The well-known content creator HandOfBlood has shared his preliminary assessment of the early access version of Path of Exile 2 in a new video.
What does Hänno think about the successor of Path of Exile? That the well-known streamer and YouTuber Maximilian Paul Karl-Heinz Knabe, known as Hänno, has been really excited about Path of Exile 2 for weeks now, MeinMMO has already reported on that. Now there was a first preliminary assessment of the early access version of the action RPG on his HandOfUncut channel on YouTube.
His most important statement in the approximately 26-minute long video relates to the sometimes harsh criticism the game receives on Reddit and other platforms. Hänno explains:
I am quite relaxed about it, and I believe this is a significant issue that many on Reddit have not yet grasped. For me, it is clear: We have an early access game here, in which many contents are still missing […], and community feedback has not yet been incorporated.
For him, it is therefore obvious that the more than 1 million early access players will now expose a variety of issues and bugs that the team can and will address during the testing phase. Hänno is confident:
I’m telling you right now: I think in the next two weeks, the game will be turned upside down multiple times … on, for example, Reddit, but also on social media or YouTube, some people treat this game as if it is now the full release, and they are occasionally disappointed.
Here is the gameplay trailer for Path of Exile 2 for the early access:
What else does Hänno say? The YouTuber also finds it surprising how different the feedback is in some cases. In the Reddit section for the first Path of Exile, there would be a lot of harsh criticism, while the successor receives much more praise in the Reddit section for Path of Exile 2, at least according to Hänno’s impression.
He emphasizes afterwards that he also finds many aspects of Path of Exile 2 in need of improvement. However, Hänno is confident that due to player feedback, work is now being done on precisely those areas. According to him, the issues with Path of Exile 2 include:
- the significantly higher difficulty level compared to its predecessor and other hack & slash titles (one can regularly be oneshot if one does not play very attentively), even though the game itself is more beginner-friendly than PoE (because part 2 explains itself better)
- the “areas are so unbelievably huge,” which is worsened by the fact that one is moving very slowly and has to find specific quest locations within the enormous areas
- item progression feels frustrating because hardly anything interesting drops, and when something does drop, it must also match the character
- currently, crafting feels quite pointless because important materials do not drop or only drop very rarely
- unlocking subclasses through Sanctum is annoying because runs can fail far too quickly due to damage taken
Hänno further mentions that Path of Exile 2 feels significantly different from its predecessor. The new action RPG plays slower, but also more physically, for example, because enemies can force one into a corner. However, he does not consider this to be worse or better per se, one just has to adjust if one comes from Path of Exile.
He finds a lot of praise, for example, for the graphics, atmosphere, and level design: “The game looks incredibly good.” Additionally, the YouTuber praises the developers for being able to filter the essence from often unconstructive criticism and already implementing important improvements. Hänno is confident:
If they keep this up in the coming weeks and months, then it will be an amazing game, an amazing number.
You can watch the video from HandOfBlood here:
How does his community react to the video? The viewers celebrate HandOfBlood’s preliminary assessment.
- JonNeydu celebrates on YouTube: “Really fair evaluation without drama/clickbait, really good!”
- lucas5656 emphasizes on YouTube: “I also thought that many people simply forgot about the early access mentally. I think, especially when you have seen other launches, it’s just insane how good the game is.”
- deez9588 has also noticed (via YouTube): “The difference between the two PoE Reddits is just too extreme.”
- JohnCena9393 praises on YouTube: “Just through today’s patch, about 50 percent of the existing problems have been eliminated for me. Of course, it still needs some fine-tuning, but the foundation that is already here for early access is really promising.”
The developers of Path of Exile 2 have already addressed feedback on loot in the first patch. The goal: more and better loot from rare enemies. Everything else on this: Path of Exile 2 brings the first update and finally gives you more loot – patch notes in German
