Ah Path of Exile. The Diablo 3 killer that remains a force to be reckoned with in the genre well into Diablo 4's life. I have been playing Path of Exile on and off since before it came to Steam, since it was in beta over 10 years ago. Now I hear that a sequel is on the horizon. A proper numbered sequel that is, not yet another of those frequent gigantic expansions the game has been blessed with so far. I thought maybe now is the time to finally write a few words for this, by now classic, hack and slash experience. Perhaps a farewell, perhaps simply a long awaited acknowledgment.

First things first, Path of Exile has accomplished much in its already long life, but the thing that always surprised me is that this is principally a free game. Yes, it's always online, a so-called live service game, yes it has a few marginal microtransactions present. But it is meaningfully free. Not only that, it is also truly massive. It packs a meaty 10 act long story, more than double what it was when I first played it. If that's not enough it also comes with a considerable amount of side content. Hideouts, a mine, a thieves guild running expeditions, extra dungeons of all kinds. All that and no intrusive monetisation at all. What can be bought for real money is mostly cosmetics and some additions to the already generous stash size, or extra slots for more characters and frankly at that point, if you are enjoying this game that much, just give those guys a couple of bucks. And I say that as someone who generally despises the live service model.

Size and price aside, Path of Exile also has another arrow in its quiver. It is just so much fun to play. It doesn't really innovate. The loop is fairly simple. Pick a character and start clicking. Kill monsters, explore, kill more monsters, explore some more. It's effectively the Diablo formula all over again. But the game executes it so well it doesn't matter. Everything else takes a backseat. Take the game's main plot. Some jRPG-like schlock about God being bad and killing God and blablabla. Who cares? It's not necessarily bad, it just doesn't register because the game is so stupid good you can't be bothered listening to the exposition. Even a small delay is too much to tolerate. This isn't an indictment of the game's plot, it is a testament to how formidable and addicting the gameplay is. Even gathering loot and items and having to go back to sell or pick new stuff to equip can become tiresome as it distracts from the enormously satisfying feedback loop the game employs.

Of course, not everything is perfect. The aforementioned loot for example. Yes, you don't want to bother going back to town to sell it and re-equip, but that's also because of how convoluted and at times bizarre the game's economy is. This is a system Path of Exile does innovate in. The game has no gold currency. Instead it has multiple currencies which can be exchanged between them. Let's just say, I would have preferred something simpler. The dying system is also a bit disappointing, especially if it happens repeatedly and far from a checkpoint. Lots of walking only to get killed again in seconds due to a bad matchup. It forcefully breaks the game's otherwise excellent feedback loop, not very fun. Finally, the atmosphere, style and aesthetics of the game are not exactly classic Diablo levels stellar. Path of Exile does look and sound decent, the game simply doesn't stand out here the way it does in gameplay. Then again, it's not like I can think of many games that can actually compete with Diablo on this front.

To make a long story short, this being a free game, there is absolutely no reason not to try it. Any fan of Diablo-clones and hack and slash games, any fan of clicky-clickies will find something to like here. Moreover, Path of Exile shows that live service games can work, when the aim is to entertain people rather than maximize the amount of money they can pinch from the players caught in their webs. In that way, maybe it can teach even the ever-greedier Blizzard a thing or two about priorities. I'm looking forward to Path of Exile 2 and hope it is at least as good. In the meantime, this game is here for anyone that feels like clicking some monsters away.

I haven't left the room for over a year.

The only GF who didn't leave me because of my small pecker has finally left me because of this.