Pretty similar to the first game, but now you can PAUSE — perfect for when your cat jumps on your keyboard mid-chaos!

Now, let's address the elephant in the room first: Yes, this game is difficult.
If you like games where you can breeze through and be done in 20 hours, this isn't a game for you.

However
If you like a challenge
if you like the feeling of accomplishment when you kill a boss
if you don't mind getting stuck into the skill tree to figure out where to go with your character
then this is most definitely the game for you!

P.s. I'm a 61 year CRPG gamer.
Aside from a few hours of the original Diablo, I have NEVER played an ARPG...and I'm having a blast.
If an old fart like me can succeed in this game, you can too :)

path of crashes

Nerfing builds during EA is understandable.

Nerfing them to the ground without enabling us to respec for a fraction of the cost is NOT understandable. Respect my time, devs.

Well, i'm doing this review with a short time, but keep in mind i played most of the games of this genre. Tbh i thought Last epoch was the best one after diablo 4, but PoE2 put both games in their knees and easily at that, without any shred of effort too. The game has bad traits, but the good traits surpass by a long stretch.

I beat diablo 4 in gamepass, something which was atrocious to me, was the battlepass locked the good cosmetic and so on, and normal clothes looked ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ until the point you beat lilith, they still looked like that. In path of exile, i'm playing as monk and quickly i was able to test a bunch of different drips. AND you can equip mixed armors traits, like EVASION/ARMOR/ENERGY SHIELD you name it. This makes building your character really diverse both in good looks + good build for YOUR playstyle, isn't something set on stone.



I mean, if you keep and follow the path you want, it's really good, i was testing a fast casting skill system, and it's working like i wanted, a fast paced monk melee. Yet if you're a beginner to the genre, and dont know what you're up to. It's annoying,[edit] you can actually can respec after some hours of progress, but the respec system is expensive... and with thousands of skills this can be a problem. Thefore it culls beginners and jelly brains, but i dont think it's really really bad, if anything they're sticking to a Niche and this actually makes a better experience than the washed experience we had in a Diablo 4.

Literally fire, i dunno if they're gonna add more difficulty sliders or whatever, but as it's rn, it's intense, after we go to red veil map i think, i noticed the enemies mobs started having better tactics, ranged, poison, fast and slow ones and stuff like that, my point here, is neither their life or mine was bigger, so they did a avg damage and died quickly, i did high damage and got damaged quickly too. A really fair balance if you ask me, the bosses aren't spongyyy they just can do a LOT of damage, but somewhat lives under 1-2 min at most. This made me have a really better time than in Diablo 4, anyone who tried to play the highest difficulty settings, starts noticing the game fights are stretched, they become really spongy and it's tiresome after some point, plus blizzard nerfed the ♥♥♥♥ out of a lot of skills, so isn't rewarding to actually keep playing the game to be punished. (obviously i cant use this same judgement to a released game, but i noticed at least with monkey skill kit, the way i was playing was basically charging stacks to unleash more powerful ones, it's a really technical build, HIGH DAMAGE with timed properly, and if somehow you screw, you can die with 1-3 hits, depends of enemy kind. So i really enjoyed the danger-reward payout.

I noticed in the early maps, but something which really stuck out for me was the designs of enemies were really unique and flashed, hardly a simple reskin, at least in the first 7 regions, so in theory ... the rest stays like this, it's a really good thing to see the effort put into something you like, so we the players, have a better experience.

Tbh game graphics look really good for an isometric, optimization is great in everything but SHADOWS, idk i mean i tested everything ultra-high and stuff, but when you change Shadows from Low to high, i got 120fps(OK, playing with it like that), but if you change to Ultra i got 80fps... like 40 fps loss, from low to high it only ate 140 to 124... so xD for being an isometric i dont think shadows are THAT important, but anyway, i can notice the difference of three presets, thus i play in high with 120fps and everything else maxed. (I use rtx 4070ti super)

Not graphics per se, but the servers are so damn fine, my ping stays between 7-12 playing in SAO PAULO SA. Really, really happy with this, i'm used to online games staying at around 27-40, and i have a good internet but most servers we have on SA are usually bad, so that made me happy :D .


Err i think the game lacks a sell/stack sell and other QoL features, to handle inventory. I tried it around, but i can only use stash/vendors with drag and drop, DRAG AND DROP IN THIS DAY AND AGE IS BOTHERSOME. Def i look forward to this change, because you can get inventory full in 10min or so, and then you need to go back, and drag drop 9 stuff, rinse repeat that under an 1h, it becomes annoying FAST

You shouldnt get used to having only one char for long in PoE universe, friendly reminder.

The MTX of PoE2 a bit too much expensive, to buy a single cloth in this game, and if you got preorder you got like 300 points... simple even if you buy the cheapest MTX+what they "give to you" you can't buy a single cloth, and the cheapest option it's 5$ no region priced...that is errr hmm, i mean i personally wont pay the price of a new game in a skin, no matter how good it look like xD

The game just outright crashes on loading screens at random, while the devs did acknowledge it is an issue, it hasn't been talked about in any patches, i'll change the review if it ever gets fixed, but it leaves a sour taste. There are at least 400+ pages worth of complaints at PoE 2 early access forums as the time of writing this.

Waited for a long time, was excited, played sorc for 24 hours.

The game is fantastic, all I ever wanted from a modern ARPG.

