Path of Exiledeveloper Grinding Gear Games has finally officially confirmed the existence of the long-rumored hard-mode version of the game, titled “Ruthless.” While the free-to-play hack ‘n’ slash has offered a number of endgame-tier expansions to its most hardcore audience over the years, it’s always been just a matter of time before super-powered meta builds ended up dominating the new content.
With that in mind,Path of Exilehas often struggled with retaining players that desire a slower, more strategic and, perhaps, punishing gameplay experience that will keep them on their toes for long periods of time. The existence of a dedicated hard mode has long been rumored, then, with its production seemingly taking place in the background with no dedicated announcements to speak of.
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Now, however, Grinding Gear Games appears to be ready to announcePath of Exile: Ruthless. Players looking for morethings that could ruin Path of Exile playthroughswill be thrilled to hear that Ruthless Mode aims to crank difficulty to the max with a comprehensive set of changes to the core gameplay loop. “Ruthless is not for everyone,” says the official announcement. “Ruthless is a mode about friction, tension and anticipation.” With exceedingly scarce item drops, very few reliable sources of currency, and limited crafting, the goal is to make progression painstakingly difficult, yet all the more meaningful.
GameRant interviewedPath of Exiledeveloper Chris Wilsonback in 2021, where he talked about the difficulty of balancing the game’s loot sources properly. Wilson made particular note of how GGG is taking a close look at the way players expect to receive twice the loot for killing enemies twice as quickly as they otherwise would, and how this approach affects game design, too. The announced gameplay loop changes coming with Ruthless mode appear to tackle this problem in a way, it would seem.
According to the announcement, Ruthless Mode is currently undergoing a small-scale alpha test and is slated to launch alongside the game’s December expansion pack. In the interim, players will need to stick withPath of Exile:Lake of Kalandracontent as they await more information on Ruthless and other related content.
Ruthless Mode may be particularly important now that the morerecentDiablo 4gameplay leakssuggest that it’s a slower, more methodical ARPG with meaningful progression systems.Path of Exilemay have captured the previously dedicatedDiabloplayers a while back, but everything points to Blizzard taking things seriously, and that the company is aiming to deliver a very comprehensive genre offering from the very start.
Path of Exileis available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
