Path of Exile, Grinding Gear Games’ free-to-play online action RPG, will soon be getting a new expansion. The game, first launched in 2013, has already grown considerably this past year with the release of its Fall of Oriath expansion back in August. Now Grinding Gear has announced War for the Atlas, an addition focused on massively boosting Path of Exile’s endgame.
The expansion introduces a new storyline in which “an ancient entity known as The Elder has challenged the Shaper’s control of the Atlas of Worlds.” Players will be able to “explore maps ravaged by their conflict” and either push back against the Elder’s influence or facilitate its spread. War for the Atlas’ website lists the more prominent additions to the game: thirty-two new randomized maps to navigate, over fifty new Unique items, “rare” Shaped and Elder items, and the Abyss Challenge League.
The Abyss Challenge League will release alongside the expansion and feature a special challenge area where players battle new underworld foes that emerge from cracks in the ground. In an interview with GameSpot, Path of Exile managing director Chris Wilson said, “The challenge league that we’ve added is also available throughout the entire game. It’s not just available in the end-game. The way challenge leagues work, it’s the opportunity for a fresh start, basically a new server. And we encourage everyone to start a new character in the challenge league.”
War for the Atlas is scheduled for release on December 8th, 2017 for Xbox One and PC.