Path of Exile 2 is quietly becoming one of the most ambitious ARPGs ever made

Grinding Gear Games keeps shipping surprise updates to Path of Exile 2 even after announcing that Return of the Ancients would be its last major expansion before the game leaves early access later this year. The latest drop added a full skill tree for one of PoE 2's side activities and a sweeping overhaul to Unique items, opening up a wave of new build possibilities across the campaign.

Return of the Ancients has been the update that finally made the full vision click. PoE 2 blends soulslike weight and deliberate pacing with deep loot-driven progression — you stay an underdog for most of the campaign, scrounging for small edges rather than steamrolling everything in sight. That tension now carries into the endgame, where Wraeclast opens up and pushes you toward its hardest secrets. The expansion also added a room where a max-level player can sacrifice their character to grant everyone else on that game version a free skill point — the kind of strange, community-facing design that signals how differently Grinding Gear thinks about its game.

PoE 2 draws obvious comparisons to Elden Ring: both games demand you learn their internal logic before they start rewarding you, and both hide clever mechanics that tutorials never mention. In PoE 2, players only recently discovered that certain monsters drop rare crafting materials only if you drag them out of the darkness clouds they generate — a secret that sat undiscovered for months. That kind of depth is exactly what separates PoE 2 from more accessible ARPGs like Diablo 4, which the author now says they'd skip a season of to keep playing PoE 2 instead.

With the full release still ahead, the game is shaping up as a serious contender for one of the defining ARPGs of its generation. The final pieces are falling into place, and if Grinding Gear keeps this pace through launch, the genre is in for a genuine shakeup.