Take control of time itself in Last Epoch, an Action RPG that recently had it's 1.0 release! Choose your class, customize your build, then proceed to hack and/or slash your way to victory across various fantastical eras, wielding the power of the "Epoch" device. Jump around the timeline in an effort to save everyone from the encroaching Void!

Release Date: April 30th, 2019 (Early Access), February 21st, 2024 (official release)
Available Systems: Linux, Microsoft Windows (current at time of writing)
Developer: Eleventh Hour Games

Player Choice

Let's get right into it - I could mention the story, but this is an ARPG: you're not exactly here for the plot. Thankfully, the gameplay is simply wonderful. Fans of the genre, Eleventh Hour Games came together to build upon the games that came before.

Boasting five main classes, with the ability to specialize into one of three masteries per class a short ways into the campaign, Last Epoch is a paradise for a build-maker such as myself. The word on the street going into the game was that it finds the middle-ground between the infinitely-complicated Path of Exile, and the (much more) simplified Diablo IV. Let it be known that the rumors are true: the old adage "easy to learn, hard to master" would definitely apply here, as it's pretty straight-forward to set forth with a general idea of what you hope to achieve, tweak it along the way, and eventually come to an understanding on how to maximize it. The more you play, the more you realize the deceptive depths of the systems, and the more you are rewarded for your learning.

Last Epoch's "class wheel": five classes with three masteries each.

Each class comes with a passive tree, additional trees for each mastery, a good variety of skills to choose from, and the ability to customize the skills themselves (more on that later). As you level up and complete quests, you'll put points into the base tree before eventually branching out to a mastery, unlocking new skills the more invested you become. You can even dip a little bit into the other masteries as you proceed, adding another layer of possibility. Do I make my Sentinel a Void Knight, but pick up some Paladin passives so I can heal better? What if I play the Falconer, but dip into Marksman to make myself a master of bird and bow? Planning out my first character proved to be an enjoyable challenge. Of course, I could've just flown by the seat of my pants and figured it out as I progressed and been okay, but that's not the kind of player I am!

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Rogue

I ultimately decided that I wanted to play a Falconer, one of the Rogue masteries that debuted in the 1.0 release. That said, how exactly I wanted to run the Falconer was another matter entirely. Narrowing my build down to five skills was an exercise in decision-making, because a lot of them seemed appealing. I almost went a fire route and combined flammable Decoys with Explosive Trap and a Dive Bomb attack, but eventually settled on making an aerial bomber, my falcon dropping Acid Flasks on the enemy while I throw poisonous Nets to trap them in the noxious pool. That said, Acid Flask could've been a part of either build, depending on how I customized it: that's the beauty of the system!

An early-game example of one of my Falconer's skill trees.

All of this build-making leads back into the gameplay itself, as the fruits of one's labor fall into place and you get that sense of accomplishment from kicking ass and taking names. That said, while the game does want players to eventually pick a direction and stick with it, Last Epoch is not against me changing my mind and/or tinkering with how my character operates. By clicking the Respec button in the top-right, I could remove a point from the tree - I would have to gain experience again to reinvest the point, so it's not completely free of consequence, but it's still an option should I decide I'm not enjoying the current path.

For example, I completely changed my Aerial Assault skill's functionality: my initial instinct was to add poison, like the rest of the build, but that required me to take "Featherstorm", which causes the falcon to stay in place shooting feathers at enemies below. Turns out, I hated that stationary setup, so I ripped up all my points leading to the poison node and now I'm much happier with Aerial Assault, dropping bleeding Caltrops and inflicting Frailty to reduce enemy damage. Net could also drop Caltrops, so I picked that up as well; ultimately, my dislike of Featherstorm changed a lot of the build around, but I still ended up with something I enjoyed. By time of writing, my Falconer has become a hybrid of Damage Over Time stacks and pure Minion Damage: DoTs chew through larger bosses, while the falcon can annihilate smaller enemies all on its own. I wasn't forced to abandon the character and reroll because I messed up so poorly: I could continue playing the class I wanted, with a build I made for myself, merely adjusting it as I went.

All About The Numbers

Planning a build is one thing; actually playing the game is another matter entirely. Unfortunately, when 1.0 released on the 21st of February the servers were dead on arrival...a major headache for all players and developers, most certainly. Of course, these things can be fixed, and I personally wouldn't let an unstable few days ruin one's perception of a game that could last years. Thankfully, server stability wasn't an issue for some people like myself, as I took advantage of Last Epoch's full offline mode, a truly welcome feature in this day-and-age of "always online".

Anyway, as I've alluded to plenty by now, the hour-by-hour gameplay is great. Eleventh Hour Games has put in place many appreciated "quality of life" additions that make the experience feel better, taking what worked from other ARPG games and building upon them. For example, while this game has a system similar to Diablo II's charms - small items that sit in your inventory providing you passive bonuses - Last Epoch puts them in a separate area of your inventory screen, so they don't take up space that could be used by item drops. You can access the item-crafting forge from literally anywhere, and crafting materials have their own space as well. Town Portals appear instantly (no channeling) and are free, there's an in-game guide to help you with anything you're unsure about, and did I mention there's a built-in loot filter? Oh, by the way, there's an extensive built-in loot filter, and holy moly is it wonderful.

