How Path of Exile 2’s Bleak Atmosphere Pushes the Boundaries of ARPGs

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 6, 2024 13 Views 7 Min Read
How Path of Exile 2's Bleak Atmosphere Pushes the Boundaries of ARPGs



Key Takeaways

  • ARPGs generally prioritize engaging and rewarding gameplay over other elements like narrative and lore.
  • Path of Exile 2 sets itself apart with an oppressive atmosphere and challenging gameplay.
  • The game’s foreboding tone enhances the emotional impact of the story and reinforces the difficulty of its gameplay.



At the end of the day, ARPGs at large tend to focus on engaging and rewarding gameplay more than anything else. As long as an ARPG can make players feel rewarded for their efforts, and as long as those efforts see players actively engaged at all times, it can generally be successful. ARPG franchises like Diablo and Torchlight prioritize quick, satisfying gameplay loops, although their narratives, world-building, and lore are certainly still in place and compelling in their own right. Path of Exile 2, on the other hand, takes a different route, bathing its world in a more oppressive light than many other ARPGs have been known for.

Of course, even Diablo‘s atmosphere is dark and oppressive, and its name alone implies that. That much was especially seen in Diablo 4‘s recent expansion, Vessel of Hatred. However, Path of Exile 2 could be considered to be on a different level with its overall tone, and perhaps even darker than its predecessor. Ultimately, Path of Exile 2‘s blend of brutal realism with heavy existential dread enhances its storytelling, worldbuilding, and combat to produce a more immersive and challenging experience that breaks away from the conventions of the genre and carves out a unique identity for the sequel.


Path of Exile 2 endgame

Related
Path of Exile 2’s Endgame Explained

Path of Exile 2’s endgame is extensive, to say the least, currently set up to provide players with seven unique systems to take advantage of.

Path of Exile 2’s Oppressive Tone Reinforces Its Narrative and Gameplay

Path of Exile 2’s Bleak Atmosphere Gives Its Story More Emotional Impact

It might seem strange to suggest that Path of Exile 2‘s story could have any emotional impact, since the first game’s narrative and lore is as complex and cryptic as a FromSoftware game, thereby lessening its impact on those who are unwilling to invest in every NPC conversation and lore entry. However, Path of Exile 2‘s story is much more at its center than Path of Exile‘s was for it, and the overwhelming sense of dread that envelops its world helps to reinforce any connection players make with it. Whether players think they’re feeling any emotion as they play through Path of Exile 2, they are nonetheless likely experiencing some degree of heightened emotional feedback in their subconscious.


Furthermore, for the first time in the franchise, Path of Exile 2 features a cinematic at the beginning of the game to introduce its story and any new players to the series’ horrific world. The cinematic not only establishes the game’s tone but also increases any immersion that Path of Exile 2 has to offer, which in turn makes any narrative beats thereafter hit even harder. It also heightens the threat of the Beast, who is the driving force behind many of Path of Exile 2‘s biggest events, as well as anyone who desires to harness the Beast’s power for their own ambitions.

Path of Exile 2’s Foreboding Tones Reinforce Its Challenging Gameplay

Path of Exile 2‘s foreboding atmosphere also reinforces the increased challenge of its gameplay, which is one of the game’s standout characteristics. In a way, Path of Exile 2‘s oppressive tone is more akin to the atmosphere of the Dark Souls series than anything else, which then couples well with the Soulslike-level of difficulty Path of Exile 2 offers.

Whether players think they’re feeling any emotion as they play through
Path of Exile 2
, they are nonetheless likely experiencing some degree of heightened emotional feedback in their subconscious.


Where this approach to game design truly shines is in the fact that Path of Exile 2 isn’t just difficult for the sake of being difficult; it’s challenging because it’s also the world players are plunged into. In Path of Exile 2‘s Wraeclast, there are no heroes or heroines — just exiles trying to survive, moving from the bottom rung of the ladder to the top in an attempt to help subdue the real threat and see the world saved.

Path of Exile 2 may not be the only dark ARPG out there, but it’s certainly one of the few that is about as dark as it gets. In the end, Path of Exile 2‘s foreboding atmosphere works in its favor, giving its story more emotional impact and reinforcing the challenge of its gameplay. As players explore Wraeclast in pursuit of those bent on taking advantage of the Beast’s power, they are likely to feel increasingly threatened with each encounter, especially those in which heads quite literally roll.

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