Last Epoch

I love everything about the gameplay of this game.
It's deep, engaging, and a fantastic replacement if Path of Exile 2 has bummed you out as much as it did for me. In fact, it's deep enough that it seems capable of holding your attention for many weeks to come, or even years if the fans are to be believed.

BUT... and this is a big one:
I just cannot excuse the absurd amount of DLC and cosmetics this game constantly shoves in your face while trying to play. I understand supporter packs, I understand the need to make a little extra money to sustain yourself on the long-term, but the frequency of these advertisements has no place in a €40 release.

• You get frequent pop-ups in chat about cosmetics.
  
• There's a “Cosmetic Shop” icon permanently on your mana bar.
  
• A bright purple “SHOP” option appears when you hit Escape and want to tweak a setting or quit the game.
  
[*] There's even a dedicated NPC in every town who serves no other purpose then to automatically open the Cosmetic Store for you. He also has a bright icon above his head that makes him seem important. Is it a quest? A reward? Nope, just a glorified store button to remind you to spend some real cash.

So, Last Epoch..Imagine if Diablo and Path of Exile had a time-traveling baby who was really into theorycrafting and loot explosions. That’s this game. You start off thinking, “Cool, I’ll just try one class.” Next thing you know, it's 3 AM, you're knee-deep in passive trees, and you've somehow created a lightning werebear with a vendetta. Don’t ask how. Just go with it.

The skill system is basically a playground for mad scientists. Every ability has its own upgrade tree, so your fireball can turn into a meteor, a flamethrower, or something that accidentally erases time itself (probably). And yes, necromancers can summon an army of skeletons big enough to block traffic.

The story? It involves time travel, ancient gods, apocalyptic horrors—typical Monday stuff. But it’s surprisingly engaging, and the environments across different eras look great (and occasionally terrifying).

The devs are clearly passionate, constantly updating the game and chatting with the community like that one overly enthusiastic dungeon master who really wants you to have a good time.

Final verdict?
If you like loot, deep builds, and yelling "WHAT YEAR IS IT?" while fighting a void dragon, Last Epoch is your jam.
9/10, would time-travel again.

Currently the greatest challenge in the game is trying not to fall asleep.

At its core, an ARPG should present the player with challenges and long term goals, and offer ways of tackling them through itemization. Dying too often? Fix your defenses. Killing stuff too slow? Get gear upgrades. Having mana issues? Fix your sustain. Last Epoch fundamentally doesn't get this, since it never challenges the player in any meaningful way, until its too late. The player is a god from lvl 1, well into the end-game (yes, even in empowered monoliths) - you never feel the need for upgrades, because you're always ahead of the curve. As a result, long term goals feel hollow since your power fantasy is already achieved.

People will tell you to push even higher corruption if you want some challenge, but by that point your build is essentially done, since all there's left to do is grind for the same gear with slightly bigger affixes. The game being braindead up until that point is a failure in design and removes any sense of progression.

When you add the very monotonous content of monoliths (blast screens for 2 minutes, rinse and repeat), the paper thin end-game systems, forgettable mobs and the generally dated gameplay (combat lacks feedback and feels floaty), what begins as fun or engaging soon turns into something dull and predictable.

If you want to switch your brain off and blast screens while watching something on your 2nd monitor, this game will be perfect for you. This review is not meant for you, but for the player that expects something more similar in progression and pacing to Grim Dawn, Diablo 2 or Path of Exile 2, instead of Diablo 3 or Diablo 4.

I feel nothing playing LE. It's just really boring...the bosses are terrible, the gameplay feels like there's no weight to it, the progression is so braindead easy...

The game does have some really good system, but when the core gameplay and progression is this mind numbing it's hard to keep playing.

Season 2 is incredibly good. They've finally addressed almost all of the gripes I've had with the game.
Endgame is way more varied, there's a ton of new ways to get cool loot, sets are no longer useless and combat is as fun as it ever was.
If you like ARPGs and are looking for something familiar and extremely polished - this is probably one of the best options on the market. They've practically perfected the classic ARPG formula with this patch.
Very excited for future updates!

Last Epoch showed great promise from the moment it came out in Early Access and now it has finally hit its stride with the Season 2 "Tombs of the Erased" patch. Today it is an amazing game, easy to get into, with endless content to explore and so many side activities crammed into each and every map you visit that it stays and feels fresh for a long, long time. I highly recommend it, and I cannot wait to see the extra content that future seasons and patches will add to it.

