I feel tired. I boot up Path of Exile 2. I select my level 49 Chronomancer, and as I traverse the maze-like maps, hordes of four-arm humanoid creatures jump at me, giant insectoid monstrosities pursue me, and abyssal green devils come out of the ground to shoot infernal laser beams. But I keep moving, unstoppable (unbeatable!), freezing and exploding their bodies. I’m drowning in a stream of dopamine, having the most relaxing gaming moment I could have.
I’ve always admired fans of the so-called “cozy games,” people who spend hours working on their farms in Stardew Valley, cleaning their islands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, or selling books in the Tiny Bookshop. I’ve not only admired them — I wanted to be them. I crave the chance to lose myself in the relaxing, colorful, friendly worlds like they do.. Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel bored as hell. Eventually, I understood that I already had my cozy game that I could play to relax, listen to some music and just vibe. The difference is that it is an intense action RPG with a remarkably intricate skill system.
Released in early access in 2024, Path of Exile 2 is the second game in the series that put Grinding Gear Games on the map back in the early 2010s. I only played a few minutes of the first game, which came out in 2013, but it didn’t click for me. Many years later, I became a fan of PoE 2.
Path of Exile 2 is nothing like a typical cozy game. It’s an isometric action RPG where you choose a class, play through a campaign (which so far encompasses four acts and three interludes), and reach the endgame, where you’ll find extra storylines and endless maps to complete. The gameplay loop involves leveling up your character by clearing maps crowded with creatures, finding better loot, and defeating bosses. Character progression revolves around traversing a humongous passive skill tree that would trigger an anxiety attack in anyone who’s not used to it. While experienced players blaze through the game’s base content with ease, new players understand rather early that it doesn’t take much for enemies to kill them. In other words, PoE 2 can be brutal and requires some dedication to learn.
What makes PoE2 go from an aggressive and intricate action RPG to a cozy game are the builds. Thanks to the series’ robust passive skill tree and some clever class progression, possibilities are countless. The community is constantly studying and testing interactions between mechanics, skills, and weapons to come up with some fairly absurd ideas. Some of these builds end up being extremely strong, but with a high skill ceiling that makes them difficult to play. Others, however, are stupidly easy to play — and that is why I love them.
The 0.5 “Return of the Ancients” league — seasonal content where you start a new character on a fresh server and explore a set of new mechanics and systems — is the second one where I’ve leveled up the Oracle following PoE2 YouTuber Raxxanterax’s “Plant Daddy” build. The premise is simple: you walk around the maps throwing vines onto the ground that damage enemies and make plants grow and explode. These vines are buffed by the Thunderstorm skill, which, as you might expect, summons a storm over a specific area, shocking enemies and watering plants. The build takes advantage of a late-game spirit gem called Cast on Crit to automate Thunderstorm. Because this is an Oracle build, I have access to a passive skill that guarantees critical hits.
The way skills and gems synergize in this build is beautiful. It doesn’t turn you into an immortal beast from level one, but you can breeze through the entire campaign and early endgame maps without worrying at all. I’d just throw vines and wait for enemies to die while sipping my tea and picking another song to listen to. I rarely died playing this build, and boss fights became the equivalent of welcoming a new NPC to my island: fortuitous encounters just to make things a bit more exciting — but never exciting enough to break the sense of calm that had enveloped me. Free of worries due to the powerful mathematics running behind this build, I found my cozy haven. A place where I have a good time while still feeling engaged in a personally significant way never bores me.
Experiencing the cozy side of PoE 2 requires you to compromise. Using some melee builds might not work since you’re always close to danger. And not every one of these chill, two-button skill builds is strong enough to farm juiced T15 maps. But if you’re able to accept that, just choose a build, prepare your best playlist, and enjoy the ride.