De free-to-play actie-RPG Path of Exile krijgt een vervolg. Tijdens ExileCon 2019 heeft ontwikkelaar Grinding Gear Games namelijk aangekondigd dat Path of Exile 2 op dit moment in ontwikkeling is. Volgens de studio uit Nieuw-Zeeland zal het vervolg een volledig nieuwe verhaallijn, extra Ascendancy klasses, verbeterde graphics en nog veel meer bevatten. Daarbij zal alle content van de eerste Path of Exile ook onderdeel zijn van het vervolg.

Tevens maakte Grinding Gear Games melding van een nieuwe uitbreiding voor de eerste Path of Exile, die ‘Conquerors of the Atlas’ heet. Die uitbreiding is vanaf 13 december aanstaande beschikbaar. Het is overigens nog niet bekend wanneer Path of Exile 2 moet verschijnen, naar verwachting mogen we eind 2020 wel een beta verwachten. Dit suggereert ook een release op de PlayStation 5.

Je kunt hieronder een korte samenvatting van Path of Exile 2 terugvinden, samen met de officiële trailer én een gameplay preview.

Path of Exile 2

One Game, Two Campaigns

Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements, and more.

20 Years Have Passed

Since the death of Kitava, society has been slowly rebuilding. Ambitious men rise to fill the void and their thirst for power is once again corrupting Wraeclast.

19 New Ascendancy Classes

Path of Exile 2‘s characters are a new set of Exiles who fall into the same class archetypes as those in the original game. As such, they can pick from a set of 19 new Ascendancy Classes that differ from the old ones that are still available in the Path of Exile 1 campaign

New Skill Gem System

Path of Exile 2 introduces the next generation of Path of Exile’s iconic skill system. Support Gems are now socketed directly into Skill Gems, removing many of the frustrations present in the old system while maintaining all the previous depth. It’s now possible to six-link every skill your character uses.

All-New Equipment

The entire progression of armor and weapons has been redone from start to finish, alongside entirely new character models and animations. All of your old microtransactions are still compatible.

And Much More

Over the next year, we’ll announce a lot more information about the improvements in Path of Exile 2, such as changes to the Passive Skill Tree and other core game systems.

Over the years there have been many changes that we would have loved to make to Path of Exile but couldn’t, because they would break existing characters. Path of Exile 2 is an opportunity to make all of these changes in one large update.

In the Meantime

We don’t have a release date for Path of Exile 2 yet, but we’re unlikely to start a beta until at least very late 2020. In the meantime, we are continuing to release Path of Exile expansions on our regular three-month cycle. This content will be available in both the Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2 campaigns.