Should you play Last Epoch in 2023?
What Is Last Epoch?
Last Epoch came into early access on steam afew years ago and just had its 0.9 update which included multiplayer. The ARPG side plays like most others in the genre, you pick a character, progress through the prologue and then each chapter (similar to diablo 3). The difference here is the Era system, throughout the story you will get the opportunity to travel across different time zones, so fighting dinosaurs in a prehistoric era to some post-apocalyptic future era. and the zones and maps you play are spread among these different eras.
Last Epoch Claasses
There are 5 classes in Last Epoch and they are really refreshing. The game works very similar to Lost Ark, in that you pick a class and then pick a subclass. Last Epoch lets you choose one of the base classes, at the beginning of the game and then as you progress to around level 20 in the story you pick your subclass.
Some classes are pretty traditional, and I won’t go into every subclass. But there is a tanky sentinel that can turn into a holy paladin or a void knight, mage can go down a path of pure sorcerer or wield a weapon as spellblade and then the rogue can be a marksman from range or a blade dancer up close. And then there are 2 really unique classes; The primalist has which can be a druid, shaman or beastmaster and serves as kind of a barbarian with links to nature. And then the acolyte can be a warlock, necromancer or scythe wielding lich.
Overall these classes are super fun. I played a primalist and acolyte when the game first came out, and coming back now I’ve gone with a void knight. And each play style has been super unique and fun. But one of the coolest parts of the games for me is the skills and abilities for these classes.
Skills And Passives
So as you progress in Last Epoch you gain passives abilities; place your passives into your core skills and once you reach a certain threshold you unlock new abilities. Then once you unlock your sub class you start putting points into these passives too. This is one of the main reasons to play Last Epoch in 2023.
That alone is a good system, but you also have a skill progression system which is unique to last epoch. Pick a skill you like and start levelling that skill, and this is what defines your build. These are much more than passives.The skill can completely change how your skills work.
Last Epoch Endgame Experience
If you’ve played something like path of exile, the endgame here is a little shallow. The main endgame from what I’ve seen is this branching path system called the monolith of fate. You start on an island and you progress outwards into increasingly difficult maps. Each map has powerful affixes that make it harder, but reward you with increasingly powerful rewards.
There are also dungeons, so as you clear maps of enemies you will have keys drop, clicking the key shows you the dungeon entrance, and then you select your difficulty level and progress in here for rewards too. Usually more of a boss fight again all the way upto level 100.
Overall as someone who has played path of exile, the endgame feels very bare. I love the game, I love the classes, but I haven’t seen anything else at the end game yet.
Should You Play Lost Epoch in 2023
So should you play Last Epoch in 2023. If you are a lover of ARPGs, then this is a fantastic title, it is incredibly polished for a game in early access. The story is super fun and you can play through loads of completely different classes. The ability to create subclasses gives the game tons of replayability and that’s what I’ve enjoyed most about the game, making new classes and builds.
But if you’re looking for a game with a really deep and complex endgame, this isn’t it, or not right not. On its own and if its the only game that existed, its good. But compared to Path of Exile, which is a free game, this is just a shade of what that game does.
I do think the game is worth the money, it’s a fantastic game and I think it’s worth getting. It is unique enough to stand alone as its own ARPG
Thats it for this review, check out our other MMO reviews below: