Path of Exile

Path of Exile arrived on Xbox One in August 2017, less than four years after its PC debut, and became one of the first truly deep action RPGs to appear on Microsoft's console in full force. Grinding Gear Games had to completely rebuild the control interface for the controller - the vast passive skill tree with thousands of nodes, dozens of simultaneously available skills, and an inventory full of gems all needed a scheme operable with analog sticks, triggers, and quick menus, which reviews praised as surprisingly well handled despite the complexity of the source material.

In terms of content it's the same game as on PC: the same system of skill gems and support gems, the same player-to-player trading built on currency items like the Chaos Orb, the same seasonal leagues, and the same Atlas of Worlds endgame. The Xbox version, however, runs on its own servers with separate progress and economy - characters, currency, and gear cannot be transferred between platforms, and a new seasonal league on consoles typically launches with a slight delay compared to the leading PC version, since the studio fine-tunes the patch there first.

For many players, though, it was still the first chance to play such a deep ARPG comfortably in the living room, on a big screen, controller in hand, without needing a keyboard nearby. Quick access to flasks, spells, and items is handled by radial menus called up by holding a button, which have since become a standard for later console ARPGs too. Xbox also kept the choice between the standard and hardcore league with permanent character death, so console players didn't lose out on any of the game modes PC players were used to.

Since the game remains free-to-play and is funded only by cosmetic microtransactions and storage tabs, the move to console brought no change in the price of entry - new players on Xbox could download the game and start building a character right away, just as on PC, only with a controller instead of a mouse.

Why play it: A choice for Xbox owners who want just as complex an experience as on PC, but controlled comfortably from the couch - just keep in mind a separate community of its own and slightly delayed league updates.