Played this game since Early Access, on every major patch.
This review is relevant to Season 2 Tombs of the Erased.

Game is too easy. Whats worse, it takes too long to get to content that can challenge you and your build, so you can't even refine it as you progress. By the time I got to corrupted Monoliths, I was already bored to tears. When I found out that I would have to grind some more to scale them up to any challenging difficulty, I was done with it.
This is an issue for me.

If you like an ARPG that is fun for 15-30 hours and is easy to pick up. Last Epoch is fine.

PS: This difficulty feels perfect for a Vampire Survivors like game, makes me wish Last Epoch was that instead of your usual ARPG.

Game is only fun for a very brief period of time. Campaign is boring, maps are boring, gameplay is boring and the only fun is the initial gearing process upon reaching endgame when you are replacing and crafting new gear. That only lasts a few hours after that you do same boring maps over and over. In similar games this process is somewhat exciting but LE still hasnt figured out how to make it engaging, its just a monotonous boring grind.

Wish there was a meh option instead of yes or no.
Over all I'd unironically say 6.9/10.
If you enjoy Diablo 3/4, or PoE1 this game will be more up your alley than PoE2 or Grim Dawn.
Glad theres good ARPG competition in this space. It was dull for a while. This game is probably going to be great for most ARPG fans, but for me it just doesn't cut it. Gameplay just falls flat at the end of the day.
There's a lot going for this game, but I'd rather just play PoE1 if I want the blasting / nothing is threatning till high endgame.
All my cons are things that can be fixed, but even if they were all fixed I still just don't think this game feels that good over all. I prefer the heavy hitting / weighted attacks of PoE2/Grim Dawn.

Pros:
Great crafting system.
Feels very responsive. Click button, Action Happen. This is nice, but it does make a lot of skills feel somewhat similar at the end the day.
UI is clean and pretty easy to get around. I like how it tells you what you will lose and gain from switching items. Also nice scaling options in the settings. It also tells you how you died. Very underrated feature.
Has offline mode.
Crafting materials don't take up storage space.
Can buy extra storage space for in game gold.
Implicit movement speed on boots.
Can respec just about everything just for gold.

Cons:
ZERO feel of threat during the campaign. Campaign is so boring. You just end up using a traveling skill to get to the next exit. Skip monsters because they're no threat and you're fast as fuck boy. Too much random teleporting through rifts. The in game "cut scenes" and cinematics are absolutely terrible. Don't want to go through this again and again.
Not enough weight to attacks. Feels like you're throwing pebbles / slapping things most the time and enemies don't really feel it.
Physics are way too floaty. This makes it feel cartoonish.
Might as well use Mouse1 to move. Can't have interact/attack on Mouse1 when using WASD. Wish interact / move were seperated in this case. Makes WASD not feel as good as it could.
No pausing when in online mode. :(
Travel moves run you into walls without smart tracking like in PoE2.
No big cursor option. I lose my cursor A LOT with all the stuff going on in game. Maybe this has to do with being on ultrawide, but it's pretty bad.

Meh:
Endgame is meh. I don't think anything needs to be done here but I just didn't enjoy it.
WASD is a nice addition but ultimately you should stick to the classic controls.
Needs to be better sounds for when loot drops. You can hardly hear the noise it makes. All loot drops kind of feel the same because of this.
Zone entrances/exits have a huge radius that you can't walk in. Just think this feels bad in most places. Should be able to walk closer to the door you're entering.
Can't use skins in offline mode.
The enemies you fight make too much noise. They're always grunting or screaming.

I suddenly care much less about what a disappointing game PoE 2 ended up being.

As a fan of ARPGs, I was excited to try this based on the reviews and recommendations. The build customization is awesome and I like the emphasis on crafting. However, I just couldn't get into the game as it never felt like there was any threat of dying or being skill-checked with my build. I just felt too overpowered and was bored with the gameplay and story. The game failed to hook me at six and half hours, which should be ample time to get into most games. I'm fine with the loss of $30 because I'm happy to support the devs, but this just isn't the game for me.

