‘One game, two campaigns,’ and it looks more Diablo than ever
We got ourselves an ARPG war!
While Diablo III was fun in its own right, a lot of folks didn’t dig the move away from the macabre aesthetic of old, and fell right into the arms of Path of Exile. While it was a rough unknown at first, the scrappy free-to-play (actually free-to-play) game really worked its way up the ranks, providing tons of free substantial expansions for players while providing a gameplay loop similar to Diablo II.
As a result developer Grinding Gear Games has earned a ton of respect, and even has its own convention: ExileCon in Auckland, New Zealand. It was there this past weekend that the company announced Path of Exile 2, which is actually going to be integrated into the base game as a new seven act storyline (20 years later) alongside of the original game. Both will lead into the new Atlas endgame, and the sequel will retain all content upgrades to date while boasting 19 new ascendancy classes, new gear/skill systems, and “many more” quality of life upgrades.
Grinding Gear says they don’t have a release date in mind, and that the beta would come at its earliest in “very late 2020.” But until then they aren’t resting on their laurels, and will constantly update the original Path of Exile with free expansions every three months, which will be available in Path of Exile 2.
Recently Blizzard said it wanted Overwatch 2 to feel fair to old Overwatch buyers and be a new kind of sequel. But once again Grinding Gear Games is out-Blizzarding Blizzard right out of the gate. Instead of vague promises, the studio is outright telling you that this will be one combined game with two campaigns. You can watch the trailer below! It’s exciting times with both this, Diablo IV, and Torchlight Frontiers (which was just delayed into 2020) on the horizon.
