After nearly 5 years of waiting, Path of Exile is finally on PS5

After months and years of waiting, Path of Exile is now playable on PS5. We downloaded it this morning to make sure it loaded and played properly, and much to our delight, it did. Once I was on the correct version of the game, I was delighted by what I saw. That said, if you’re curious to know more about the PoE PlayStation 5 edition, we’ve got you covered on that front.

While yes, Path of Exile players could load the PS4 version on a PlayStation 5, now there’s a native version they can play without having to worry about it. With Path of Exile 2 coming to Early Access in November 2024, if you weren’t playing on the console before, now’s a good time to check it out.

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Path of Exile is finally playable natively on PS5

In my in-game client, just a little of the bottom left gets cropped out of the visual. Everything else appears as normal (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

One thing I noticed when installing Path of Exile on the PS5, is that despite the PlayStation Store stating we were downloading the PlayStation 5 version, it gave us the PS4 version. Instead, I had to highlight the PS4 version on my console, and go to the right where it said “PoE Free”, and that gave me access to the newer version. So make sure you’re playing the right edition of the game.

Interestingly enough, the PlayStation 5 version is 36.68 GB, whereas the PS4 version is 47.53 GB. Below, you’ll also see a pair of comparison screenshots. The one on the left is PS4 and the one on the right is PS5 Path of Exile client. The visuals seem sharper on the PS5 client, that’s for sure. Even the water at night has bit of a shimmer that just looks lovely.

I haven’t noticed much in the way of delay or lag, just a little here and there. That’s more due to my PlayStation 5 being set up for wireless gameplay at the moment. It’s very rare, but it did occur. The menus and graphics all look sharper, whereas they felt a bit washed out and dated when I used the PS4 version of the game.

Even the water effects look better - PS4 on left, PS5 on right (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Thankfully, you also don’t have to roll new characters or anything. Provided you had characters on the PS4 version, they will be right there, waiting for you to pick them back up again. The gameplay is smooth as always, and like the previous version, it’s easy to do the little things, like swap around gems and set up a build.

You can also immediately take part in the current season, Settlers of Kalguur (3.25 update), if you want to. I don’t play Path of Exile on the console much, but it was nice to see the few items I squirreled away were available to the fresh character I rolled for testing purposes. The loading times are incredibly short, and the particle effects/visuals look sharper.

It seemed like there was much less pop-in compared to the PS4 version, and even the textures were sharper. If you play on the PS5, and are still using the PS4 client, it’s definitely time to set that aside and utilize this more recent update.

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Path of Exile’s PS5 native client is now available, alongside the PS4 version of the game. Just make sure you’re downloading and playing the correct version.