Diablo meets Chrono Trigger? ─ A Review of Last Epoch

After Path of Exile 2's Early Access period was delayed to December 6th, 2024, I figured why not take the time I would have spent in PoE playing Last Epoch instead? I'd heard pretty good things about it, and it was ultimately responsible for pushing Grinding Gear Games to include trading into PoE, so I thought it would be worth checking out just to see what direction it was pushing the ARPG genre to.
As for my experience in Last Epoch, I completed the campaign and all the base monoliths before delving into the arena and a few empowered monoliths. So while I haven't seen absolutely everything, I think I've devoted enough time to it to get a pretty good understanding of its basic systems and gameplay.
Overall, I have some pretty mixed feelings about LE. It has a very interesting world with some pretty cool settings, combining aspects of games like Chrono Trigger and Diablo, but I don't quite feel like it hits the mark, and I don't think it really competes with Path of Exile or Diablo IV just yet. With that being said, I still think it has a lot of potential, and if it were to focus on its strengths like its setting and story, I think it could carve a niche for itself for the single-player market, but with Path of Exile being free, I think it's going to be a bit of an uphill battle.
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[@FroPlamondon]

I'd consider this game a 7/10 personally, for what im interested in seeing in ARPG games. They nailed crafting, letting it feel useful and also making the random loot more meaningful. LE also has some of the best power fantasy in the genre, at least for the more casual end of players, mostly due to the crafting systems. Top end of power fantasy is a little lacking, though. I really like some of the suggestions in this video as far as mapping, getting individual timelines, voice acting, etc., but overall i think its a good game in its own right. Though I hope to seem some changes in season 2

[@MattCramerGolf]

Bad score tbh. Not experiencing the end game really, and finding those uniques that are "build defining" really makes this whole review pretty mute. The crafting in this game is about as good as it gets in ARPG's where it's thoughtful, but not overly complicated to where new players can't pick up on it with a little time. Skill system is also very well designed with many ways to augment a skill that can increase build variety by an immense amount. Also the newly implemented mechanics of the Merchants Guild and Circle of Fortune, is an INCREDIBLE system for either increases to Solo Self Found content, or a player driven trading economy is incredible and revolutionary for games of this genre. With all due respect, I just feel like this review is off the mark.

[@lhoubhet20ochate18]

they should make 2.0 and delete the merchant guild make player trade without restrictions

[@Tsarius11]

I've been looking at Last Epoch for a while now and nothing ever really pushed me towards buying it because that involved spending money. I already have D4 and Grim Dawn, PoE is free, so there wasn't a reason to buy it. I think you value story a lot more than I do, but hearing that basically nothing changed from lvl 40 to lvl 90 feels like a potential death sentence for a game that someone is wobbling back and forth on buying. All in all, I think your review was fine though I did notice a few sections where it felt like you were very obviously reading from a script.

[@Tsarius11]

Why the artwork look like one of those league of angels auto-play games?

[@LastProtagonist]

Idk man, it's just the Knight Harbinger image I pulled from their press kit