Crossing
Warframe or Path of Exile
Two free games with a decade of updates, a thousand systems and a reputation for swallowing people whole. Which Frontier should you cross first?
| Bearing | Warframe | Path of Exile |
|---|---|---|
| Newcomer | 6 · The opening quest and first planet are fine, and then the game hands you a solar system and a hundred systems with a shrug. The community fills the gap that the tutorials leave. | 4.5 · A long campaign with almost no explanation of what makes a character work. Most new players follow a build guide from the first hour, and the studio expects that. |
| Every session | 8 · Missions are ten to twenty minutes, movement is a joy, and a session with friends is loud and satisfying. Some mission types are repetitive by design. | 8 · Once a build comes together the moment-to-moment is exhilarating: screens of monsters, a fountain of loot, and a map system that keeps changing. Before that, it is a slog. |
| Staying power | 8.5 · Dozens of warframes to build, a story that takes real swings, and regular large updates. It has outlasted most of its competitors and is still growing. | 9 · Leagues every few months reset the economy and add a new system. Thirteen years of them have produced an endgame with more content than most games have in total. |
| Wallet | 8.5 · Platinum buys convenience and cosmetics, and players trade it among themselves. Crafting timers are the pressure point, and they can be waited out. | 8 · No power is sold. Stash tabs are the one purchase most players make, at a modest price, and cosmetics fund the rest. Supporter packs are expensive but optional. |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Platforms | Windows via Steam, Epic or the standalone launcher; PlayStation 4 and 5; Xbox One and Series X|S; Nintendo Switch and Switch 2; iOS and Android | Windows and macOS via Steam, Epic or the standalone client; PlayStation 4 and 5; Xbox One and Series X|S |
| PEGI | PEGI 18 | PEGI 18 |
| Account | A free Warframe account (linked to Steam if you install there) | A free Path of Exile account |
What each one is
Warframe is a third-person action game about a space ninja with a jetpack's worth of movement, played in short missions with up to three friends. Path of Exile is an isometric action role-playing game about clicking on monsters until they drop something that makes you click faster, played solo or in parties through a long campaign and an endless endgame. Both are free, both are made by studios that have run them for more than a decade, and both are famously bewildering for the first twenty hours.
Where each one shines
Warframe's movement is the best thing on this side of the chart: sliding, wall-running and bullet-jumping through a level never stops feeling good. Its story quests, when you reach them, are surprisingly ambitious. Path of Exile's strength is the build: a passive skill web with more than a thousand nodes and a gem system that lets you turn any skill into any style of play. If tinkering with a spreadsheet counts as fun for you, this is the game.
Warframe is the kinder newcomer experience. Path of Exile's campaign is long, its systems are barely explained, and the studio openly expects you to read guides. Warframe also has a large, unusually friendly community and an official system for veterans to help new players.
The toll
Both are free to install and neither sells power. Warframe sells Platinum, a currency that buys cosmetics, extra gear storage and the option to skip crafting timers; almost everything Platinum buys can be earned in play, and players trade Platinum among themselves. Path of Exile sells stash tabs, cosmetics and supporter packs; the stash tabs are the one purchase most regular players consider essential, at a modest price. Neither requires a subscription. Both have free accounts on PC and both are also on console.
Our call
Start with Warframe if you want to feel good in the first hour and prefer moving to reading. Start with Path of Exile if you enjoy systems for their own sake and do not mind a difficult first week. Note that Path of Exile 2 exists as a separate early-access game; this crossing is about the original, which remains free and fully supported.