Developer Grinding Gear Games is getting ready to launch a major new update for their action RPG, Path of Exile 2. It introduces a large region, Act 4 of the story, along with new quality-of-life features. And for people who haven’t played the game yet, a Free Weekend will offer such an opportunity.

The Third Edict update lets you explore the islands of Ngamakanui. It is split into eight different areas, each with its own enemies and obstacles to overcome. You can sail here by taking a ship from the docks of Kingsmarch. With this Act, the devs wanted to give players the freedom to explore however they see fit. This means you are free to visit the islands and complete the challenges in any order. In total, there will be over 100 new enemies and 12 bosses.

After finishing the story campaign, you get access to three interlude quests. It will replace the Cruel difficulty and is designed to make the transition to the endgame smoother without having to replay the entire story campaign on the higher difficulty mode. During these quests, you get to rebuild a city, cross dangerous sands, climb mountains across 19 new areas, and fight nine bosses.

This update will also bring a few highly requested quality-of-life additions. One of these is the Asynchronous Trade system, an offline trading feature that allows you to buy items from other players without them needing to be online. To make traversing vast maps faster, you will be able to sprint by holding the dodge button. Additionally, the gem support system previously had a major limitation where you could only equip one of each type of gem. This restriction will be removed, allowing you to mix and match gems to your heart’s desire.

All of this will go live on the 29th of August, along with the Free Weekend on Steam, which will start with the new update and run until the 1st of September.

What are you most excited for in the next update? Let me know in the comments.