With that in mind, Path of Exile has 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 announce Path of Exile: Ruthless. Players looking for more things that could ruin Path of Exile playthroughs will 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 interviewed Path of Exile developer Chris Wilson back 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 with Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra content as they await more information on Ruthless and other related content.

Ruthless Mode may be particularly important now that the more recent Diablo 4 gameplay leaks suggest that it’s a slower, more methodical ARPG with meaningful progression systems. Path of Exile may have captured the previously dedicated Diablo players 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 Exile is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Source: Path of Exile