Grinding Gear Games made a surprise Path of Exile 2 announcement at Gamescom Opening Night Live yesterday. The developer confirmed when the game’s long-awaited 1.0 release will be.
Path of Exile 2 leaves early access 11th December, which is also when the game will be available as a free-to-play game, dropping the nominal charge for the Founder’s Pack requirement it currently has – the only way into the early access version.
The 1.0 release introduces a new class in the Duelist, a melee-focused character and strangely the game’s first sword-wielding class. The Duelist can also use shields and is designed for aggressive combat. The two remaining campaign Acts will also be part of the 1.0 launch, completing the campaign.
Grinding Gear is running a free registration campaign from now until the launch on the official Path of Exile website. The more players that sign up, the more rewards can be unlocked for the entire community, including a pet.
The Path of Exile 2 full release arrives almost exactly two years after the initial early access launch. The 1.0 date has been something of a moving target, though the developer did say earlier this year that it’s aiming to launch it sometime after November’s ExileCon Path of Exile convention.
The early access release, which notably included PlayStation and Xbox, has been successful, with long queue times as millions jumped in on day one. Eurogamer’s Robert Purchese spoke highly of the game’s quality in their early access review, in particular praising its challenging Souls-y approach to combat that rewards perseverance and sets it apart from other high-quality ARPGS.
