After the tremendous Return of the Ancients update to Path of Exile 2, it wouldn't take much to convince me to play more of it. The action RPG is the best it's ever been and finally feels ready to come out later this year. So when developer Grinding Gear Games says it's dropping a new mini-league next week to fill some time before release, you can bet I'll be there.

On September 4, the first PoE 2 event league, Forbidden Rites, will begin. It's not like the other major updates we've seen with tons of balance changes and a whole new league mechanic. Instead, developer Grinding Gear Games is keeping this one pretty simple with a small twist to the campaign and a big rework to one of the most divisive endgame activities.

Ritual altars will show up during the campaign that spawn waves of monsters and reward you with loot. Some of them will spawn bosses on top of other bosses and will let you pocket a powerful unique item if you can survive the gauntlet. This is actually something that could already happen in the endgame version of the mechanic, so I can vouch for how fun it is to have bosses like the gorilla wielding a stone pillar appear out of thin air to crush you.

I'm particularly thrilled with what GGG has done to the Trial of Chaos, the only thing in PoE 2 I actively avoided interacting with. Someone once described the Trial of Chaos as a mode where all you do is choose how you want to get kicked in the stomach. You kill monsters across multiple stages and pick deadly modifiers that only exist to make your life hell as you try to survive until the end. Some of the effects are quite nasty, like a 40% reduction to your defenses or bloody tendrils that hold you in place as every monster swarms you. Trust me, it's a nightmare.

In the new Trial of Chaos, those modifiers won't start out as painful as they do now, and they'll finally offer something in exchange for the agony by giving you a small boost to the quality of loot that drops. These, along with the other improvements to the speed at which doors open and new rounds begin, will hopefully make Trial of Chaos a tolerable—and maybe even fun—way to unlock your ascendancy class, PoE 2's version of subclasses.

Forbidden Rites will speed up the endgame progression so you can start exploring the endless world map earlier than you would in a normal league. There you'll find glowing green ravines torn through the earth that will host maps filled with Abyss monsters. And the previous league mechanic, Expedition, will now be a core part of the game if you like setting off explosions in the ground and mowing down whatever comes crawling out.

Sadly, the patch that will hit alongside the new league won't have the sweeping balance changes GGG had originally planned. Those will come with PoE 2's full 1.0 release on December 11—which seems like a risky move for a game with so many interlocking systems, but, hey, we'll see how it goes. That also means there won't be a whole lot of mystery in the endgame when it comes to the best builds and mapping strategies. If it works in the current patch, it's going to keep working in the next one, too.

Some people are so bummed about this they're going to skip the league. I'm just going to use it as an opportunity to try something I've never done before. All the new clips of the new duelist class look killer. Maybe it's time to finally put down the spells and try a melee character for a change so I can see what swords are all about when 1.0 hits.

Nodusfall has been Gamescom's biggest surprise: a new co-op action romp from the masters of gacha, HoYoverse, which seemingly does away with so much of what we all associate with the developer.

HoYoverse's games are normally vibrant anime affairs full of waifus and himbos waiting to be collected by thirsty players. Even as the genres and systems change from game to game, the studio has a distinct style and design philosophy—one that's been incredibly successful.

Instead of resting on its laurels, however, HoYoverse is taking a big swing with Nodusfall. One of the most fundamental changes is that characters are not obtained through random draws. This is not your typical gacha game. Indeed, HoYoverse hasn't confirmed any gacha mechanics yet—though we do know that cosmetic monetisation is being considered.

When it was first unveiled during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, the immediate comparisons being bandied around were Elden Ring and Monster Hunter, both of which are fair comparisons but which don't really tell the whole story. That they are inspirations seems undeniable, but Nodusfall is absolutely doing its own thing here.

First of all: Nodusfall is not remotely a soulslike. What it has in common with Elden Ring, then, is largely aesthetic and vibes. As HoYoverse describes it, the world of Nodusfall is one where "divine authority has crumbled and order has collapsed". It's simultaneously bleak and beautiful.

Monster Hunter is a closer relative. Solo adventurers and groups can select contracts, and then go out into the world to hunt down big beasties. These are lengthy, elaborate fights with multiple phases, taking place in spacious outdoor areas. So yeah, this all felt immediately evocative of Monster Hunter. But the similarities largely end there.

My four-player crew started off in a hub area, where we could select and customise our characters—one of which had two classes, while the rest had one. I opted for a serious looking lad with a big sword, serving as the group's tank. So you're not just creating a customisable blank slate who is defined by whatever weapon they happen to be holding.

Each character has dramatically different combat styles and unique mechanics, so while I was going to spend the next 30 minutes blocking damage with my huge weapon and sticking to foes like angry velcro, another member of the party was going to spend that same time hanging back and healing my reckless ass. Nodusfall isn't an RPG, but it does have an RPG's role-based classes.

Our HoYoverse babysitter led us to our battles—three boss-style scraps with an escalating level of challenge, culminating in a massive brawl against a huge dragon and its giant, heavily-armoured rider. There wasn't much time for faffing in the open area, though I did clock other creatures ambling around—but we were here for larger prey.

Even as a slow tank, I was surprisingly agile. Unless you've volunteered for healer duty, Nodusfall is a brisk, relentless kind of action game, where you'll be stringing together impressively flashy combos as you keep an eye on your skill cooldowns. And all the while, you'll feel like a human shaped missile, always launching yourself at whatever creature is in your sights.

It's more aggressive and spammy than Monster Hunter, but some precision is still required. I became rather fond of the clash mechanic, where you charge up a strong attack, and release it right as the monster is about to hit you, countering the attack. It helps that I looked stylish doing it, with my already massive sword growing, transforming into a magical, glowing WMD.

When you're picking your character you can also select an ultimate, with the game letting you know which ones are a best fit for your role. I'm still very pleased with my choice, which transformed me into a towering, dual-wielding knight with a whole bunch of new—and extremely potent—skills. I became a dervish of devastation, leaping around with my spinning attacks and filling the area with explosive magic.

This was handy when the dragon and its rider split up, leaving us juggling two tricky foes—one airborne and one grounded. My ultimate whittled the rider down, then my team joined forces to deal out some divine retribution, summoning a huge ghostly warrior to absolutely pummel the knight. He still had a sliver of health, however, and used the last of his strength to consume his dragon. Now he was on his own, though, and we made short work of him.

Nodusfall's scraps are energetic, dramatic spectacles and I really appreciate the pure focus on the simple joy of whacking big monsters. I suspect the full game will be a lot more dense with systems—even if HoYoverse is trying something new, it's still HoYoverse—but it's got an extremely fun, straightforward core and a low barrier for entry. Got a free hour and some free pals? Go murder a dragon.

Nodusfall doesn't yet have a release date. On its official website , HoYoverse suggests following the official social channels for news about beta access.