'Path of Exile' news: Online hack-and-slash game hailed as king of ARPGS

Concept art for Queen Atziri, one of the toughest end-game bosses in "Path of Exile." Path of Exile official website

Exiles of Wraeclast have another reason for revelry, as "Path of Exile," an indie isometric action roleplaying game (ARPG) developed by Grinding Gear Games, is now being considered as the best in its sub-genre.

PC Gamer expressed its sentiment on the game, saying that despite the sheer complexity of the indie ARPG, it is still one of the selling points of it, and a rewarding ARPG experience awaits players who are able to grasp its complexity. The release of the game's latest expansion, "Fall of Oriath," a month ago has seemingly improved the game in ways that may entice players who quit halfway to come back.

The new expansion was a crucial and much-needed upgrade in the game, as it reduced the need for players to repeat the same content in a harder difficulty just to level up their characters.

Before the said expansion, players had to repeat the game's campaign three times in three varying difficulty levels just to get to the "end game" due to lack of further story content. "Fall of Oriath" expanded the lore and the storyline of the original game so that players will only have to play through the campaign once to get to the end game.

This, along with the unique and unrivaled skill system, the complex and multi-layered character building process, and the free-to-play structure of the game have all made it arguably superior to other ARPG games like "Diablo 3" by Blizzard Entertainment.

"Path of Exile" has also had a successful venture into the console market, as the Xbox One version of the game that was released alongside the "Fall of Oriath" expansion now has decent ratings. On metacritic, the Xbox One version of the game received an aggregate critic metascore of 83 and a user metascore of 8.4.

"Path of Exile" and its expansions are free to play with hidden no subscription fees and are available for download for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.

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