Grinding Gear Games recently delivered another, more in-depth Path of Exile 2 trailer, and it's looking really good. There are a lot of differences between Path of Exile 2 and the previous chapter in the franchise already. GGG is setting up its next creative endeavor to be one that will be able to compete with Diablo 4 in terms of gameplay and graphics, and it shows.

The trailer includes breath-taking new scenes, both from gameplay and what looks like either cutscenes or developers moving the camera to play with the framing. The scenes mostly include gameplay in a whole new zone that seems akin to the Vastiri Desert in Path of Exile 1. The narrator tells a tale of corruption, with an ancient evil awakening in the sands, and this could be the first Act of Path of Exile 2, where the story begins.

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Path of Exile 2's trailer starts by showing ancient doors with high reliefs of an elephant, a giant tree, and some people playing instruments. This might be either an oasis or a way to tell fans that there was life in the sands in the past, but corruption ended it. The following scene is of a humanoid creature watching, from the walls of its fortress, a convoy of rudimentary Caterpillars being towed by dinosaur-like beasts. It looks a lot like the Perennial King boss shown towards the end of the trailer.

Then, gameplay scenes are shown. These feature two new weapons that have been anticipated for a long time now, namely a javelin and a crossbow. Both weapons showcase never-before-seen Path of Exile 2 skills that might be exclusive to these weapon types. The javelin seems to be playable with a shield, too, and the skill associated with it looks like a piercing, small cone-shaped AoE attack. Crossbows have been expected for quite some time now, and the skill associated with them fires icy projectiles into the air to land on enemies and spread chilling ground while freezing them.

Gameplay for a melee, ax-wielding character is shown, and then another javelin skill is revealed. This time it's an elemental attack that seems to combine elements of Lightning Strike and Arc from Path of Exile 1. The trailer shows the character with the ax once more, using a mix of Leap Slam, Ground Slam, and Infernal Blow, followed by a staff-wielding character that casts Fireball. Another brief scene of a melee character hitting monsters in what seems like a temple buried under layers of sand, and then the character with the staff enters a room filled with statues, it seems. Once the character moves past them, though, the statues break free of their mold and start swarming the mage.

A scene is shown with the same character climbing stony, spiral steps with pillars of red rock in the center of the room, probably ascending to an arena with a boss fight. The following scene is quite a strange one, with a character standing on what seems a magical rune on the ground, activating light in the eyes of a huge statue, the size of Kitava, looking a lot like Path of Exile's Templar.

A character with a bow makes its appearance in a room filled with scrolls, maybe purifying scrolls, and someone being held prisoner in the middle. Then, the bow character has to face a giant, shadowy figure with a single red eye. Next, the javelin character runs across the platforms of the convoy from the beginning of the trailer, and a war room of sorts is shown with four characters around a table: maybe new masters or simply the NPCs from the Act.

The mage character crosses a sandy yard filled with bones and green flames, then enters a boss arena with necromancers and a chimera of reanimated bones. A sequence of boss encounters is shown, from The Mastodon and the Deathlord of Blackrib Pit to The Perennial King, from an unnamed golem-like boss made of stone to The Forsaken Son. The trailer ends with the javelin-wielding Exile standing still in a hall of the sand palace, with the Path of Exile 2 logo covering half of the screen.

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These changes are not shown in the trailer, but they can be seen on the Path of Exile website in the Path of Exile 2 Announcement section. The main reworks to be shown are the new Skill Gem system and the new equipment, with yet another confirmation that PoE 2 is getting a new set of playable characters and nineteen new Ascendancy classes.

The Skill Gem system now makes it so that Gems in Path of Exile 2 have sockets of their own, guaranteeing that players will not have to go mad about crafting six-linked items to use their skills of choice. Instead, each Skill Gem can have up to 5 Support Gems attached to it, opening up a lot of options for build variety.

Of course, as seen in the trailer, there will be new weapons and pieces of armor as well as new loot. Stats like Chance to Block, Armour, Energy Shield, and more all seem to be returning. The items will still have sockets, though, just not linked ones. Players will be able to put a Skill Gem in each socket, and then have personalized links for each of them.

The rest is yet to be disclosed, but Path of Exile 2 looks very promising both in the improvements from the first game, and the smoother, more beautiful gameplay. Further details are likely to come over the course of 2021, and once beta hopefully starts in 2022.

Path of Exile 2 is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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