Path of Exile 2 Set for Major Overhaul with ‘Return of the Ancients’ Expansion

Path of Exile 2 has delivered one of the finest action RPG campaigns around, and guess what? It’s not even finished yet! Players zoom through each act, gearing up and unravelling the mysteries of Wraeclast. But once you reach the end, you’re greeted with a sprawling world map packed with locations, leaving you a bit lost when it comes to tackling the endgame grind.

Developer Grinding Gear Games (GGG) wasn’t satisfied with just handing you a massive map and saying, “Good luck!” They’ve spent months completely revamping the endgame experience to ensure it’s not a confusing maze. Their big initiative, the “Return of the Ancients” expansion, is set to drop on May 29, and it promises to be the most significant update yet.

In this expansion, you’ll kick things off at a specific spot in the Atlas, surrounded by areas influenced by the game’s unique league mechanics. It’s your call: do you dive into the eerie green Abyss chasms or focus on purging the creepy Breach hands? Each section comes with its own set of quests that guide you through the storyline, culminating in epic boss battles. Completing these quests not only feels rewarding but also earns you points to spend on the newly redesigned Atlas passive tree, allowing you to tweak how each activity plays out while ramping up the challenge and rewards.

Game director Jonathan Rogers shared during a recent press event that GGG aimed to create a fulfilling sense of closure with the new content. “We really wanted players to feel like they could complete the Atlas,” he said. Once you wrap up those questlines, you can move on to infinite farming, but you’ll have that satisfying sense of completion. You can step away and return fresh for the next league.

The update also enhances existing league mechanics, making them more user-friendly and powerful as you invest time. For instance, the Genesis Tree from the first game is back, offering fresh crafting options for exclusive jewelry items. If you trigger a Delirium mirror and face a horde of tough foes, a new progress bar will help you keep track as you race towards the final boss.

Those towering walls seen in the teaser aren’t just for show; they lead to a fortress you’ll explore during the main endgame quest, featuring maps with unique modifiers that grant you Atlas tree points. GGG knows that action RPG players love min-maxing, so there’s an auto-completion feature for certain sections once you defeat the new pinnacle boss in the fortress.

Moreover, the mechanics now come with unique items, events, and upgrades that guide you to specific Atlas maps. For example, a node might cause Rogue Exiles to retreat from a duel, only to regroup for a rematch elsewhere. GGG’s goal is to keep players motivated with mini objectives instead of letting them wander aimlessly.

This endgame rework marks the final stretch of Path of Exile 2’s early access, with “Return of the Ancients” serving as the last major update before the game’s full launch later this year (post-ExileCon in November). While Rogers didn’t specify a date, he hinted that all ascendancies (sub-classes) and the remaining two acts of the campaign will make an appearance in the full release, with the other five classes rolling out afterwards.

In addition to all these changes, GGG has also introduced a new league mechanic where players can craft runes and items to modify gear and access new skills that use a resource called Runic Ward.

It’s been a while since Path of Exile 2 saw such a significant shakeup, and despite some doubts about its release timeline, this update has me believing we’ll see version 1.0 before the year wraps up. Get ready for the “Return of the Ancients” on May 29!