Path of Exile is an online action RPG developed by independent developer Grinding Gear Games based in New Zealand. With a character you control an overhead perspective, you explore large outdoor areas and underground caves of dungeons, while battling against monsters and fulfilling quests NPCs to gain experience points and poe currency. The following content is its special.
Characters
Path of Exile features seven primary character classes, including Duelist, Templar, Witch, Ranger, Marauder, Shadow and Scion, one of which (the Scion) unlocks after completing Act 3. They all have one or more subclasses, called Ascendancy classes.
Skills
All of these characters can be developed in different ways thanks to Path of Exile’s deep “passive skill” system. Passive skills boost stats and attributes without input from the player. Players receive a passive skill point each time they level up, as well as some from completing quests. The passive skill system is similar to traditional RPG skill trees. But instead of a small tree for every character, this game features one enormous tree full of skills that all characters can access.
Gameplay and controls
Instead of a single hot-bar with skills assigned to every button, the diamond-shaped hot-bar here is located in the lower-right corner of the screen, with an attack or skill assigned to each face button. By holding Right Trigger, players can access a second set of skills. Thus you get access to eight skills using just the face buttons and one trigger, freeing up the other three buttons for other tasks.
In-app purchases
Path of Exile was conceived as a free-to-play title that would truly be free to play, with in-app purchases (IAPs) designed not to throw off the game balance or nickel and dime players. The primary source of purchases is cosmetic poe items that allow players to customize the look of their characters.
Still, a few purchases provide gameplay benefits. Each player has an in-game stash with a limited amount of room to keep their extra gear. You can opt to buy new stash pages and buy chaos orbs with real money, thus increasing the amount of stuff you can keep. Additional character slots are available to buy as well.
On the whole, it’s a very fair system – and a great killer action.