If you give the unique art style a chance, you’ll find probably the best ARPG on the market in Last Epoch
Pros:
+ Best crafting in the genre (maybe of any RPG period), collecting affixes as crafting material, combined with special runes allow a greater control on the item being crafted. No slot machine mechanics, the RNG gods smile upon us.

+ Amazing build options, with a more approachable learning curve than its real competitor in this regard: POE2. 5 classes with three unique evolutions each for a combined total of 15 to choose from, and now you can respec these mastery classes, encouraging experimentation at an increasing cost.

+ Best Solo-Self Found experience in an ARPG, because of unique mechanics that help target farm desired items, alongside the crafting system. Unlike in POE2 where endgame is very much dependent on trade.

+ Great endgame, I haven’t reached season 2’s just yet, but with the new additions to what I’ve already played at launch and in season 1, I’m sure it’ll be a blast.

+ Best loot filter in genre as well, and much easier to import than PoE2 or if you’d rather make your own it’s relatively simple.

+ Can be played offline, both logged in and completely disconnected. Great for steam deck users who want an offline character to play anywhere in the world.

+Indy devs, not only do you get to congratulate yourself for helping out the small guy. But you get devs who actively play the game and will even conversate with the general chat.

• Art style is more bright and vibrant than PoE2, or Diablo 4. The setting takes place across multiple time periods so environments include lush green prehistoric jungles with bright red flowers, to barely intact landscapes with devastated ruins standing in purple and pinkish haze.

• Campaign is decent but forgettable, don’t expect blizzards level of shine here, this is a neutral point for me because beyond Diablo 4 I don’t really care about story.

- Graphics are inferior to modern standards, but if you can get past that you’ll find they are still spectacular if maybe looking dated. With that being said this game runs better on my aging system than PoE2, and maybe Diablo 4.

- lacks the polish of Diablo 4 or PoE2, although I must say this seems to be improving every time I hop back on.

Amazing game. After playing PoE 2 it feels refreshing and fun. Monsters drop loot and you can experiment with many different skills during campaing. Love the WASD controls.

The game I wanted PoE 2 to be. I play and enjoy both, but Last Epoch is more focused on having a fun experience for us players.

Simply a fantastic game. In my opinion the best ARPG you can buy today.

Last Epoch is easily my favorite of the recent wave of action RPG's. I was very skeptical at first, but the class balance and variety is truly hard to beat. I personally enjoy the story, but if it isn't your thing you can blast through it pretty easily to get to a remarkable endgame system. The in game guide is so good that it's how I taught myself the game. Mousing over anything explains it to you concisely. There's such a vibrant gear crafting system that I could honestly play this game for years as is. After almost 700 hours, it still feels refreshing to roll a new character, and the dev team has implemented countless suggestions directly from player feedback into the game. Not everything is perfect, but we know they're working on it and building on steam for future seasons to be more frequent than almost 9 months for the latest one tomorrow!

The next patch looks to build on this consistent behavior, and changes are thoroughly explained in their patch notes and also have video content for people who don't want to read countless patch notes. I was really encouraged to see their recent wave of promotion with content creators in their community. It's been far too long since a game hasn't let me down, at all. And I think there's a character for everyone interested in grindy games like this.

Perfect balance between D4 and PoE. This game is great and only getting better.

Heard about Last Epoch through the ARPG media recently. After playing it I'm astonished on how much better it is compared to D4 and 0.2 POE2. It takes the best parts of both games and then has it's own twist. Excited for the season 2 release in a few days. I'm upset I didn't give it a try sooner.

Within minutes of playing a Void Knight Sentinel, I realized something important, I had been gaslit by game design for years. This game respects my time, and build choices. Each ability has its own specialization tree, meaning you’re not just choosing skills—you’re shaping them. My Void Knight doesn’t just deal damage; he travels through time to delete problems before they happen. Sometimes I don’t even know what I killed. It just stopped existing.

Feels like a power fantasy where the devs actually want me to have fun. I didn’t have to watch a 3-hour math video to understand what I was doing. I didn’t have to ask Reddit if my build would be viable in two weeks. And not once did a dev named Jonathan Rogers tell me to “trust the vision” while gutting movement skills and calling it progress.

Highly recommend, especially if you’re burned out from GGG’s “vision.” The only vision I’m following now is the one from the Void.

