Grinding Gear Games used gamescom's Opening Night Live on August 25 to give Path of Exile 2 a release date at last: December 11, 2026. That's when the game leaves Early Access and goes free-to-play across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Early Access ran nearly two years, starting in December 2024, while the studio layered on classes, bosses, and endgame systems one patch at a time. Version 1.0 wraps the story with the campaign's last two acts and adds a weapon type players have asked for since launch: swords. Wraeclast has seen spears, crossbows, quarterstaves, and flails — never a blade.
Swords arrive with a new class, the Duelist. He's a hybrid Strength/Dexterity fighter, an orphan who trained for the Grand Arena until the Fall of Oriath sent him into exile instead. He still fights for people who can't fight for themselves, wielding a single sword with a shield or staff, or two blades at once, switching stances mid-combo. His kit brings back Cyclone from the original game, now with projectiles bolted on.
The release date came bundled with a pre-registration page at pathofexile2.com/register. Sign up before December 10, 2026, confirm the email GGG sends afterward, and you're in — skip the confirmation click, and the registration doesn't count. Existing Path of Exile accounts aren't required; any inbox works.
The rewards scale with the whole community, not individual accounts:
- 500,000 sign-ups — Soulflame Crown Helmet Attachment.
- 1,000,000 — Soulflame Weapon Effect.
- 2,000,000 — Soulflame Portal.
- 3,000,000 — Chained Chimera Wings.
- 4,000,000 — Scourgeborn Boar Pet.
None of it will ever hit the in-game store, GGG says — this is the only way in. Codes go out by email once 1.0 launches, so registering early buys nothing extra for the account holder, but it does move the counter that decides what everyone else unlocks. The first tier is already banked: the community claimed the Soulflame Crown Helmet Attachment not long after the campaign went live. The official counter is now closing in on one million sign-ups, putting the Soulflame Weapon Effect within reach in the next few days.
