We've had plenty of intriguing news about Path of Exile 2 today, like the combat having been reworked around a new control scheme and the announcement it will be sticking to its "ethical free-to-play" model. However, to pour a little ice water on the fire, here's one bit of not-so-great news: the beta previously announced for June 7 now won't be happening until late in the year.
Grinding Gear Games announced the news in a tweet that said, "while we think we would be able to get the game's content ready in time, we underestimated how long it will take to get gameplay polished to a standard we're happy with. We're still going to be doing alpha testing in June, but we are going to be delaying the beta until later in the year."
PC Gamer contributor Dominic Tarason just got to play a demo of Path of Exile 2 at a press event, where he came away with a lot of positive things to say. Like this: "From playing the first of six acts alone (the later ones seem to be even more fantastical), the variety of environments puts Diablo 4's samey overworld to shame." He did also mention a few things that suggest why the beta might have been delayed, calling the demo build "a bit crash prone" as well as noting persistent stutters.
- Since Path of Exile's expansion has been delayed, players are instead getting a month-long event featuring 'whacky ideas that never quite made it off the brainstorm board'
- Path of Exile 2's first patch of 2025 is coming later this week, with 'more rewarding' endgame mapping and the rollout of respawns when fighting pinnacle bosses
Grinding Gear Games finished the announcement of the beta's delay by saying, "We don't have an exact date for you yet, but it should be towards the end of the year."
