Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2 is the action-RPG from Grinding Gear GamesPublisherGrinding Gear GamesGrinding Gear Games is the New Zealand studio behind Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, wholly owned by Tencent since 2024. Its always-online ARPGs use server-authoritative design rather than a kernel anti-cheat, and it is known for a cosmetic, no-power-for-sale monetization model.1 game in this family →, the New Zealand studio wholly owned by Tencent since 2024. It entered paid Early Access on December 6, 2024 across Windows (Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GGG's own client), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series. It runs on GGG's proprietary in-house engine, an upgrade of the original Path of Exile's. Its Early Access launch peaked at over 578,000 concurrent players on Steam, one of the biggest launches of the year.

Path of Exile 2 asks less of your machine at the system level than a kernel-anti-cheat game: the heavy validation runs on GGG's servers, not a driver on your PC. What it asks instead is a constant connection, so server status, not a kernel driver, is what decides whether you can play. If you are comparing it with Diablo IV, this is the same always-online ARPG bet on server authority, with a cosmetic-only monetization model on top rather than a full price plus a cash shop and battle pass.

Path of Exile 2 has no known kernel-mode anti-cheat. Like Diablo IV, it is always-online and server-authoritative: there is no offline mode, and the game's director has said there never will be, because damage, currency, and movement are all calculated and validated on GGG's servers rather than trusted from your machine. That design is what lets it reject many client-side manipulations without a kernel driver watching your PC. The main Windows process belongs to the franchise's PathOfExile executable family rather than a separately named Path of Exile 2 binary. The trade-off is the always-online requirement itself: a constant connection is mandatory, so server outages mean no play, including solo.

Grinding Gear Games has an unusually player-friendly reputation, and its monetization is the clearest example. Path of Exile 2 is free to play and sells cosmetics plus convenience items such as extra stash tabs, with a stated policy that purchases do not confer meaningful power; PC Gamer framed it as sticking to an ethical free-to-play model rather than the full-price-plus-shop approach of Diablo IV, a direct contrast worth noting. The cost of the always-online design showed up immediately at launch as server congestion and login queues during the December 2024 Early Access weekend. Enforcement against cheating and real-money trading follows the franchise pattern of server-side detection and periodic ban waves. Sources include PC Gamer, GamesRadar, and PCGamesN.