Path of Exile Act III revealed – Exclusive shots

Grinding Gear Games continue the development of their ARPG Path of Exile as it moves closer to an open Beta test, and this evening they have revealed details of Act III. The third Act in the game is not currently part of the Beta test but will be added when the game goes into open Beta in December.

“Act 3 adds an extra 50% of content to Path of Exile’s world,” says Grinding Gear Games producer Chris Wilson. “Our already gritty game gets a lot darker as players explore Sarn and witness the full extent of the corruption and cataclysm. High-level characters will really enjoy some of the enemy encounters and combat challenges.”

So what can we expect from Act III?

Path of Exile’s lore and mysteries deepens as you explore Sarn’s abandoned docks, markets, temples and sewers. For reasons unknown, General Gravicius and the Ebony Legion have sailed from your homeland Oriath to scour Sarn for its secrets, joining Piety of Theopolis in a race against the player to plunder Sarn’s tombs for wealth and power.

In the Solaris Temple, a magical army of floating constructs known as the Ribbons continually sterilize the temple even as the centuries wear on. Even though thaumaturgist Malachai the Soulless is long dead, evidence of his dark experiments remain.

In addition to undead, magical constructs and corrupted horrors, players will encounter some unlikely allies. An encampment of exiles survive on the man-made island in the middle of the river, led by wise and well-spoken Karui warrior Maramoa.

About Sarn: A shattered city, a sinister mystery, a land tainted with insanity.

You’re standing at the edge of Sarn, the ruined capital of the Eternal Empire. Not so eternal now. Its citizenry is gone, taken by death and undeath in equal measures. Where hawkers shouted their bargains, ladies browsed for silks, young lovers walked hand in hand… creatures of nightmare stalk and feed. Beasts born of corruption. The restless dead, bitter and lethal. A cursed city of painful promises and preternatural peril.

You are an exile, banished for your crimes to Wraeclast, and given a life sentence in the land of the damned. But Wraeclast wasn’t always like this. It was once an empire of ten million souls, a beautiful and bountiful continent that prospered for more than a thousand years.

Something happened. A cataclysm. A corruption beyond reason. Wraeclast took itself off to bed one balmy evening and, come morning, it failed to wake. It slumbers, tossing and turning in the perpetual nightmare that enslaved it during the darkest hours.

Players must fight their way through the necropolis to answer a question: Who murdered Wraeclast?

You’re not alone in your curiosity. Others explore the twisted capital city of the Eternal Empire. The Ebony Legion has sailed from Oriath to scour Sarn for its secrets… avaricious maggots on a fecund carcass. General Gravicius plunders its tombs for wealth and power.

Piety of Theopolis harnesses corruption like a lover to her bedhead. Her lovely visage hides an imagination most monstrous.

Is everyone and everything in Sarn out to kill or maim you beyond recognition? Pretty much… with a few exceptions. As a fellow exile, Hargan, will tell you: “Welcome to dirty, old Sarn, the metropolis of opportunity. The opportunity to make something of yourself or the opportunity to have a very messy death.”

So far GGG has raised an impressive USD$1.2m in crow-funding which has helped development and improvements in the lengthy on-going Beta process.

Over the coming weeks, on IncGamers we’ll be taking a  closer look at the third act in the game as well as talking to the development team, so stay tuned for that and a new Beta key giveaway. For now though, we have two exclusive shots from Act III to raise the excitement bar.