Overall Score 8/10 | An Awesome World, With A complex Spirit – BY ERIK PILLAR
Path of Exile is an old-school inspired hack & slash, with a soul and style that’s found lacking in most modern releases in the genre.
Plot and Character:
The lore, story, and characters in this game are all superb. The game starts with you choosing one of six classes available on start, and a seventh option upon its unlock via story progress. Your options mostly boil down to how you want to play the game – as each class has access to different abilities and such: the witch class being more a spell caster and the ranger being about dexterity and bows for example. Each character is given a very basic backstory, a unique appearance, and will comment on game events in their own voice and style. And, that’s about it as far as your background goes.
After you’ve chosen your protagonist, you find yourself washed up upon the coast of Wraeclast. You’ve been exiled by the mainland government and the vessel transporting you to the island has run aground. The scene of the land is one of curses and horror. You’re set upon by zombies in short order, and your quest to uncover the darkness of the island – more of a continent really – has begun.
There are dozens of side and main characters throughout PoE, and each one has full voice acting and interesting thoughts to share. They color the full spectrum of personalities, and it was a true joy to find out where each one was coming from and to listen to their many monologues.
The main and side story of PoE carried me though the many hours I spent in this game, and I could go for a great deal more. The story is tragic, inspired, and horror strewn all at the same time. Fans of tales of good versus evil, corruption, and rising to greatness to battle against untold horrors will find themselves entertained by the plot of PoE.
Atmosphere:
Everything from the musical score to the art and the design, and layout of maps is wonderful to behold in this game. PoE clearly takes great influences from old hack & slash genre favorites, Diablo II being a clear influencer in its dark and gritty tones and randomized but planned map explorations. Each of its many zones – ranging from tropical jungles to ancient crypts and deep mountain grotesqueries – has a unique sound track and variations of new and old enemies alike. Every zone felt fresh, and at no point was I disappointed in the newness of the game’s four playable acts.
A lot of the story of the world Is told via findable lore objects in the game, and it is well worth searching thoroughly to find each one. You can get the main plot and still enjoy PoE without all the worldbuilding to be told, but it will be a lesser experience for not having heard it.
Game Play:
PoE’s mechanics are daunting, and not for the causal gamer. First, we’ll go over the basics. This is a third-person view from above, hack & slash RPG. Meaning, you will run about the game’s world clicking and hitting a few buttons to slay your opponents and gain experience and gear by doing so. The majority of my play was spent only using both mouse buttons and a single hotkey – though I was playing one of the simplest builds available. There are a great deal more complex methods of combat for those who wish it.
As you gain experience, you get levels and can then go to the ability map and use those level points to unlock various nodes upon it. Most nodes make for small bonuses, like a ten-point boost to strength. But, every now and then you’ll happen across a major ability – one that can change the entire way you play the game. Some examples of this are abilities that let you use your health to cast abilities rather than mana, another reduces your hit points to 1 but grants you an energy shield that absorbs nearly all attacks, and yet others grant just as unique and game changing abilities.
The actual spells and techniques you will be using, besides a standard attack, are unlocked with spell gems. These are items you can get as quest rewards, or simply as drops of enemies you’ve encountered. Then, if you meet the requirements to use the gem, you can place it into an available slot on your equipment and voila! You now know that ability. Spell gems level up as you gain experience, and the wide range of powers available meshes welly with the many options of abilities you can unlock by leveling.
This system sounds cool on face value, and for many it may remain so, but it still has some big problems. The biggest of which is that if you do not specifically know what you are doing, having already researched a build and are aiming only for those unlocks, you can very quickly end up with a character that is too weak to do much of anything. And, a lot of the coolest builds require a lot of in-game currency to have working properly, as they are dependent on certain rare items. In my case, I chose the simplest possible build – the ground pounder Marauder. This build consisted of following a specific ability map, found on the game’s forums, using specific spell gems, and fighting 99% of the game with only one ability – ground pound. Oh, and for the build to work I had to only use 2-handed maces or staves.
This led to combat that was dulled after many hours of the same thing, and not a lot of innovation in my play. Now, I could have spent hours researching a build and grinding out the items needed to run it – but as a casual gamer I opted for the simpler character. And while you can respect points, it costs real money to do so or lots of a rare in-game currency. It is often cheaper to make a new character if a mistake in your build has been made.
Final:
Path of Exile is a wonderful, and free, hack & slash game. Some players will love the intensity of the meta game, others – like me – will wish for something more interesting to do while they enjoy an amazing story. That being said, even the most casual of gamers might want to check this out for the story and world it builds that makes this game well worth the annoyances it holds.
Path of Exile was developed by Grinding Gear Games in 2013, and is updated regularly by the developers.
BUY INFO:
Pick this game up for free on Steam for PC.
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