Path Of Exile - The Hidden Gem Of The Year

The glorious genre of the hack 'n' slash has always attracted on large computer droves of players eager to darsele of holy reason, ready to get backache by dint of being in front of the screen leveling their favorite character and facing armies of demons hell. On the other hand, the fascination inherent in giving oneself without too many thoughts is something indispensable in man, but it is certainly not discovered now.

If there is a software house that, more than anyone else, has understood and adopted this concept is Blizzard Entertainment, which between 1996 and 2000 brought out those who are considered in all respects the founding pillars of the genre, Diablo and Diablo II. Over ten years later, Blizzard is back with his strongest horse, that third chapter of Diablo spasmodically awaited by many PC users (and not only, thanks to his recent conversion to console): the numbers of Diablo III are imperious and enshrine unprecedented commercial success. Yet despite the popularity, there have been many criticisms, carried forward above all by those who saw in the game a simplification and an involution of the mechanics compared to the second chapter of the series. Rightly or wrongly, this chorus of voices has become increasingly numerous and pressing also because of the ruptured RMAH (real money action house) that has said that many has severely disrupted the gaming economy (so much so that Blizzard itself is shelter announcing the closure from next March).

And it is precisely here that Grinding Gear Games, an independent New Zealand softco, fits in. Path of Exile is his debut work and consists of a free to play online dungeon crawler. Developers are passionate gamers and have created the product in question as "the game that we would liked to play"; nice words, which for once were followed by concrete facts and not the usual advertising campaigns designed to raise the hype. The title came out at the end of October after seven years of development and nine months of open beta, essential to make it a mature and optimized game, and was enthusiastically received by most of the so-called "disappointed Diablo III". As you have already understood from the vote above, Path of Exile is a very successful experiment, so much to be called "The Hidden Gem of the Year" from the MMORPG.com portal.

Moreover, if you look at what the guys at Grinding Gear Games have achieved you can not help but think of a small miracle: raise your hand if a luster ago would give a dollar to these, up to the unknown, unknown developers. Yet their game is there, ready to be played after simply downloading the client. So is Path of Exile a beautiful Diablo-clone, or something more? Let's find out together.

Welcome to Wraeclast, Exile

First of all, the setting of the game is the dark fantasy of Wraeclast, a continent where we are confined to chains after being exiled from their homeland. But when the ship of slaves on which we boarded shipwrecked and leaves us on a beach infested with zombies we find ourselves having to be architects of our destiny in a desperate and brutal land.

This is more or less the incipit of Path of Exile, which, it must be said, does not present an exceptional plot: the story told in the campaign carries out its dirty work but without upsetting, which is a bit of a shame given that all in all the lore, although deliberately cryptic, has some fascinating insights that link it to other famous universes, such as that of Conan the barbarian. Pleasant some references to other members of the genre hack'n'slash, including an episode in the second act that mentions the storyline of Diablo II and that the most experienced players will not fail to grasp.

The game structure is made up like that of any GDR action: camps and cities work as catalysts for quests, vendors and NPCs to talk to, while the outer areas overflow with mobs and miniboss to be slaughtered, with many dungeons to master it. it is right that it be. The fact that the maps are procedurally generated is very much appreciated and consequently they appear different every time the game is played, in the favor of replayability.

Path of Exile is however a game evidently thought from the base with the online in mind, and not just as a forced addition. Forming parties and joining other players is quick and intuitive thanks to a convenient noticeboard located in each settlement, and playing in company becomes almost essential at the highest levels. Also present the possibility of founding guilds, usually typical of MMORPGs, which stimulates the interaction between players.

Another feature that makes Path of Exile unique is the lack of "gold", or an in-game currency. What at first might seem an illogical choice is actually a stroke of genius: the absence of a real virtual currency has in fact eradicated an ancient scourge of that kind, that of the gold seller. Here the economy is based entirely on the barter of objects, with some items particularly sought after in exchanges between players.

"The Game That We'd Want To Play"

However, it is useless to go around: by the admission of the developers themselves, Diablo II is the main source of inspiration for Path of Exile. On the other hand, how to blame them: the title Blizzard has been schooling for years, beating the competition thanks to a solid and functional gameplay and an online component so well integrated as to be addictive as a drug. Grinding Gear Games has therefore laid the foundations and added so many good ideas, also borrowed from other famous titles.

