The door costs money until December 11, when Path of Exile 2 goes free

Playing this game today costs money. From December 11 the door simply opens. Grinding Gear Games used gamescom on August 25 to date the full release of Path of Exile 2 at December 11 PST, and wrote that it arrives as a fully free-to-play action RPG[1]. The same sentence now sits at the top of the Steam page[7]. Everything below reflects September 7, 2026.

The swordsman revealed in Cologne shows up in December

A class came attached to that announcement. The Duelist was revealed in a new trailer during gamescom’s Opening Night Live, and the sword weapon type arrives with it[1][2]. You cannot roll one today. The studio put the question first in its August 31 FAQ and answered flatly: the Duelist is not in 0.5.5, and lands with the 1.0 full release on December 11[3].

The booth was Hall 6.1, B031. According to the September 6 wrap-up, more than 9,000 attendees plus 120 media outlets and creators passed through it across five days[10].

Three days that moved it from 94th to 33rd

GGG Live on August 27 revealed the 0.5.5 update, and the Forbidden Rites event league opened alongside it at 1 PM PDT on September 4[2]. It carries eight new challenges and exclusive rewards, and the same patch overhauled the Trial of Chaos[2]. Patch notes and item filter information went up separately on September 2, naming new items ahead of time: the Jiquani and Atziri Soul Core lines, a map fragment called Sacred Bloom, and an Expedition Tablet[4].

The numbers followed. Valve’s most-played tally dated September 6 puts the game 33rd, against 94th in the same tally a week earlier, with a weekly peak of 138,279 concurrent players[6]. At the time of writing the live count reads 113,662[9].

The league changes reaching outside the league says something about the patch. The FAQ states that the Trial of Chaos work and the rest of the improvements apply to the whole game no matter which league you are in[3].

Six acts, and then the game starts

The setting is Wraeclast, a dark continent where a Corruption long thought destroyed has begun creeping back at the edge of civilisation[7]. The campaign runs six acts with 100 distinct environments, 600 monsters and 100 bosses, and the store description states that every area of the campaign holds a boss encounter[7].

Characters come from twelve classes, each with three Ascendancy specialisations, which gives 36 endpoints. There are 240 Skill Gems granting active skills and 200 Support Gems that modify them, and Support Gems now socket directly into Skill Gems. The passive tree carries 1,500 nodes and adds Dual Specialisation, letting you hold two sets of points that switch on with the matching weapon or skill type[7]. Seven hundred equipment base types each carry a unique item of their own[7].

Finishing the campaign opens maps and the endgame passive trees, which raise both your rewards and your difficulty at once[7]. Co-op supports six[7].

The till does not close on December 11, it opens

The current arrangement runs backwards. The Steam app record returns is_free false, so entry costs money today, and that cost disappears after December 11[7]. The store description sets out what follows in two sentences: Path of Exile 2 is a separate game from the original, both will keep receiving expansions, purchases are shared between them, and neither will ever be pay to win[7].

One more transaction exists before launch, and it is free. Enter an email on the registration page and confirm it, and microtransaction codes go out by email after December 11. Sign-ups close on December 10, and if all four registration milestones unlock, everyone receives five microtransactions in total. Existing accounts qualify, and the studio wrote that players on Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox can all redeem[5].

The character you roll today has an expiry date

There is one way into the league: select Forbidden Rites on the character selection screen and create a new character there. It is a new league, so the economy starts fresh and nothing comes across from your existing stash[3]. The older Runes of Aldur league is not going anywhere, and unfinished challenges can still be completed there[3].

The end date is the catch. Forbidden Rites is not a one-month event. It runs until the 1.0 full release and closes on the same day as Runes of Aldur[3]. A character rolled today has a little over three months on the clock.

Opinion is split. Steam counts 225,595 reviews, 168,967 positive and 56,628 negative, which parks the summary at Mostly Positive[8]. The English-language slice runs 132,675 reviews with 100,661 positive, while the Japanese slice sits at 800 positive against 808 negative[8]. Nine languages are supported and only English carries full audio[7].

So the decision is a calendar question rather than a taste one. If you want to run a three-month league from its first week, pay today. If you want to see the campaign once, wait for December 11, take it for nothing, and open the Duelist at the same time.

Sources

[1] Grinding Gear Games. Path of Exile 2 Fully Releases on December 11!. Steam announcement, August 25, 2026.

[2] Grinding Gear Games. Path of Exile 2: 0.5.5 Event League & Duelist Deep Dive. Steam announcement, August 27, 2026.

[3] Grinding Gear Games. Path of Exile 2: Forbidden Rites FAQ. Steam announcement, August 31, 2026.

[4] Grinding Gear Games. Path of Exile 2: Forbidden Rites Patch Notes and Item Filter Information. Steam announcement, September 2, 2026.

[5] Grinding Gear Games. Path of Exile 2 Full Release Registration FAQ. Steam announcement, August 26, 2026.

[6] Valve. Steam most-played ranking API. Retrieved September 7, 2026, tally dated September 6.

[7] Valve. Path of Exile 2 Steam store page. Retrieved September 7, 2026.

[8] Valve. Review summary API, appid 2694490. Steam, retrieved September 7, 2026.

[9] Valve. Current player count API. Steam, retrieved September 7, 2026.

[10] Grinding Gear Games. Thank You! Gamescom Cologne 2026 Recap. Steam announcement, September 6, 2026.