The game is good they are actively working on it and updating it passionately , with season 2 coming out on April 17th and alot of reworks and graphical updates its only getting better, definitely worth the $.

Fun game. graphics are a little dated compared to POE 2 and D4 but the combat is good

This is written shortly before Season 2 mainly to help new players figure out if they want to play.

Last Epoch is the perfect middle-ground of Diablo and PoE. It has clearly understandable skill trees that allow even a fairly casual player to simply make their own build without requiring a PHD while making you FEEL like you're a complete genius for figuring it out.

-Tool Tips ACTUALLY clearly tell you what things *do*. If you ever had that moment in other games where you read a skill description and just go "what?" LE has got you. The advanced Tooltips tell you in detail what the keywords actually mean. It feels extremely dumb to say this but the Tooltips are 10/10.

-Genius system to make new characters. You can essentially skip most of the story with a combination of campaign skip dungeons that are only really accessible on repeat playthroughs and an extremely well thought out system for level gear, allowing you to trivialize the boring early game section and getting to the end game and actually making your character in like 2 hours if you have gotten decent enough items, which are also fairly common, on your first character.

-The abilities all have their own skill tree which at times completely overhaul how that skill works or interacts with your character and other abilities.

-The different classes and subclasses beatifully execute their respective class fantasies while allowing you to customize that fantasy in meaningful ways. Want to play a Ranger that constantly fires Icy arrows that freeze all the enemies around you, trading survivability for simply freezing the enemies at all times? Or maybe you want to play a poisonous Lich that kills everything simply by existing and exhuming poison at all times. The game executes all these class fantasies flawlessly and everything feels like its focus built to allow you to really make your own character.

-The story isn't much to write home about but it at least doesn't get in the way of the game.

-The game has MTX but it never flaunts them in your face so you never feel advertised to, it even has an offline mode where the MTX store can't even be opened. The game actually respects you as more than a paypig.

To sum it up, Last Epoch really is a gamers game and you can tell that it was made by gamers who simply want you to have fun without all the bullshit this industry is trying to shove down our faces. The saddest part about Last Epoch is that more people aren't playing it.

If there is one thing a lot of us can relate to, it's being the little guy in world of giants (Hi GGG).

I loved path of exile 2 patch 0.1, played about 800 hours, then 0.2 came out and i got frustrated/bored within the first 15hrs so i quit and looked around for a replacement for my ARPG addiction, I gotta say, i think i found what i needed! This game is great! super great game! lots of fun and QoL that GGG REFUSES to add in, i love it!

Great visuals, great gameplay, great clarity of the skills and mechanis, the sound design is so satisfying too! not a single negative thing to say as of yet!

Hey Boys,

I sat down to try Last Epoch at 7 PM. Just a quick session, I said—stretch the legs of my Sentinel a bit before bed. Somehow, I woke up and the clock said “tomorrow.”

The night disappeared, my back ached, and my eyes were dry, but my soul? Rejuvenated. I hadn’t felt this hooked since someone dared me to finish a pint of ice cream at 2 AM—only this time, the stakes were higher.

There’s a certain magic when a game keeps you up all night without regret. That "just one more echo" feeling hit different in Last Epoch. Suddenly it's 6 AM, and I’m facing down death itself with a sword that glows like holy vengeance.

Look, I’ve spent my fair share of time in Diablo 4’s dungeons and Path of Exile’s labyrinths of currency systems. But Last Epoch? It’s the game that stole my heart like a rogue with a silver tongue and god-tier crit chance.

With Tombs of the Erased (Season 2) coming in hot, Last Epoch is doubling down. The new zones are drenched in eerie beauty—fog, crypts, and atmospheric lighting that looks like it was blessed by Hades himself. It doesn’t just look good; it feels hauntingly alive.

The visual design is cinematic in the most unpretentious way. It doesn't shout, "look at me!"—it whispers, “stay a while… lose sleep.” And buddy, I did.

Now, let’s talk Paladin. My Sentinel didn’t just put on armor—he became divine wrath incarnate. Every hammer smash is like a sermon in steel.

I don’t play the Paladin, I become the Paladin. Aura of Judgment lights up the screen like the northern lights in a thunderstorm. You don’t fight enemies—you redeem them… into ash.