Two important choices are placed at the time of creating the character, those of the class and the relative league in which to play. The "leagues" are nothing but various game modes, each of which offers something different in terms of gameplay: in one the enemies drop better objects, in another you can get temporary bonuses and so on. At the moment you can play in standard, hardcore, domination and nemesis, but the available clubs change and are replaced by others every other month. Note that, unlike many dungeon crawlers, in Path of Exile if our PG is killed in hardcore, these are not lost forever, but "back" to the normal league.

The creation of the character allows to choose between seven classes, each of which is based on a specific attribute (or a series of attributes) between strength, dexterity and intelligence. Here things start to get interesting: by playing we understand that the division into classes is more a formality than anything else, as each class can do almost everything; a Templar, for example, can indifferently hold a two-handed sword, a two-sided ax, a scepter and a shield, two clubs together or even more, provided that the requirements of the objects are met. The same is true for the armor, and there are no armor of a single class; the strongest, orange-colored pieces of equipment are unique items that give the wearer considerable power (by the way, look and enjoy every single item you drop, some contain beautiful descriptions in rhyme).

In short, the developers have adopted intelligent and never restrictive choices towards the players who guarantee a wide freedom of personalization. This is also reflected in the tree of passive skills, winking, or rather, to the spheres of Final Fantasy X: this is a web of 1350 skills (no, you have not read wrong) in which, at each level step , we can insert a point in order to improve a talent or enhance a parameter. All classes share the same tree, but start from a different point according to their primary attributes; this means that potentially even a Witch can get to take Marauder's talents, simply will have to go a long way to do it. With the release was released the seventh class, the Scion, heavily armed medium-range warrior who can use elemental skills and who makes himself available after finishing the campaign on the first difficulty; peculiarity of this new class is its central starting point in the skill tree, which makes it a very useful hybrid.

To make this already excellent system even more profound come the gems, which if embedded in the equipment of the heroes provide an active ability, be it a lightning bolt, a fireball or a frozen projectile. Each gem level with use and can be associated with other supporting gems that activate additional effects, such as a higher attack speed or the regeneration of life for each hit scored; this greatly increases the possibilities of customization, with the ability to indulge in those who love to build in detail the builds of their PCs.

After all this sermon to describe how layered the gameplay set up by the programmers, someone will ask: "Ok, but in the end it is also fun?". Absolutely yes: seeing your character grow and become stronger and stronger, to the point where you shove bunches of mobs instantly, is incredibly rewarding and has awakened the baby in us by taking us to long nightshots of farm and compulsive loot. Path of Exile is in short "addictive" as only a big hack'n'slash knows how to be.

And The World Shall Perish

Some might call Path of Exile "the Dark Souls of the hack'n'slash", and probably would not be so far from the truth. We would like to point out that this is a game that not everyone could digest: if faced in only the bar of difficulty in some points rises considerably, requiring a certain patience but above all a careful study of the build of your PC. Right here is another feature that makes the product Grinding Gear Games extremely sui generis, or the absence of a real respec: forget to allocate the skill points "by trial", testing in the field which are the most effective and which to exclude. The choice of passive points should be weighed with caution and judgment: this for example means that, once we have our handsome warrior level 50 full-dps, the only way to get one specialized in tanking will be to create a new PG. The only exception to this strict rule is represented by the orbs of regret, rare items that allow you to reset a single point in the skill tree, and only if it is the last in a row. Accustomed as we are to have to do with respec frequent and inexpensive totals in other exponents of the genre, including Diablo 3, assimilating this (intentional) lack may not be easy for everyone. To fully appreciate Path of Exile, however, we must enter the perspective of a game where every conquest is earned and sweaty, and the decisions taken will always force us to sacrifice something else.

Technically the title presents a more than appreciable work: the isometric graphic, classic of the dungeon crawler, does not represent anything transcendental or particularly heavy to manage, but moves valuable landscapes and most of all shows a strong personality. In fact, the design repudiates any cheerful and bright cartoon accent from the "world of the smurfs" proposing instead the vision of a dark and violent land, and the graphic style adapts accordingly to this choice: the environments are dirty and Spartan, the dungeons are perennially shrouded in darkness and the enemies explode with splashes of Tarantinian blood when they are quartered. Also promoted the animations and the effects, with some spell, especially those related to fire and electricity, which are spectacular.

The sound compartment is also good: the effects are average, while the accompanying music is spot on and very atmospheric. It is safe to say that U4GM offers the cheaper PoE orbs than ever. Time is limited, make sure to size the opportunity to get cheapest PoE orbs on U4GM.