Pressing Shift + F by default brings up the Loot Filter screen: by deciding on a list of rules the system must follow, you'll only see what you want to see from then on. I didn't worry about using the filter early on, but boy was that a mistake. As a bow user, I didn't care when swords, shields, or wands were dropping; they were just vendor trash taking up space (not to mention the time spent returning to town to sell the junk). So I made a quick set of rules to remove them. They can still drop, but they won't appear on the screen unless I press X to temporarily turn off the filter. I made another rule saying all unique, set, or exalted items would still appear to me, though, so anything really good would not be missed. You can even filter by specific item qualities (known as affixes), such as "Minion Damage", "Dodge Rating", or "Fire Resistance": I may not use that 2-Handed Sword, but because it revealed itself to me I know it has a desired quality. I could then put it in the crafting forge and take the affix off the weapon, for use on stuff I actually want!

A Matter of Time

Okay, I've waited long enough: I want to talk about the story. Being a plot revolving around a time-travel device, naturally you would expect to be jumping around between different eras in time...and you would be right! It's a welcome change to the usual pace of these stories, being able to switch back-and-forth between the time periods. Seeing the same locations but in different ways is pretty cool, watching via gameplay how the choices of the characters you meet impact the timeline.

Last Epoch's Divine Era, where/when you start the game.

Last Epoch's Imperial Era, after the gods have fallen and the undead have taken over.

The story is at its best when the temporal shenanigans are most paramount. "I need a thing, but it's been moved; let me go back in time and get it." "The entrance to this place is blocked; let me go forward in time to when the people are gone so I can get in." Frankly, the campaign doesn't do that enough, as large swaths of the story take place in one particular era at a time. You have a long trek through the Ruined Era, then go back to the Imperial Era for a while, then go back further to the Divine Era where you started to close things out; we were sold a time-hopping adventure, and it's too few and far between for my liking. Of course, as I alluded to at the beginning, story always takes a back seat in these kinds of games...which is why it's so disappointing that their unique selling point occasionally whiffs. They elevated a lot of the design choices for the gameplay to new heights, and "not just another ARPG story" could've been another major achievement to make the game truly stand tall among the rest. It's still a good time, just not as good as it could be. While I was thinking this throughout my time with the campaign, it truly became apparent when Last Epoch sucker-punches you right at the end.

You see, the story in 1.0 has no ending. At all, whatsoever. You reach the end of the campaign, the bad-guy-of-the-moment gets away, and you're left with "all well, play the endgame for now". For a story-aficionado such as myself, this was very jarring: a total blue-ball moment for anyone who cared about what was happening on screen. The more I thought about it, the more it upset me: none of the major villains have been defeated, and you still have little idea of who or what caused the Void to begin consuming everything. You're left with more questions than answers, and while the game isn't truly completed - they plan to roll out more story segments over time, presumably free? - it's still a frustrating non-end to the campaign.

(Almost) Perfect?

The story's blunder is particularly egregious, but there are a few other things about Last Epoch that annoy me. All their improvements upon the formula seem to highlight the parts where they stumbled, with some questionable decisions that leave scratch marks on the artwork. A couple examples:

  • Crafting materials have their own space, but they don't just go there automatically: it requires a separate button to put them away. I have yet to determine why you would not put them there.
  • When you leave an area with the intention to return (to sell your junk at town, turn in a quest before resuming, etc.), it remembers what items are on the ground, but you lose fog of war progress and it respawns all enemies, including some mini-bosses. If you're not careful, you could return through a portal only to be surrounded by foes and quickly mauled.
  • To go with the above, the treasure chests close back up, but it tricks you: if you reopen a chest, it'll only contain a pittance of gold. However, some chests you definitely did not open might also be messed up, meaning whatever was inside is now lost forever. Open any chest you see before you leave, regardless of your inventory space!
  • When I reenter the game, all of my potions might be missing/gone. If I remove my belt for whatever reason - to compare stats, to upgrade it in the crafting forge, etc. - I also lose my potions.

There are more, and while these aren't deal-breakers by any means, they muddy what is otherwise a fantastic experience. "The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows", or so they say.

Conclusion

And there you have it! Despite what I just finished typing above, I really enjoyed Last Epoch and will continue to play it. Hopefully the story stuff will be rectified with additional content, because that was the only truly major complaint I have. The build-making exceeded my expectations, the story at large has potential to be really interesting and a cut above the genre with some more work, and the moment-to-moment gameplay was spot-on. The end-game features different timelines, which is another cool play on the standard (end-game seems fine, by the way: I haven't played enough of it to truly give an opinion, but I enjoyed what I've done). With a great collection of improvements on the formula, small and large, this has the makings of a wonderful experience for years to come.

Just...don't let some server trouble get you down early on!

Will you be picking up Last Epoch yourself, or have you done so already? What do you think of the game? Does the story's lacking end bother you as much as it bothers me? Let us know in the comments below!