Grinding Gear Games surprised attendees at Gamescom Opening Night Live by confirming that Path of Exile 2 will exit early access and launch as version 1.0 on 11th December. The same date will also see the game become free-to-play, removing the Founder's Pack purchase currently required to access it, marking the end of a roughly two-year early access period that has already proven highly popular on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

The 1.0 update will add a new melee-focused class, the Duelist, notable as the game's first sword-and-shield-wielding character built for aggressive combat, alongside the two remaining campaign Acts that will complete the story. Grinding Gear is also running a free sign-up campaign ahead of launch, with rewards including a pet unlocked for the whole community as more players register. The release date follows earlier comments from the developer that it planned to launch after November's ExileCon convention, and comes after a strong early access run praised by Eurogamer for its challenging, Souls-like combat.