ARPG Last Epoch has been proving a hit with fans of the genre, with at least one Path of Exile player complimenting it for its ease of play and its respect for players’ time.
It’s not surprising Last Epoch has been compared to Path of Exile due to their similarities, but the former is clearly doing something right for it to have surpassed the latter in terms of player count on Steam. As far as Reddit user RN_Dreemurr is concerned, despite really enjoying Path of Exile and its complexity, their love for Last Epoch comes down to its combat design and “easy to play” style.
“You can’t brick a character unlike in PoE, and you can go in absolutely blind and finish campaign on a makeshift build, allowing you to play on how you ‘feel’ like playing,” RN_Dreemurr explained. They also highlighted how Last Epoch lets you try new builds with ease and praised the Circle of Fortune faction for allowing them to locate better items without needing to trade or spend currency on them.
Several others were quick to agree with RN_Dreemurr. Wheneveryouseefit argued the “single best thing this game does is allow you to play how you want without knowledge of the game,” meaning you can still put together a powerful build for the endgame as you learn how it works. It’s a sentiment GTSeptavius agreed with, revealing they have four different Mage builds that all play differently, and praising Last Epoch‘s viable build variety.
I definitely get where they’re coming from. I’ve not been able to put as much time into Last Epoch as most players, but even during my short playtime, my character was quickly accruing levels, new abilities, and gear. Combined with the systems being very easy to pick up, there’s lots of room for experimentation, allowing you to customize a build you’ll enjoy playing rather than being forced to make an optimal build solely for completing Last Epoch‘s endgame content.
However, this easiness can be a double-edged sword, as it’s precisely why others haven’t been enjoying Last Epoch. One YakaAvatar, for example, felt there’s no sense of progression since the main campaign is too easy, with pewsix_ calling Last Epoch “nothing but ‘grindy,'” claiming the game did nothing to incentivize their endgame grind beyond just running Monoliths over and over.
The endgame is something developer Eleventh Hour Games has promised to beef up with future updates. Aside from the addition of more challenging boss fights, the team will also be expanding the Monolith system, though there’s no word on when these updates are expected to arrive. Plus, as much as some people love it, it’s hard to ignore how buggy Last Epoch can be. The first post-launch patch appears to have cleared up several of them, but the online mode still suffers from server issues.
