Mercenary class unveiled for Path of Exile 2, and it plays like shooter

eurogamer.net:

The Mercenary class has been unveiled for Path of Exile 2, and notably, it brings a whole new style of play to the game: shooter gameplay. It doesn't mean the game has suddenly gone first-person, but it does mean optional — and fluidly interchangeable — WASD movement is coming to the series for the first time. And that you can now move slightly while attacking.

The Mercenary revolves around the crossbow weapon they carry, which behaves — depending on the type of crossbow — like either a shotgun, an assault rifle, or a sniper rifle. You can carry two kinds of crossbow at the same time.

What your crossbow does also depends heavily on the kind of ammo you're using. If you're using incendiary ammo, for instance, your assault rifle crossbow will spin-up like a mini-gun and be devastating — and fiery — once revved up. Meanwhile, your sniper crossbow with incendiary ammo will behave more like a rocket launcher, exploding on impact. Frost ammo, meanwhile, freezes enemies and also creates varying kinds of frost effects — or ice walls — on the floor depending on which crossbow you use. Oh, and there's a grenade-launcher attachment too, because why not? And again, there are varying types of grenade you can fire.

Grinding Gear Games showed the Mercenary class to press ahead of a Path of Exile stream today, where you can now see the same footage we saw. It shows the coarse-voiced — and coarse-mannered, I have to say (I love the audio barks he has) — Mercenary carving a path through a ruined, cobbled town bathed in darkness, before he faces off against a wonderfully grotesque matron-styled boss at the end.

Take a look at her in action if you can, because she's impressively brought to life, and she highlights the kind of added