After 12 years of avoiding it, Path of Exile is taking another swing at an old mechanic for its new expansion: 'This one just kinda felt right'

Key art of Path of Exile expansion Keepers of the Flame. A character wearing a red hood and ornate armor holds a bright purple flame in their hand.

In the 12 years Path of Exile has been on this Earth, it's never gone back to an old system and remade it. Game director Mark Roberts tells PC Gamer that there's a few reasons for that, but mostly it's a fear that not making something fresh—as Grinding Gear Games has always done—might disappoint its loyal players.

But this time it "just kind of felt right," Roberts says. In the Keepers of the Flame expansion, which arrives on October 31, PoE will return to Breach, a nine-year-old mechanic that is basically about killing monsters in a circle until time runs out.