There’s something holy and unhinged about channeling godly power in a system this refined. It’s not just another tanky melee—it’s a cathedral with legs. And those legs are kicking straight through corrupted souls.

And oh man, the way gear supports your fantasy? Chef’s kiss. I’m out here crafting swords with six blessings and a dream.

Which brings me to the crafting system—it’s actually fun. It respects your time, your intelligence, and your desire to make stuff that matters. It’s like IKEA, but if you were building divine judgment instead of bookshelves.

Compare that to Diablo 4’s bland roll-the-dice upgrades. Or PoE’s “what does this fossil do again?” roulette wheel. Last Epoch knows what you want: control, clarity, and chaos in equal measure.

Want to try a new build? Go nuts. Respeccing is easy, so you’re never punished for curiosity—PoE2 could never.

And yeah, let’s talk offline mode. Sometimes I want to unplug from the world but still sling hammers through time. Last Epoch gets that, while Diablo 4 is still tying your gameplay to server status and weather patterns in Ohio.

This game doesn’t just let you play—it invites you to. Whether you’ve got five minutes or five hours, there’s always something meaningful to do. And that, my friends, is a modern miracle.

The time-travel setting? Criminally underrated. You’re not just clearing monsters—you’re rewriting history, one legendary drop at a time.

Each era has a vibe, a soul, and enemies that look like they crawled out of a prog metal album cover. I’ve seen beetles made of bone and fire that would make H.R. Giger weep. And yes, I clicked on every one of them.

The devs at Eleventh Hour Games have managed something special. They didn’t just make an ARPG—they made the ARPG. If ARPGs were pizza, Last Epoch would be that corner slice with just the right amount of crispy cheese.

Let’s not forget about the monolith system—randomized, layered, and dripping with loot. Every choice you make echoes through time and reward. It’s a roguelite nested inside an ARPG wrapped in a love letter to the genre.

Every time I log in, I find a new interaction I didn’t notice before. An affix here, a synergistic node there—it’s like discovering a secret level inside your own brain. And suddenly, my Paladin isn’t just good—he’s divine and stylish.

The combat? Smooth like jazz, but deadly like a lightning storm in plate armor. Responsiveness like this should be illegal in half-finished AAA games.

Diablo 4 may have the budget, but Last Epoch has the soul. PoE2 may have depth, but Last Epoch has design that respects you from hour 1. You’re not playing a spreadsheet—you’re playing a masterpiece with a damage multiplier.

Judd Cobler—sir, madman, genius—thank you. You and your team have created something timeless, pun fully intended. You gave us a game that lets us wield gods, time, and flaming swords on a Tuesday night like it’s nothing.

So yeah, I stayed up all night. I don’t regret it. In fact, I might do it again tonight—because Last Epoch is the best thing to happen to ARPGs since the mouse.

Thank you kindly,

-ruthless

One of the best ARPGs on the market today. Every skill has it's own skill tree which provides incredible depth to each class and it has the absolute best gear crafting system of any ARPG I've played.

If you are feeling burnt out on POE or D4, definitely give this game a try.

GOD LIKE ARPG

I want to start with saying i am a veteran ARPG player. I have been waiting for a game like this since Diablo 2. The game's strongest points really shine. The music in this game is relaxing, I adore the soundtrack. The play is well balanced and the item drops are medium to OK. This is totally excusable because the game boast the best crafting system of ANY ARPG. The crafting system is easy to understand, it has decent success rates and leaves you feeling good about progression. The maps are a perfect size and obstacles are strategically placed VS all over the map hindering play. Overall, it is so close to perfection that i only have a few issues, but they are what is keeping this game from being the GOAT. The games biggest issue is the lack of social interaction and trade system. A big part of what makes these kinds of games so great is being able to jump into someones map and help them slay monsters and trade. The game needs a way to search and join games/parties. The games needs a viable trade system (not the faction crap, that sucks SOOOO bad, you should get rid of that, absolute waist of time and money). The lack of social interactions makes what is a great game a lonesome road. When you are done with the main story and hit the endgame, it is just more of the same. I get that you would need a Bnet style server/client setup but you could also just let us host our own games. Please make a party menu/game search and please let us trade. Unlock the potential of this game!

great ARPG and the devs actually play and know their game.

