Key

Path of Exile
Developed by: Grinding Gear Games

I think I've talked about PoE a few times in this journal, but honestly I don't really mind talking about it again, especially since it's one of those games that I put off for quite a while before really diving into it and realizing that there was so much more to it than I had initially believed there to be.

Much like games like Diablo III and Torchlight II and even having more similarities to the likenesses of Diablo II now that I have played Diablo II, Path of Exile follows a lot of the same structure when it comes to going from map to map, and killing waves upon waves of enemies in your path while leveling up your skills and all else. Where PoE differs from those other games however is just how much PoE has in it that can literally keep you playing for hours upon hours upon hours upon hours. I've lost days to just sitting in my office playing PoE and I don't regret any of it. In fact, I have 3 characters currently, 2 of whom have finished the game in its entirety at least once. I say at least because I really don't know how far the game goes after you "beat it" once. But so far, even with how high leveled my characters have gotten on those runs, I'm still finding tons of things to do and nothing ever feels monotonous and boring. Which, is difficult to do with games of this genre. Hell, even Diablo III can start to feel a little stale once you get around the end game. But, still a good game in its own right. Nowhere near the level of content that PoE currently has and continues to have. New **** coming all the time.

Certainly one of the most notable things to mention about PoE is indeed how much stuff there is to do in the game itself, but to then also add on that the devs don't seem to be slowing down any time soon when it comes to new content. I'm sure I could leave the game for a month or so and come back to find a books worth of new things to find and learn about. A bit of an exaggeration, but it's more so meant to give a scope as to how much this game actually has to offer. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

But of course, at the same time, I know these types of games aren't for everybody because although for my taste, it never gest old or tiring to jump in for a few hours, I can certainly understand how it could come off as grindy or boring to feel like you're doing the same thing over and over. But I personally love a game with grinding and continuous growth. It's how I've managed to keep myself excited about playing games like Runescape for 15+ years. Path of Exile has cemented its place in my game library and it'll be something I continue to make new characters on, and simultaneously take on the seasonal challenges that come out from time to time. Plus, you know a game is good when you can seamlessly play it over and over again with other character types simply because you just want to see where the grind will take you with that particular character. Will you get overpowered? You don't know. The mystery makes it fun.