Path of Exile Forsaken Masters expansion announced, adds trainers and hideouts

Hot...well, lukewarm on the heels of Path of Exile's Sacrifice of the Vaal "mini-expansion" back in March , Grinding Gear Games has announced another one. It's named Forsaken Masters, and it's not about your MA in Media Studies but rather a bunch of legendary trainers/quest-givers who, too, have been exiled to PoE's monster-filled rock. The details are here , but basically: seven new skill trainers, the inclusion of hideouts, upgradeable crafting benches, more.

Whenever you're tempted to think that all free-to-play games are wretched abominations, remember the extraordinarily generous Path of Exile. In addition to a fulsome main game, devs Grinding Gear are releasing regular free updates. First there was Sacrifice of the Vaal; now there's Forsaken Maasters, although sadly I had to add that extra 'a' myself. What's in it? Seven masters, who will do things like train you and give you missions, and—if they trust you enough—take you back to their secret hideout (essentially your own little personalised town). New modding options, items and challenge leagues await in the expansion too. I particularly like this sexy image of some modded gloves:

Phwoar. Two of Forkaken Masters' forsaken masters have been revealed so far: Haku the armour dude and Vorici the "master assasin". The others will be revealed in dribs and drabs up until the expansion's release date of August 20th.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.