Incredibly friendly, systems are explained in game (WOW I KNOW). LE Skill trees are probably the best skill system in any ARPG right now. Loot system is friendliest in the industry, and becoming more friendly. itemization by far and away one of the best parts of this game you literally target farm affixes for example. New update in April will add insane levels of endgame content.

I love Last Epoc best ARPG overall right now (Most fun you will have)

Last EPOC PLEASE GIVE US BETTER COSMETICS TO BUY I WANT TO GIVE YOU MORE MONEY.

Things POE2 does better than Last Epoc

POE2 story is better
POE2 boss fights are cooler, and more distinct
POE2 visuals are sharp
POE2 Cosmetics are way better.

But LE wins in core game-play loops, and experimenting
There are many ways to make builds work. And that is where the real fun in any ARPG is to be had.

After 8k hours in POE1, and watching it die for the horrible and slow POE2, decided to try this and man, it was a pleasant surprise!
Having a lot of fun during the campaign, crafting my items without following any guide and im having no issues with damage and survivability so far. Tried the same on POE1 when i started it, it was a disaster. Now hyped for next content in April.

Better than D4, less complex than PoE/PoE2 in a way that its still possible to have plenty of unique builds. Basically this is the perfect in-between if you didn't like both games, also its visually really nice.

I bought this game for full price thinking. I'll hope this game gets better, and they are improving. Hope to see gold increase in Fully offline mode so i can farm dungeons that eat gold for breakfest. I know people love Merchant guild for items but i love to find items myself. Sadly MG is useless in Fully offline and farming gold is tedius...

Is game good? Its better than diablo 4 plus its offline

A overall.
Most fun gameplay and pace of any arpg for all classes with skill customizations and vast build variety, no need to go to any build guides.

Cons:
Performance issues. crashes still very normal.
Longer play time results in bank tabs lag. (playing for 45+mins at a time resuslts in each bank tab taking 7-10 seconds to load which is incredibly frustrating)
Controller support doesnt work with all skills as some skill cast in fruthest facing direction still making them uesless.

This game is killer. Much better than any of the other big budget titles in this genre right now. I've only played one class so far but I really love how the class system works, and the diversity in the builds. Everything makes sense. It's balanced, from what I can tell in my very limited experience so far. The crafting system is great.

The NPCs are a bit chatty..... only complaint.

poe2 refugee here. slowly liking the game. eagerly waiting for the season 2

If you want to actually live out your ARPG power fantasy, instead of fantasizing that PoE2 will one day give you any power, come play this game. You won't be disappointed.

Great game, great fun. A company that actually does listen to its player base.

LE over all ARPG. just the right mix of challenge, experimentation, purty visuals and loot. I'll play the OTHER arpg until the 17th but they did EHG dirty and i dont appreciate it. i got your back EHG.

This is probably this best ARPG, the loot is great, the fights are fun, and the crafting is top teir. Casual friendly like diablo but fun for hardcore players from poe, it captures the best aspects of an ARPG. Its well worth every penny theres not a second of my play time that i have not enjoyed.

Last Epoch is a solid addition the ARPG genre and brings new ideas to the table, especially in terms of character development. The best part of the game is how they balance difficulty to keep the game engaging without being forced to follow META builds. Cannot recommend enough.

After full release there is still no option to easily compare stats and equip offhand... This is ridiculous.

The developers focused on making good systems and they forgot to make a good game. Also what kind of engine is this? Diablo 2 25 years ago had the entire acts on the same map without loading screens, except when you entered dungeons. This game has tons of mini-zones all with loading screens in between. It just takes you out of the game having to go through so many loading screens.

Honestly one of the best ARPG out there. The right amount of difficulty (for the campaign) as well as character development through skill upgrades/variations. In term of the learning curve, it's right inbetween Diablo 4 (very simple) and Path of Exile 1 (being very complicated for a first timer). In Last Epoch, you can make any build work without having to do napkin maths every level.
Highly recommend if you enjoyed D3, D4, PoE1, PoE2

The crafting is system is so simple for a casual like me! It makes builds fun without looking up a guide!

Fun game, awful music. If you dont like constant, discordant moaning then Id recommend muting

I find it more challenging than D4 and not as complicated as POE. Like so many others have said. I look forward to the next season and will support this game so long as I'm enjoying it.

