DO NOT BUY Path of Exile 2 - VERY Disappointing

Hello and welcome back to a new video. So

recently I've been playing the newly

released early access of Path of Exile 2,

and as an avid fan of Path of Exile and

ARPGs in general, I knew I just had to

play this game. Unfortunately, so far it's

been kind of bland, boring, and slightly

uninspired compared to other games like

Diablo 4. It is lacking in a certain kind

of lustre, and in today's review video,

I'm going to be explaining why I didn't

like Path of Exile 2. So first of all,

this game doesn't really do anything

special or uniquely different compared to

all of the other ARPGs in the genre.

It is very bog standard and run of the

mill. It does everything you'd expect from

this type of game, and it didn't really do

anything that caught my eye. I felt like

the graphics weren't that impressive,

even when cranked up to high graphics.

The game runs smoothly enough and the

animations are fluid, and that's great and

everything, but the gameplay is pretty

boring. It's what you'd come to expect

from a game like this. You've got a

top-down kind of view, you just spam

attacks at the enemies whilst they gather

around you, and then now and then

occasionally you'll fight against a boss

that will do the same kind of repetitive

pattern-based attacks— light attacks,

charge-up attacks, AOE attacks, and a big

attack that flashes in red that you have

to dodge, otherwise you'll take massive

damage. So there's nothing really new here

in terms of gameplay mechanics. It's

pretty much exactly what you expect if

you've played a lot of games like Diablo

4, for example. Now I know there's a lot

of comparison between Diablo 4, and that's

mainly because fanboys of Path of Exile 2

have been comparing this to Diablo 4 and

saying how this completely destroys Diablo

4. And as someone who spent hundreds of

hours playing Diablo 4, I have to say that

this game doesn't really do anything

differently compared to Diablo 4. In fact,

one of the things I think it does worse

than Diablo 4 has to be the skill map

tree. Look at this. This thing is just a

complete massive mess. It's just like a

massive sprawling mess of little circles

that all do very boring things like, oh,

increase your damage by 2.5%, increase

your armor by 5%. They do really dull

things and you can't really get excited

about upgrading these skill points,

although you have to because that's going

to make your character a lot stronger.

It's just not a very exciting way of

developing a playstyle or skill tree. I

think Diablo 4 did the skill tree thing

way better and in a way more simplified

way, which might sound like a dumber way,

but at least it didn't kind of overwhelm

you and throw all of this stuff at you.

The interactive map thing is kind of

stupid as well. I got confused at first,

like how do you move around on the map? I

was clicking on the nodes but nothing was

happening. I don't understand what this

blue line is, is pointing at thing, but

how do you get there? It's not very

intuitive. That's what I would say about

the map. It's kind of frustrating to use,

which is basically what I say about most

of the features in this game. The

inventory system is very frustrating. So

you can't just right-click on an item to

equip it. For some reason, you've got to

drag it over to the little box, and you

can't really right-click to equip items.

You always got to drag it somewhere, like

little gems. You've got to drag it here,

got to drag it there. It's kind of

annoying. The inventory is annoying

because it's very small after you've

picked up about 5 items, you've now run

out of space and you've got to like slot

them in, kind of like playing Tetris,

which is a bit frustrating. And that's

basically what the game's going to be like

for the majority part of the game, is

going to be just rolling around, being

surrounded by mobs of enemies, smashing

them with your new skills. It's okay,

it's a bit of fun, it's not nothing wrong

with that, but it doesn't do anything

differently or new from someone who's been

playing Diablo 4 for a long time. I just

don't understand why People are just

saying this game completely destroys

Diablo 4. This is what Diablo 4 is

supposed to be. It's exactly the same as

Diablo 4. You've got the same classes—

Warrior, Mercenary, Rogue type characters.

You got this character with a crossbow,

you've got a Mage, Elementalist, you've

got the Necromancer that raises minions

and summons hordes of undead. You had that

in Diablo 4 exactly the same. The

Elementalist, the Mage, has the exact same

kind of attacks as Diablo 4 Mage does,

like lightning balls that spin around the

character shocking enemies, arc lightning

that bounces around shocking enemies.

You've got the Warrior. The only

difference I say is you've got a shield

that you can raise up to defend yourself,

kind of like in Elden Ring. I don't

remember having that in Diablo 4, but

you've got the other ones like the

crossbow mercenary thing that uses poisons

and ranged weapons. That's just very

run-of-the-mill, bog-standard character

types, I guess. That you're going to get

in every game that's kind of like a

fantasy RPG game. You just can't really

get rid of that. So yeah, as of right now,

I'm kind of feeling a little bit

disappointed considering how much the game

has been hyped up by larger content

creators saying this game is going to be

the best game ever in 2024. It's going to

do all the things that Diablo 4 promised

but didn't deliver, even though so far

from what I've seen, it does exactly the

same as what Diablo 4 does, just in a way

more convoluted and complex way, which I

don't really see as a good thing. I just

find that kind of annoying because it

means I've got to now spend more time and

effort learning and studying about the

game to really just end up doing— being

able to do the same thing that you can do

in Diablo 4. It's just more of a

convoluted route to getting to the end

goal of what you're going to want to be

doing in the game. It's just more— it's

like you're trying to get from A to B,

but to get to B there's now 50 waypoints

to get to route B and end up at Route B

instead of just 10, which would be what

Diablo 4 is like. So yeah, in my opinion,

this game isn't all it's cracked up to be.

It seems like a decent game. I'm probably

going to sink hundreds of hours into it

like Diablo 4 just because I've been

craving a game like this that I can get

hooked on. But honestly, it doesn't really

do anything from what I see differently to

Diablo 4. And why don't I just play Diablo

4? Because I want something new. I want

something fresh like everyone else. Got a

bit bored of Diablo 4, and this game's

gonna fill that slot nicely. But so far

I'm gonna have to give it a 3.10 out of 5.

So that's gonna be my recommendation.

Don't know if I could recommend to buy or

do not buy yet. It's in early access, so

obviously it's not going to be a super

polished game yet. And the price isn't too

bad, I guess. It's only £20, £23. If this

was £70, I'd be very upset. It has got

Diablo 4 beat on those points because

Diablo 4 was like £60, I think, for a full

version of the game. To be able to play

this game for only about £20 is a pretty

good deal. So yeah, maybe I could

recommend it, but for those reasons I

cannot recommend it.

Forged by flame.

My satchel is full.

This lair— how deep does it go?

Fear will

best you.