Grinding Gear Games’Path of Exilereleased in 2013, but the New Zealand developer has kept the experience fresh by periodically releasing new challenge leagues with different modifiers and features. Its most recent league,Path of Exile: Harvest, took cues from games likeStardew Valleyby having players inherit a farm that harvests Lifeforce. The next league, aptly namedPath of Exile: Heist, is inspired by films likeOcean’s Eleven(2001).
The action RPG’sHeistexpansion will take players to Rogue Harbour, where they can contract a team with varying skills to embark on heists, grow more skilled, and eventually gain access to Grand Heists with “exclusive new rewards” like weapon enhancements, trinkets, and “alternate quality gems” that grant bonuses.Path of Exile’s third expansion for 2020 will come alongside the game’s official macOS release. It is planned to come out September 18 on PC, and September 23 on consoles.
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In an interview with PCGamesN, Grinding Gear Games Co-Founder Chris Wilson said the idea for a heist-themed expansion was decided upon in February when he and Technical Director Jonathan Rogers looked around on Netflix. Originally they had considered something based on car racing movies, but were inspired by the iconography andcharacters from films like Steven Soderbergh’sOcean’s Eleven, a remake of 1960’sOcean’s 11staring Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.
Wilson said the experience will only partially be about stealth mechanics, as once players steal the treasures in question it will alert the whole facility to set up for larger fights that ARPGs are known for.Heistwas apparently meant to release in June, but gotdelayed alongside theHarvestleaguedue to complications working from home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Though Grinding Gear Games is continuing to release content forPath of Exile, its sequel is also in development.Path of Exile 2was announced during ExileCon 2019, but Wilson said the studio is holding off on launching a beta until “it would ultimately be more useful to [us]” when asked about its progress by PCGamesN.
Updates to the current game have extended further than the occasional new league with special features. In June, thedevelopers rebalanced 50 items inPath of Exileto keep theDiablo-esque, procedurally-generated game as fair and diverse as possible. That attention to detail will hopefully help as players get to play out their George Clooney heist fantasies later this month.
Path of Exileis available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
