Path of Exile 2 will be playable on Steam Deck but will not have any offline mode support even on consoles
Path of Exile 2 from Grinding Gear Games will be available through its Early Access release on December 6 for PC and consoles. Pre-orders for three different supporter packs have also gone live on Steam and both consoles. During a group interview with game director Jonathan Rogers, I asked about potential offline modes, whether it will be playable on Steam Deck, and also about cross progression.
Jonathan Rogers: Unfortunately not offline. We are an online game with a secure economy so online play is required. You can play on the Steam Deck and that does work. If that's what you want to do, you can do it. I haven't actually tried it myself so I can't really vouch for that quality, but I have heard that it is playable. From my understanding, the 40fps mode makes the game feel the best on Steam Deck. You can certainly play there.
Note: In this case, "playable" does not necessarily mean the same thing as Valve's "Steam Deck Playable" rating. The first Path of Exile is marked as "Steam Deck Playable" as of this writing, and it isn't Steam Deck Verified because some in-game text is small and difficult to read on the handheld display.
Jonathan Rogers: On all platforms, the base price to get into the game is $30 and that what that gets you is a key to play and also $30 of points for the microtransaction store that you can use for stash tabs, cosmetics, and things like that. The higher versions, all of those, just effectively have more exclusive microtransactions, cosmetics, and things. We also started including physical goods like t-shirts and hoodies and things like that. There's also an artbook you get for some of the higher ones. That sort is fine.
Jonathan Rogers: No. We are an online game as I said before.
Path of Exile 2's Early Access version launches on Deceber 6 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).