Last Epoch review – paradise for ARPG build-tinkerers that eventually loses steam

I’m neversure whether I’m doing the right thing in Last Epoch, yet as I float around as an undead vacuum cleaner – hoovering up my enemies’ health bars while my minions keep them distracted – I know that I’m at least having a good time.

Last Epoch reviewDeveloper: Eleventh Hour GamesPublisher: Eleventh Hour GamesPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 21st Feb on PC (Steam)

I’ve opted for a lich build, and thanks to the flexibility of Last Epoch’s skill trees, I’ve been able to dip into other subclasses to create my own personal playstyle. Is it a viable build for the hardest endgame battles? Almost certainly not, but I’m glad I haven’t succumbed to the urge to Google the current meta.

That’s because tinkering and experimenting with different builds is the point of Last Epoch, and trying to find short-cuts to this would mean skipping the very best part of the game. Which, for me, is the experimentation found in the levelling and build-creation process. As I discovered towards the later stages of the campaign and the start of the endgame, however, this is a strength that gradually loses its potency. When the rate of progression slows down and there is no longer an obvious supply of new abilities or rewards to keep you entertained, Last Epoch starts to feel like it’s running out of fresh ideas.

Like any classic ARPG, things kick off in Last Epoch with a story campaign where you pick your class and develop your abilities. Set in the mystical land of Eterra, your character stumbles into the middle of a war between gods, and somehow gets sucked into a time rift. Here, you see a version of the future where the world is in ruins – and naturally, it’s up to you to hop between timelines to fix the problem. It’s a clever concept that allows you to see the world as it goes through various ages, pitting you against a variety of different tyrants and enemies in each. One particularly nifty sidequest involves travelling forwards in time to retrieve a badge from some ruins, then travelling back in time with the badge to pass through a checkpoint. Showing players the messy end result of Eterra’s timeline also sets up a nice investigative mystery: how did things end up this way, and what sort of route will you take through time to fix it?