Grinding Gear Games just shipped what it is calling Path of Exile 2's "biggest update ever" and it is now live for everyone to play. Return of the Ancients landed today, May 29, bringing a fresh league, new weapons, new endgame mechanics, and a free weekend that runs through June 1. If you have been waiting for a reason to jump into Wraeclast, this is probably it.

What is in Return of the Ancients

The new league, Return of the Ancients, revolves around forgotten evils awakening across Wraeclast. Players will face new monsters, earn new rewards, and interact with a league mechanic that GGG has been cooking for months. The patch notes are enormous. New weapon types, a reworked endgame atlas, balance changes across the board, and a fresh set of unique items that should shake up the meta completely. League start is always the best time to jump into PoE, and this one comes with the added incentive of a free weekend so nobody has to commit money upfront.

Free weekend and discounts

The free weekend runs from now until June 1 (PDT), giving you three full days to try PoE2 without spending a cent. If you like what you play, Early Access Supporter Packs are also on sale at a discounted price. Path of Exile 2 launched into early access back in December 2024 and has been steadily building its player base with each new league. Return of the Ancients seems designed to pull in lapsed players and new faces alike, and the free weekend removes every barrier to entry.

A bumpy but brief launch

No PC game launch in 2026 is complete without some server trouble. GGG dealt with game validation issues and delayed email unlock codes in the first few hours after launch. Both were acknowledged and resolved within a couple of hours, which for a launch of this scale is honestly above average. The official Path of Exile Twitter account kept a running thread of updates through the night. The validation fix went out around 4 PM PDT and the email code backlog cleared soon after. Players who had issues early on should be good to go now.

The community verdict

Early reactions on social media and streaming platforms lean positive. Build guides are already popping up, streams are pulling thousands of viewers, and the official announcement post racked up over 71 million views on X alone. Some players are reporting performance issues on older hardware, which is par for the course with a content update this large. The Path of Exile subreddit is doing what it always does on launch day: half theorycrafting broken builds, half yelling about server queues. The usual chaos, in other words.

Our take

Return of the Ancients feels like GGG flexing. PoE2 has been in early access for about six months and they are already shipping what they bill as their biggest update. The cadence is aggressive. For context, the original Path of Exile took years to reach this level of content density. If GGG can keep this pace, PoE2s full release later this year or early next is going to be absurd. The free weekend is smart. It gives fence-sitters a no-risk look at a game that can be intimidating to start cold. Three days is enough time to hit the endgame if you know what you are doing, or at least enough to get hooked on the loot dopamine.

Go play it

Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients is live now on Steam and the standalone client. The free weekend runs through June 1. If you already own the early access, the update is a free download. If you do not, the discounted Supporter Packs are the cheapest way in. GGG also has a stash tab sale running through June 1, which is relevant if you plan on sticking around. Go download it. The ancients are not going to fight themselves.