Last Epoch (Early Access) (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Publisher: Eleventh Hour Games
- Developer: Eleventh Hour Games
- Genres: Action-RPG
Game Features:
Last Epoch is an Action-RPG that first launched in 2019 on Steam Early Access and has been actively developed and improved ever since. Recently, Eleventh Hour Games released version 0.9, which introduced online play, as well as numerous other fixes, changes, and additions. While I don't usually review early access titles, I decided that with Diablo IV looming, people should be informed of Last Epoch and what it has to offer to differentiate itself from both the Path of Exile and Diablo series.
You can choose from 5 distinct classes, each with 3 mastery classes to choose from. The skill specialization system is the main feature that sets Last Epoch apart. At various level milestones, you can specialize in one of your skills, which allows you to level the skill up and gain skill points to be spent on a fairly large passive tree. Nodes on these trees vary wildly by skill, but in general, you can expect several nodes enhancing basic aspects of the skill, as well as nodes that can add effects or entirely alter how the skill works. Skill specialization adds a tremendous amount of diversity to building characters without being overly complex or intimidating.
Each class also has a basic passive tree that expands into the mastery classes. While you can only choose one mastery, you're able to invest in any of the passive trees for your class. This adds a fun level of customization without being too complex.
As you play, you'll notice several affix shards dropping, which can be used to imbue gear with said affix, categorized as either a prefix or suffix. Each piece of gear can have two of each, and they can be leveled up to 5 times, though you'll be able to find gear with tier 6 affixes rarely. Needless to say, this makes getting decent gear much easier. The crafting system is simple yet very powerful, with glyphs and runes offering further ways to alter your gear.
At the time of writing, legendary/set gear feels somewhat lacking and is definitely one of the weaker aspects of Last Epoch. The pool of available legendary/set gear feels quite small prior to the end-game farming areas, which expand it. You'll often get the same pieces of legendary gear if the same category drops, and most pieces are extremely specific in purpose and likely won't be useful for your class or build. Luckily this is an issue that can easily be ironed out with continued development.
The final major way to build your character is through idols–special items that go into their own specific inventory to grant various passive effects. Anyone familiar with Diablo II charms will immediately understand idols, with the only difference being that they don't confer a bonus in your general inventory. They come in various shapes and sizes, and you'll tetris them into a small inventory to potentially gain quite powerful boosts to all sorts of stats.
You'll journey through four distinct eras, each offering a wide range of distinct areas; it's quite fun to see how the world changes within each era, and I hope the developers fully explore them. The ancient era is criminally underused despite fighting dragons and dinosaurs being incredibly entertaining.
Gameplay itself is solid. I'd rank it above Path of Exile for sure, but below Diablo IV in terms of oomph. Several skills feel very weighty and powerful, but some definitely aren't as satisfying. Everything is animated well and looks good. Something I noticed in Last Epoch more than any other action-RPG that I've played is how much more I needed to pay attention to what I was fighting; there are very distinct enemies with attacks you definitely need to be aware of, and things can get quite hectic. I felt much more engaged than usual, especially when farming end-game maps.
Bosses are also very distinct and enjoyable. Each boss has an array of skills to learn, and they pack quite a punch. I never found face-tanking to be a viable strategy, even with a fairly strong life-leech build. Unfortunately, the story lacks bosses overall, but the end-game system greatly makes up for this with numerous challenging bosses to fight. Additionally, there are three dungeons and an arena to take on, each with its own unique bosses.
Needless to say, there is a significant chunk of enjoyable content to explore. The end-game monoliths allow you to farm specific items much easier than usual while offering an endlessly rising difficulty to increase rewards. This system is highly enjoyable and always feels satisfying to finish an echo and receive a pile of specific loot.
I have some minor complaints, but overall Last Epoch is an incredibly solid addition to the list of action RPGs. My biggest gripe would be that some skills feel unsatisfying to customize, with branching paths that force you to trade negative effects for other perks. Although this was a fairly rare occurrence, there were times when I had to change a skill specialization because there was no way to customize it in a way that I would enjoy using it. Not advancing a skill would make it too weak to continue using in the long run. However, it's worth noting that this issue was infrequent, and most skills are incredibly fun and satisfying to customize.
Another big one is aimed towards alt-a-holics specifically. There are absolutely no real systems in place to make leveling an alt easier, aside from the fact that legendary gear is often locked to a specific level seemingly regardless of when it drops. But you will still be made to go through the entire story, as well as several sidequests to unlock additional passive points, and your idol slots. For a game with such a wide range of classes, it’s incredibly annoying needing to spend several hours slogging through the main story for every single alt. Hopefully devs address this in the future, as it would be a very welcome addition that would allow players to enjoy even more of the game.
There is no doubt that when Last Epoch finally officially launches, it will proudly stand among the top action-RPGs and offer a comparable, and in some cases, a superior experience. I had to stop myself from playing and enjoying every class because I was taking far too long to write this review. I'll never forgive myself for not getting my primalist squirrel build up before writing. Last Epoch is a highly enjoyable and addictive game, and I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for something new to play in the genre. I look forward to returning to fully revisit Last Epoch when it launches to see how it has improved since writing this early access review.
Verdict
- Wonderful, varied, and vibrant landscapes
- The ability to alter and improve gear stats is fun and really helps simplify gearing
- A nice selection of classes, with an immense variety of builds
- A fairly large number of interesting bosses with various mechanics
- Great endgame system allowing for much more targeted loot gathering
- A small handful of skills have frustrating skill trees that force you to alter the skill negatively to progress it.
- Forced to play the entire story and do several side quests for every alt you make
- It can be somewhat difficult to try out building new skills, as you have to level them up which can take a very long time. And if you decide to switch back, you have to re-level the skill you switched from
- It takes too long to get the squirrel legendary item