Then GGG releases a new patch, completely bricks a ton of builds. Well whatever, it's Early Access I might say? The problem is, respeccing my build costs way more gold than I have. I'm not even mad at having the wrong gear for a different build, that's manageable. What's not is that I have too little gold and no viable way of getting it back without respeccing. Sure I could kill monsters at a ridiculous pace and slowly farm up the gold. But I won't.

If you nuke builds into orbit, at least make respecs free or really cheap as long as the game is in EA. People are your playtesters and even give you free money. Let them test the game.

Not starting a new character from scratch only to risk the same thing. It's a shame because I would really love playing the game.

Context:
I finished Act 3 Cruel and started mapping. For reference, I have approximately 2,500 hours in POE1, usually achieving a 1-2 mirror build in about a month while completing all content—from T16-T17 max-juiced maps to Uber pinnacle bosses. Additionally, I’ve played around 1,000 hours in D3 and 500 hours in D4.
________________________________________
The Good:
1. Boss Design: The bosses are well-designed and offer enjoyable mechanics.
2. Skill Gem Redesign: Moving skill gems from item slots to a dedicated tab is a decent improvement, streamlining this aspect of the game.
________________________________________
The Bad:
Oh boy, where to begin...
1. Illusion of Build Diversity
Unlike POE1, where meaningful choices define your build, POE2 offers only an illusion of diversity. Skills are tied to very specific support gem combinations, and alternative options often feel like straight downgrades instead of sidegrades.
2. Skill Tree Limitations
In POE1, the skill tree allows players to tailor builds with choices for more defense, damage, clear speed, or quality of life. In POE2, you’re left with only two options: more damage or more defense. This lack of flexibility undermines player agency.
3. Slowing Down the Game
I understand the developers’ choice to slow down gameplay, but it feels excessive. My first campaign playthrough took about 40 hours, which is acceptable for a one-time experience. However, repeating this grind every 3-4 months for a new league is a dealbreaker. The removal of movement speed flasks and skills further compounds this issue, making the campaign feel unnecessarily tedious.
4. No True Crafting System
Slamming exalts and praying isn’t crafting—it’s RNG masquerading as mechanics. A functional crafting system is sorely needed.
5. Useless Uniques
Uniques are largely irrelevant after, or even during, the campaign. In POE1, uniques—though generally weaker than crafted gear—can enable specific builds and offer meaningful benefits (e.g., Headhunter). Why would I want a Headhunter in POE2 when maps feature only 5-6 rares?
6. No Map Juicing
While I understand that map juicing could come later, it raises the question: what’s the priority here? With so many core issues, will this even make it onto the roadmap in the near future?
7. Bad "Vision" Choices
Some design changes feel unnecessarily restrictive and dismissive of player investment. For instance:
• The removal - yes this is not a nerf, a nerf would be lowering the damage or the proc rate a little bit, not nuking the mechanic - of mechanics like Cast on X isn’t a balance adjustment; it outright eliminates certain builds. This goes beyond a simple nerf—it makes them unplayable.
• When such drastic changes are implemented, players without enough gold to respec are left with no choice but to start a new character. This wastes significant time and effort.
8. One-Death Maps
Failing maps due to off-screen one-shots or enemy swarms is frustrating. Investing in defenses is often suggested, but sacrificing too much damage leaves you overwhelmed regardless. This feels like unnecessary punishment rather than rewarding difficulty.
9. Enemy Respawns After Death
Respawning enemies only serves to artificially prolong gameplay without adding meaningful challenge.
10. Lack of Defensive Layers
In POE1, defense involved balancing multiple layers—armor, evasion, energy shield, block, and more. In POE2, defenses are oversimplified. You’re essentially forced to choose between resistances and one other stat (armor, evasion, or energy shield) because attribute requirements prevent wearing gear outside your primary stat. Considering the 1 portal map, this is not enough.
11. Ascendancies Are Lacking
Most Ascendancy choices are underwhelming, and they cannot be repicked, further limiting build flexibility.
________________________________________
Final Thoughts:
All these points could be countered with, “It’s early access; they’ll fix it.” But many of these issues seem tied to GGG’s “vision” rather than content that’s missing due to early access status. Without a vocal community pushing for change, I doubt these design philosophies will shift.

I can't belive I am saying this but D4 at launch (let's be realistic, that was an early access as well), felt better than the current state of POE2. Yes, I know, jump with jesters.

Constant nerfs without passive points refund to make up for it. Im fine with nerfing a build but if youre going to do so then at least allow me to swap into another build. Instead you have to make a new character because of how expensive they gate the passive point refund system

Are you into masochism? Then this game is exactly for you.

Everything they did feels and is catered to make the life of the player miserable, zone reset on death, single portals for maps where if you dodge roll even slightly late you lose everything, huge maps where you have to backtrack because you went the wrong way, abysmally low gear drops, extremely high respec costs while on the other side nerfing builds people use without warning whatsoever.

Its like they took out all of the good things that made Path of Exile 1 to what it is today, slapped on a new skin, added some interesting bosses and neglected everything else. Not saying Path of Exile 1 doesn't have its flaws either but it's a breath of fresh air compared to this and they went way too far in the wrong direction with this.

I'm fairly certain that if there isn't a significant change in the vision and direction of this game where player time is respected and valued people will play trough this once, and/or get stuck somewhere in the acts and never touch this again. Path of Exile 1 used to thrive every time a new league would be released but in the way this is setup i just don't see this happening currently.

Would give it a neutral but it doesn't allow that, so currently its negative.