I've been wanting to write my review for PoE2 because I'm a huge PoE1 fan and was looking forward to this game so much. In early access this game fell far short of my expectations but I'm hopeful for the future.
This is my early access review of PoE2, which will probably age poorly in a year or 2 when it's in full release. Here's what's good and bad...
Look and Sound: A
The game looks and sounds really good. This is by far the best looking and best sounding isometric ARPG that I've played (and I've played them all). Diablo 4 is pretty close here, which is probably the best part of that game.
Character Selection: C+ (for now)
There's no customization of your character. You're locked into a pre-determined hero of your choosing based on class (similar to PoE1 and older Diablo games). Additionally only half the classes are in the early access version of the game and only 2 ascendancies each (instead of 3) are in the game. For me this puts the game as a C. Not being able to create a custom hero in 2025 is ridiculous. Every game should have a custom character creator these days. I don't like being locked into the same character everyone else has. I want to look unique. Additionally, missing half the classes and 1/3 of the ascendancies is a bummer. I understand it's early access so once everything is added in then I would rate this B+.Character Progression: B+
The progression in early access is very slow. Playing through the campaign can be extremely painful without having the gear, passives, and skill gems needed to make a good build. This has always been PoE's biggest hurdle for newer players to access the game because you won't have access to the style of play you want until you're later in the game.
I'd also say the skill system is a great change from PoE1. Not being locked into gem sockets on your gear is a huge improvement to the game. I like that I can slot skills and support gems. However, there are downsides too. For instance, you can't use the same support gem more than once, which is extremely limiting for some builds especially early on in the game when I literally ran out of useful support gems because there aren't enough unique options available. I started with a cold sorc and there were only a few support gems available fore chill and freezing. Once you use them then you're done. However, I was using 4 cold skills and cold only max out support gems on 2 of them because of this restriction.
The other progression is tied to ascending. You're locked into very specific activities that are punishing to complete. This is the biggest issue with PoE. As someone who hates sanctum and ultimatum I found myself quitting this game for a bit once I got to my first ascendancy and realized it was sanctum. Overall I don't like the idea of blocking your progress from the game because you have to do this specific difficult activity, especially mid-campaign. It needs to be way more accessible in the campaign and I hope they change this for the average gamer. Not everyone is PoE tryhard. I've never had more than 30 league challenges in my 5 years of playing and I'm not about to waste my time wiping on Sanctum.
Gameplay: B+
Not many bugs but the overall gameplay loop is your standard play through campaign to unlock the end game. The campaign you have to play through twice as only half is available during early access, but the end game is much to be desired. The mapping is mundane and brutally punishing if you fail. Every map has one try and if you mess it up then you brick it. Map bosses also only have 1 try, compared to the campaign which is infinite tries so you can learn their mechanics, or PoE1 where you get 6 tries per boss/map.
Movement in this game is also extremely slow. There's next to no movement skills. Dash, flame dash, blink, frost blink, etc are gone. They added a dodge ability but it has a weird delay on cast and coming out of it so it almost feels like it slows you down and running out of AoE is actually faster than dodging, which is counterintuitive to me as a player of RPGs with dodging (such as guildwars 2).
Combat was very fun at first. I liked the different combos you could pull off and the vast amounts of skill interactions, but eventually I ran into an issue where only a handful of specific overpowered builds can get through the game. The game feels balanced around having OP builds and punishes you for trying anything else. This is made even more frustrating by the lack of easy respeccing. While they did add the ability to use gold, I always found myself out of gold. I got very angry when GGG nerfed the build I was playing into the ground and at that point my entire passive tree and all my gear and skills were useless. I had to start over because my build no longer worked (cast on freeze).
User Interface: B+
The UI is basic and fine for an ARPG. I think there needs to be more in game tooltips available. I really like the amount of in game info available in Last Epoch and I hope PoE2 becomes that. PoE1 relies too heavily on external tools and I dislike that.
Endgame: C
The end game is solely mapping and maps are extremely limited content wise. The map board gives the appearance of an endless end game full of unique and fun challenges. In reality there's only a few map layouts, a few bosses, and it's extremely random as to which you get. On the flip side PoE1 allowed me right away to have 16 different tiers of maps, plus unique maps, plus bosses. I could go for exactly what i want to run and had a lot of control over what i was running and what's in it. PoE2 is just random and punishing. If you fail a map, you lose it. You get 1 try at a boss and then lose it if you die to a mechanic you didn't know about. Finding the maps, bosses, and mechanics you want to do is purely RNG, which is also annoying. GGG has a lot of work to make PoE2 as good as the PoE1 end game system.
Monetization: A
PoE has always had the best monetization of any game. I do say it's somewhat pay to win because you have to buy stash tabs if you want access to trading, as opposed to having an in game trade house. However, the prices are fair for the stash tabs and once you have them they are in both games forever.
Early access for PoE2 costs $30. I don't like that it costs money but I wasted $100 on Diablo 4 so it's a fair price to me. I'd rather give money to an independent developer I trust over a greedy corporation so I'm ok with it personally. However, the game will be free to play at full release and will have all the content in it by then. For those on the fence, I recommend waiting until then.
Overall Grade: B+ (for now)
I really wanted to love PoE2 but in early access it just feels like an incomplete game and is a bit of a mess after the first 3 campaign Acts. I would love to come back to this game once the bugs are fixed, the balance is found, the remaining characters and ascendancies are added, and the end game is well polished. I also hope they fix how you ascend because currently this is my biggest issue with PoE2. I really don't want to be forced to play activities that are difficult and not fun just to unlock the skill points I need to get through the campaign. My Steam vote is actually "don't recommend" until they get this game in a better state.
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