Like every expansion to Path of Exile, Delve is a temporary challenge league that remixes the core story mode by adding entirely new features to contend with—in this case an endless dungeon. When Delve launches on August 31, players will start brand new characters and race through the league for several months, until the next expansion releases and those characters are retired to Path of Exile's permanent standard story mode.

But unlike some previous expansions, which sometimes feel too optional, Delve is significant and enticing. While it won't entirely supplant Path of Exile's core story and endgame, I can see myself diving into it at every opportunity. Wilson says the first experience players have with the infinite dungeon will happen within ten minutes of making a new character.

I don't know, Niko doesn't look that mad to me? 
Delve introduces a new NPC called Niko the Mad POE currency trade , an engineer and inventor who is obsessed with exploring this long-abandoned Azurite mine now plunged into deathly darkness. He's invented a light-emitting vehicle, called a Crawler, that automatically charts a course through the mines and lays a string of lights to illuminate its path. All the player needs to do is follow it to its destination to unlock the next portion of the infinite dungeon.

To power it, though, players need to find a resource out in the world called Voltaxic Sulphite. This is how Delve plugs into the regular progression loop of Path of Exile. While adventuring through the story or endgame, you'll encounter veins of Voltaxic Sulphite and can summon Niko to come and harvest it. Just one vein is enough to do a quick trip through the mines or you can hoard it (to a point) and spend it on a much longer spelunking session. There's no benefit to short or long trips through the mines, Wilson says. It's just giving players the freedom to play Delve how they want.

Once you decide to take a trip into the mines, it's similar to most of Path of Exile's dungeons, only the map is more linear. The Crawler will begin working its way to the end, slowing or speeding up to keep pace with the player while hordes of monsters attack. Stick to the light from the Crawler and you'll be relatively safe—but where's the fun in that POE orbs ?