Diablo 4, Path of Exile, and the rest of the ARPG genre has competition in the mega-ambitious Last Epoch, built by its Reddit community and heading towards 1.0.
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I always marvel at how Grim Dawn isn’t in the conversation. It’s easily top tier, has no microtransactions, is single player offline, but also supports co-op multiplayer. It features a full cosmetic system that is entirely in-game with no cash shop nonsense. There are so many skills and builds with an outstanding itemization system. Robust crafting system. Repeatable end game challenge content.
Also, it is just recieving another huge free patch, and another full expansion has just been announced.
It took me forever to actually try it, I thought it was going to be janky indie stuff etc. I’m closing on 3000 hours and still dropping back in with new build themes and ideas. I paid $35 for that 3000 hours in a Steam sale.
But yea, Last Epoch is ok I guess.
Edit: a word
Edit 2: just to add since I saw a comment about multiplayer, there is a community run seasonal ladder League as well. Grim League, for those interested.
It’s just old. People talked about it back when it came out. POE I think gets recognized because it’s free to play (with DLC/MTX). I’ve played every ARPG under the sun and Last Epoch is one of the best I’ve ever played. It feels like the real successor to Diablo II
$35 Early Access with unfinished story but polished cash shop really shows you where the devs priorities are.
It’s also lacking. I come back every few updates but the game isn’t very good. It’s no Torchlight 2 or Grim Dawn.
Give it a try on the high seas. I did and I ended up buying it because it really is that good. I never interacted with a cash shop in my entire time playing