Path of Exilecame out in 2013 andDiablo4 a decade later. Is it fair to compare Diablo 4 to a game that’s ten years older? Yes, it’s quite fair. This is a testament to how well Path of Exile has aged and improved over the years.
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With Path of Exile 2 on its way soon, let’s take a look back at what made the first game a blast to play. Diablo 4 is enjoying humongous success with amazing sales and for good reason. It’s a fun, accessible, and rewarding game that lets you team up with players from around the globe.
8Graphics - Diablo 4
This one is the obvious winner, the newer game is going to be pretty to look at. However, if you don’t like the doom and gloom and hellish visuals of old Diablo games, Path of Exile might look better to you.
The new Diablo has dark areas and is leaning towards gothic and macabre, there are rarely any bright and colorful areas in the game.
The areas do look gorgeous though. The slick mud reflects light, the interiors are well-designed, and the texture work is exquisite.
The game doesn’t stutter even when there are multiple players on the screen casting spells. It’s just a smooth ride both on consoles and PC.
7Character Creator - Diablo 4
There is no competition here, Path of Exile doesn’t offer a traditional character creator at all. You pick a class and are plopped into the game.
On the other hand, Diablo 4 goes above and beyond what is required. Sure, the character creator isn’t as detailed as Bethesda games, but it certainly has a good amount of options.
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From selecting the face of your character with multiple variants to changing the hairstyle. There is a lot going on in Diablo 4.
Plus the characters look great when you are done with them. There are no sliders here, so you cannot make a monstrosity like in Street Fighter 6, but you won’t be disappointed.
6Classes - Path of Exile
Diablo 4 currently has only 5 classes; Rogue, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorcerer, and Druid. Path of Exile offers 7 classes at the start with one unlocking later; Shadow, Templar, Scion, Ranger, Duelist, Marauder, and Witch. Diablo 4 will eventually add more classes down the road, but for now, Path of Exile has a slight edge.
Another thing to note here is that you can spec your character however you like. The whole skill tree is open in Path of Exile.
So theoretically, you can kit your Witch towards melee damage and go that route. It wouldn’t be as effective, but an option is an option.
5Skills - Path of Exile
Diablo 4 keeps things simple, you level up, gain a skill point, and slot in it for a new skill. you’re able to immediately start using the skill.
This is a simpler way of using skills, it works, it’s fast, and you can change the skill for a minimal fee.
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Path of Exile on the other hand has skill gems that you need to slot into your gear. There are different types of gems too, from dexterity to sorcery, from passives to active skills.
This also opens up avenues for experimentation, since gear pieces can have connected gem slots, so you may combine gems. Make your arrow shower poison by combining an active arrow skill with a passive poison gem.
4Skill Tree - Path of Exile
The skill tree in Path of Exile is huge. Some people like the options and freedom and some are intimidated by it.
While initially, it may seem daunting, it becomes easier to understand once you get to know it. The tree has passives only, with stat upgrades are thrown in for good measure.
Mana increases to stamina recharge rate and health boosts to shield recharges, everything is there. Diablo has separate skill trees for all characters, so you cannot stray from your set path here.
Whereas in Path of Exile, you’re able to potentially slot in some health-boosting passives on your wizard build, so at the end of the day you have a lot more freedom to experiment in PoE.
3Multiplayer - Diablo 4
Diablo 4 is an always-online game just like Path of Exile, a departure from what Diablo fans like about the game.
On the positive side, this makes the multiplayer a lot more seamless and faster. You see another player, all you need to do is hang around and you’ll get experience benefits.
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Then there is couch co-op on consoles, which lets your friends grab a controller and join in on your adventure. It surprisingly works really well, and even when you encounter the world bosses which are huge and need multiple players to take down, there’s barely any slowdown.
2Story - Diablo 4
The story in Diablo 4 is handled a lot better than in PoE, and there are numerous cutscenes that set up the narrative with great voice acting and animations in an overall better presentation. It’s not going to blow your mind in terms of storytelling, but it is certainly a step in the right direction, and the cutscenes alone are of incredibly high quality.
There is a story in Path of Exile but it’s not that engaging, and there aren’t a lot of cutscenes that set the mood either. There are huge exposition dumps scattered throughout the world you can listen to but overall it’s slightly disjointed, so hopefully PoE 2 will bring much-needed changes.
1Price - Path of Exile
No debate here, Path of Exile is a free-to-play game with microtransactions, and Diablo 4 is a fully-priced game with some pretty hefty microtransactions. While Diablo 4 doesn’t throw any additional cosmetics on the main screen, the purely cosmetic armor sets are priced aggressively.
Path of Exile has microtransactions as well, but the microtransactions are priced alright enough, as it should being a free-to-play game that doesn’t have a $70 barrier to entry.
