Path of Exile is an action role playing looter in the same genre as Torchlight and Diablo except with a big key difference, IT’S TOTALLY FREE ! GrindingGearGames announced that Path of Exile emerges from closed beta and is open to anyone and everyone on January 23rd.

At the launch of the public beta, Path of Exile will feature three acts, some PvE content, special events and some endgame content-all to be added and improved as the beta continues. The length of the public beta hasn’t yet been determined. The closed beta ran for almost 18 months and the game has been in development for six years.

For the uninitiated, here are some of the features of Path of Exile:

• Six different characters to choose from based on three primary attributes: strength, dexterity and intelligence.
   
• Skills are Gems in Path of Exile. You can socket gems into almost anything and they will give you specific new attacks or effects. There are secondary gems that add modifiers to the primary ones that can all be linked together to mutate powers in new and interesting ways.
   
• As you level up you earn Passive Skill Tree points to spend to develop your character. The Passive Skill Tree is very   deep and very large, even with the maximum number of points possible assigned to the tree, you would only use 10% of it.  Character building is a core feature of ‘Exile.
   
• Everything is randomly generated-environments, monsters and item drops-so the game varies each time you play it.
• Item drops can be combined to make more powerful items, reroll weapon or gem stats, and used for trade. There is no gold in Path of Exile; items are the currency.
   
• Tons of endgame and lategame content like no other role playing looter has ever achieved.  
   
• Play solo, party up with up to 8 players or meet random people to trade with in towns.
   
• Microtransaction items are cosmetic only-nothing you can buy gives you any type of advantage over the environment or other players.

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a roll playing looter offer the kind of depth and the character mastery Path of Exile offers. It also has a more casual normal difficulty that will forgive character development mistakes and be more accessible to casual players. As you advance in difficulty though, the science behind your character build becomes extremely important.

For a detailed look at the game, check out Gamespot’s hour long interview with Lead Designer Chris Wilson. Wilson answers questions and shows off the various elements of the game and some of the new third act content. Skip ahead to 5:30 to get to the good stuff!

Official Public Beta Trailer

Path of Exile Website