PoE 2 First Impression (Review)

Hello Exiles!

Wow! Where do I begin. Well for one I am completely new to PoE. I did not play the first game. My experience with ARPGs is Diablo 3.

That out of the way, the launch today was excellent. Congratulations GGG and Exiles! Let's get into to it.

I went with a mercenary and I am playing blind aside from fragments of wisdom I picked up during the hype train this past week. I chose the mercenary because of Dead Ops Arcade on CoD Black Ops. My first hour was smooth but slow. It was like I could almost feel what I was looking for but it hadn't really grabbed me yet. In fact I would say that first hour I moved through out of curiosity but I wasn't exactly having fun yet.

Rolling into the second hour it started hitting me. The enemies weren't too hard but they were ramping up. I had to think about what I was doing just a little more. Though I didn't notice this change at the time. It's at this point that the combat started pulling me towards progress.

When I got to the cemetery you PoE2 captured my full attention. The enemies were significantly better. At first I really struggled because my preconception of what PoE2 would be was Diablo3. In fact that expectation is what was holding me back from really having fun. My mercenary felt a little slow and weak. Why am I struggling so much against basic enemies. Yet in that cemetery something started to click. I started approaching things more strategically. It was a lot of fun. I'm really planning my approach to each battle. I'm learning these enemies tactics I'm paying a lot more attention.

Excuse my memory but there is a tomb in the cemetery with a Witch as a boss. After surviving to the entrance I go into the tomb. This tomb hooked me. The progress was very slow. Three steps forward 25 steps back. I'm starting to try different ammunition. I'm starting to test corners and the angles of attack are all flying at me. The first rare in this tomb took me forever! I fire a shot and he reflects it at me. At this point I'm all in. I am fighting I am battling I am having so much fun.

It was at this point that I stopped worrying about the speed of my progress and started highly highly highly enjoying each battle. In Diablo 3 You only really have to do some thinking about the major bosses of each act. In PoE2 you have to think at least somewhat critically about each battle. In fact you have to think critically about the whole thing. What item will you use? Where will you put your precious and oh so few skill points? Can I get just one more point of damage somewhere?

The pause screen is phenomenal as an aside. I have a family it works and that's awesome.

The only real complaint I have so far is that there seems to be an issue with reloading on the mercenary sometimes. I can't tell if it's user error yet though. I'm just not familiar enough. But there were certain times that the reloads would just get stuck when I should have had a shot available. Playing on controller feels fine but my controller has stick drift so I can't give you full feedback on that at this time.

Anyways the graphics are better than fine. You blew my mind when I walked into a cornfield and enemies were blending in with the field and moving the stalks. Amazing!

But the best part to me is the feel of the mercenary mechanics. You managed to capture the feeling of Dead Ops Arcade and Snipers in a 3rd person top down game. I am truly blown away. There were moments that I could feel the kill it's so damn good.

I made it to level 10 in about 8 hours. I'm not the fastest player I'm sure but I can't even explain it. I haven't had this much fun in years. Truly I've tried a lot of games in the last 10-12 years. Several of them were good enough. I don't think I've had this much fun since I was a kid.

For me First Impressions are 10/10 because my memory is fading and I can't remember any other game I've played in 30 + years that captured my attention so fully so quickly. Absolutely amazing job. In fact the only reason I am not playing right now is because my controller died.

Thank you for all of your hard work and I tip my hat sincerely to you.

The Madder Hatter