Path of Exile 2 Steam reviews are tumbling as the ARPG’s new Dawn of the Hunt update falls flat across its player base. PoE 2’s launch last year made a big splash, setting records for developer Grinding Gear Games with the sequel to one of the most beloved games like Diablo. Unfortunately, the response to its first major overhaul has largely been one of disappointment. The game’s 30-day rating on the Valve store has collapsed to a ‘mixed’ score with just 55% of responses positive, as players bemoan feeling weak throughout its leveling process.
The first major early access update for Path of Exile 2 is a big one, with the introduction of the new Huntress class, more than 100 new skill gems and unique items, and lots of endgame changes. It also unleashed a firebomb of nerfs across many of the most popular builds in the action RPG, mandating that players figure out new ways to cut their way through the hordes, while making them more susceptible to frustrating crowd control effects such as stun and freeze.
More notable than that, however, is a sensation that the game’s campaign and the overall leveling process feels too slow, with players struggling to overcome even regular enemies as they flood in. The recurring sentiment, which I’d largely agree with, is that while players are expected to adopt PoE 2’s slower, more combo-driven gameplay with lengthy setups, enemy monsters are ‘still playing Path of Exile 1’ and rushing you down with rapid attacks and sheer numbers.
While the sense of progression is core to the appeal of any good ARPG, feeling particularly weak for more than a brief period simply isn’t that fun. Over the weekend, the game’s forum and Reddit have been flooded with threads calling for GGG to reconsider its direction. “I was going to take a day or two off work to play,” writes one top-rated post from ‘FreshmeatOW.’ “But I removed my vacation I had put in. I’d rather just go into work than play this game right now. I don’t think even the people who want ‘slow and meaningful combat’ like this. This is soulless.”
Another popular post from ‘Thoughtsinhead’ remarks, “It’s just not fun. I don’t know how else to say it. Nothing I do to my build or passives feels like I’m living the fantasy of getting stronger. It feels like RNG to get some insane gear to do good damage, not my actual play.” One response comments that many of the PoE 2 support gems remind them of the hyper-specific modifiers in early Diablo 4 that were jokingly referred to as ‘Bonus Damage on Tuesdays’ before Blizzard stripped most of them from the game.
This sentiment is being echoed across many top PoE 2 streamers. “One of the worst PoE experiences for me ever, if not the worst,” says Kjetil ‘Zizaran.’ “Genuinely the worst leveling experience throughout any ARPG I have ever had,” says Lily ‘ds_lily.’ In a post on X, long-time PoE player ‘Empyrian’ states that he’ll be streaming WoW and the upcoming Last Epoch season for the foreseeable future, explaining, “I’d be just as miserable playing the current state of PoE 2 as a lot of the other streamers whose clips I saw last night.”
“I’ll go ahead and say it: you should not play this game right now,” says Quinton ‘Quin69’ Crawford, one of the most-watched PoE 2 streamers. “You should wait for patches. I’m going to beta test, but you should for sure not play the game right now, it’s not in a good state. I don’t think this is what it’s going to look like when 1.0 comes out. This is not it.”
Of course, there’s still plenty of time for GGG to adapt the game – this is early access after all, and experimentation is part of the process. But it’s certainly an unfortunate stumbling block for a game that made such a big splash at launch, reaching far beyond its predecessor’s audience. With Last Epoch Season 2 scheduled to start on Thursday April 17 and Diablo 4 Season 8 expected at the end of the month, Path of Exile 2 might not have long to win back anyone who’s found Dawn of the Hunt wanting so far.
If you’re still enjoying playing, we’ve rounded up the best Path of Exile 2 builds to help you blast your way to the endgame. Or you can grab all the new Path of Exile 2 Twitch drops by watching instead.
What do you think of Dawn of the Hunt? Let us know on Discord. You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides.