The first expansion of 2020 for the free-to-play, Diablo-style action RPG Path of Exile has been announced, and it sounds like a treat for fans of the game. Path of Exile: Delirium is launching on March 13 for PC before coming to PS4 and Xbox One the week of March 16.

　　Delirium features areas with a new item called the Mirror of Delirium. Touching the mirror causes your character to enter a state of "delirium" which adds a a creepy mist to the map and other spooky, otherworldly elements that are based on your character's deepest fears. In short, this mist invades the player's mind and creates new, more challenging scenarios that adds dynamic difficulty and tougher enemies.

　　The monsters that appear in Delirium spawn their own demons that are extra powerful, while the regular monsters get buffs that make them even deadlier. Additionally, the effects of the delirium affect every encounter, including bosses, so players should expect an even bigger challenge.

　　One of the major draws of the Delirium expansion is that it makes Path of Exile even more replayable than it already was. The delirium effects also map to all previous League content, so you can re-visit encounters from a new, more challenging perspective.

　　For their efforts, players will earn special, randomized rewards that can include things like currency items, map items, armor pieces, and more.

　　Another major change coming to Path of Exile with the new update is the new "cluster jewels" that can be found in the Delirium league. These jewels can be placed on sockets of your skill tree to create additional passive skill groups that can each contain even more sockets. According to Grinding Gear founder Chris Wilson, this is the biggest change to the level of control and customization you have over your character since Ascendancy classes were added in 2016.

　　Path of Exile has always been a hardcore game for hardcore players, and the new jewel system ramps this up even further in the area of depth and complexity of character builds. There are millions of possibilities unlocked with the new jewel system, Wilson says, and this will impact the build guides that players can find on YouTube or through a Google search. It will no longer be so easy to find an easy path toward creating the best character. This should help Path of Exile feel fresh and exciting, and more mysterious, Wilson says.

　　The Delirium mist seen in Path of ExileThe story elements for the Delirium expansion are being kept under wraps so as to preserve the mystery, Wilson tells GameSpot. As for the theme and tone of the expansion, it's focused on bringing the game back to its roots with a focus on action combat and difficulty. Delirium is a "core, foundational" expansion that will challenge veterans, Wilson says.

　　The Path of Exile: Delirium expansion is also introducing a series of new skills, the first of which is Blade Blast. As its name suggests, this skill creates a whirling circle of blades that defends the player while also attacking enemies. Another new skill is Kinetic Bolt, which is a wand attack. Players have been asking to live out their Harry Potter fantasies in Path of Exile for a while now, Wilson says, and the new Kinetic Bolt was created in response to that. It's not strictly a casting skill, however, as the "forking bolt" that shoots out of your staff does elemental and physical damage.

　　The Delirium expansion includes two more skills and three additional support gems that will be announced later. What's more, there are new items coming to Path of Exile in the expansion, including "Perfidy," which is a melee-focused body armor, as well as "Algor Mortis," which is a set of gloves that can be used with characters that focus on cold/lightning builds.

　　For lots more on Path of Exile: Delirium, check out this in-depth blog post on the Grinding Gear website. [ADD LINK]

　　In addition to ongoing support for Path of Exile, Grinding Gear is working on a full-on sequel, Path of Exile 2, as well as a mobile version of Path of Exile.