Alright, let’s get one thing straight—if you’re trying to decide between Last Epoch, Path of Exile 2, and Diablo 4, you’re obviously looking for the ultimate ARPG experience. Lucky for you, I’ve done the hard work and ranked them across various categories. You're welcome.

Category Rankings (1 = Best, 3 = Worst)
Graphics/Visual Presentation/Cutscenes:
🥇 Diablo 4 – Blizzard, as usual, proves that if there’s one thing they can do better than anyone, it’s cinematics and environments. Shame that’s about all they excel at.
🥈 Path of Exile 2 – Looks solid, but let’s be real, GGG has never been known for eye candy.
🥉 Last Epoch – It’s... functional. But hey, at least it doesn’t look like a PowerPoint presentation anymore.

Sound/Sound Design/Soundtrack:
🥇 Last Epoch – Somehow, EHG went all-in on sound design and delivered the best title screen music in ARPG history. Bravo.
🥈 Diablo 4 – Good, but mostly because of nostalgia.
🥉 Path of Exile 2 – Sound? Oh yeah, that thing you turn off because half the skills feel like they were recorded in a tin can.

Story/Storytelling:
🥇 Diablo 4 – The writing team at Blizzard may be on life support, but they still somehow managed to beat the competition here.
🥈 Path of Exile 2 – It tries, it really does.
🥉 Last Epoch – The story is there, technically. It exists. Let’s just say EHG makes better games than novels.

Gameplay:
🥇 Last Epoch & Path of Exile 2 (TIE) – One is deep, rewarding, and engaging. The other is Path of Exile.
🥈 Diablo 4 – Feels like an ARPG designed by a committee that had to explain what an ARPG is to their boss every week.

Skill System/Modifications:
🥇 Last Epoch – Absolute gold standard. Turning skills into entirely new mechanics? Beautiful.
🥈 Path of Exile 2 – Still solid, but a bit more rigid.
🥉 Diablo 4 – LOL.

Endgame Grind Fun:
🥇 Path of Exile 2 – Grinding Gear Games lives up to its name.
🥈 Last Epoch – Good stuff, just not as absurdly deep as PoE.
🥉 Diablo 4 – When your endgame grind feels like a chore, you have a problem.

Ideas/Game Mechanics:
🥇 Last Epoch – Time travel, unique dungeon mechanics, and a Nemesis system that actually feels rewarding. EHG is out here cooking.
🥈 Path of Exile 2 – Great stuff, but just a little behind Last Epoch’s innovation.
🥉 Diablo 4 – Revolutionary idea: what if... we made Diablo 3 again?

Listening to Community:
🥇 Last Epoch – EHG actually listens. What a wild concept.
🥈 Path of Exile 2 – GGG listens... sometimes.
🥉 Diablo 4 – Blizzard listens in the same way a cat listens to you telling it to get off the counter.

Value for Money:
🥇 Path of Exile 2 – Free-to-play done right.
🥈 Last Epoch – Buy once, play forever. No nonsense.
🥉 Diablo 4 – $70 for the base game, plus battle passes, plus expansions. Nice.

Final Thoughts
Diablo 4 wins the “Best Looking But Least Fun” award. It’s gorgeous, sure, but once you get past the visuals, you’re left wondering if you should just replay Diablo 2 instead.

Path of Exile 2 is a beast when it comes to endgame grind and sheer content volume, but it still carries the baggage of needing a PhD in ARPG Economics to fully grasp its systems.

And then there’s Last Epoch. The little indie ARPG that could. Is it perfect? No. The story needs work, the world feels a bit empty, and real animated cutscenes would be a massive plus. But EHG is out here pulling off miracles with a fraction of the budget of its competitors. The skill system is top-tier, the loot filter is built-in (imagine that!), and the devs actually care about player feedback.

Final Verdict: If I had to choose between Last Epoch, Path of Exile 2, and Diablo 4... well, let’s just say Diablo 4 wouldn’t even be in the conversation.

And Season 2? Looking real spicy.

If you are craving more from the Diablo franchise and get a migraine trying to unfold the heroin laced cocaine riddle talent trees of PoE, then Epoch is exactly what you need. It has enough depth to give you options but not so much that you have to have a masters degree to understand. It is also visually stunning where it needs to be and allows the gameplay to speak for itself.

Great ARPG to play if D4 is too easy and PoE is too complex for you.