Grinding Gear Games will roll out 'Curse of the Allflame', a new expansion for its action RPG Path of Exile (PoE), on July 24. The headline change is the removal of the socket color restriction, one of the game's signature systems for the past 13 years. Until now, players had to match red, green, and blue sockets on gear to slot the matching skill gems, but going forward most sockets will be unified to gray, letting players place any gem freely. The studio said the move is meant to lower the barrier for newcomers and bring back lapsed players who left due to complexity.

Convenience also gets a major overhaul. The crafting bench that applies essential stats to gear will now appear in every town rather than only in a player's private hideout, and the long-untouched Abyss and Legion content receive sweeping reworks. Abyss in particular shifts toward hunting monsters along ground cracks, much like in the sequel Path of Exile 2.