Last Epoch is a game that has been in early access for what feels like forever. I recently spent some time with it and wanted to share my thoughts. I have heard many people compare this to stuff like Path of Exile and Diablo and that is what got me interested. While it is far from finished, I do think there is something that could be special here.
How to Download Last Epoch
You can download the game from Steam. Click on the Download button that is located below this review.
The Game Review
The game from a story point of view is a blend of fantasy and a tad of sci-fi too. I say this because we have spells, monsters, and so on, but there is also a time travel element here too. I am sure the story will be fleshed out as the game moves along, but so far, the world they have created here is pretty interesting.
So far, the game looks great. The action is viewed from a top down perspective, but things are nice and detailed. I really liked how there was a good variety to the dungeons/levels as well as enemy types for you to slaughter by the bucket load. I did run into a few frame rate issues, but I am thinking this is something that will be fixed.
This is an action RPG and it pretty much has all of the tropes that you would expect. There are five classes (four as of writing) in the game. These are Mage, Sentinel, Acolyte, Primalist, and Rouge which is the one that is still to be added. Five classes are great, but the game also features “masterclasses”
Masterclasses let you get even more in-depth with your character build. Each class has three masterclasses it can use. For example, Mage can also use, Runemaster, Spellblade, or Sorcerer. This is great in that it gives you many ways to play around and tinker with your character and find a play style that suits you.
There are many skills as you would expect in a game like this, but each skill has its own skill tree! Plus, there are items, you can make use of to give you various buffs. The amount of stuff in this game that lets you tinker with it is very impressive and I am sure this is going to be a major reason that it will develop a diehard fan base.
The actual hack and slash gameplay on offer is very easy to get the hang of. Even though the thought of having so many ways to change your character may seem daunting. The core gameplay is rather simple and fun. The problem is that as of now, the game has a really nasty difficulty spike that needs to be fixed.
Keep in mind by the time you read this it could be fixed. However, changing your skills and other stuff is something the devs are very proud of. The problem is if you want to change one of your specialized skills, the new skill will start right at the bottom level 1, but the game’s difficulty will still be at what it was before leaving you at a massive disadvantage. What if you switch back? Well, that skill you had leveled up and improved will have gone back to level 1!
While the game is not finished, I do think that Last Epoch is showing some serious promise. While the way the game messes with your levels when you chop and change skills is annoying. There is still a lot of fun to be had here. Plus, the devs seem super cool and there tends to be an update once a month or so.
