like Diablo in the ways that matter.
A copy of Path of Exile 2 was provided for review by developer Grinding Gear Games.
