Last Epoch Review

ign.com:

Battle-weary Diablo 4 and Path of Exile fans may finally have some common ground. Last Epoch has hacked and slashed its way out of a five-year Early Access period, and the 1.0 release of this ARPG strikes a fine balance between the approachability and high-speed action of Diablo 4 and the absurdly complex character-build diversity of Path of Exile. That’s thanks to a skill system that’s both easy to understand and offers tons of room to fine-tune your character however you’d like. Last Epoch’s roughly 20-hour campaign, however, only manages to start fresh before devolving into a derivative mess, though that’s somewhat forgivable when it’s basically just there to get you to its engaging endgame anyway. If you can stomach that, as well as some technical clunkiness that is most apparent in Last Epoch’s online multiplayer, the climb to level 100 is lined with mountains of great loot, fun fights, and meaningful power boosts that made it well worth sinking dozens of hours into.

New travelers start by choosing one of five standard characters, all of which are exactly what longtime ARPG fans would expect in any Diablo-inspired campaign. It’s got the usual cast of sword-and-shield-wielding Sentinels, spell-slinging Mages, and — my personal favorite – undead-summoning Acolytes. These characters each have a firm identity and playstyle, which means you can’t make a bad choice. And once you’ve made your pick, you’re off to the visually appetizing high-fantasy world of Eterra, which is chronically ravaged by a captivating menagerie of evil gods, undead armies, and a gnawing void that’s conspiring to eat the planet from within – like purple mold on a giant orange.

With dastardly forces like these threatening to rip Eterra asunder, the situation calls for nothing less than a marathon of isometric hacking, slashing, spellcasting, potion-guzzling, looting, questing, junk selling, and all the compulsive mouse-clicking of a traditional action RPG. Last Epoch sets itself apart from the