Game Director Reveals Path of Exile 2 Draws Inspiration from Elden Ring and Civilization 5

Path of Exile 2’s game director, Jonathan Rogers, shares that the game draws inspiration from a broad spectrum of video games. Notably, it’s influenced by Elden Ring and the action genre for its boss fights, and Civilization V for its end-game map design.

During a presentation focused on the game’s end-game content, followed by an in-depth press roundtable, Rogers touched on these influences. The conversation came up after showcasing a boss battle where players confront a giant construct with numerous unique attacks and phases. When asked about broader influences during this press interview, Rogers opened up.

“Honestly, pinpointing just one game as our inspiration is tough because we draw ideas from all over. Take the in-game map for example—I told our artists that I wanted it to resemble Civilization V! It’s not the sort of influence you’d anticipate for an action role-playing game. Our inspirations are varied, and it’s difficult to list them all.”

“Of course, recent action games were major influences, especially since they align with the combat focus we have, games like Elden Ring, for instance. I play almost every type of video game genre—I’m not just limited to ARPGs. Interestingly enough, single-player action games might be my favorite genre.”

“These are the games I truly enjoy, so they heavily influence my approach to boss design. We aim for bosses in PoE 2 to be recognized among the best in action games. These bosses feature intriguing mechanics and numerous abilities, and creating them requires significant effort. In PoE 2, we also incorporate elements like dodge rolling, which are typical of action games. Balancing between an action game and a stat-heavy game is quite the challenge.”

In our preview of PoE 2, we highlighted the strengths of its boss design. You can dive into that full preview here. Path of Exile 2 is poised to release on PC and consoles on December 6.