Last Epoch has not officially been released yet, but it is already receiving a lot of recommendations during Early Access. At gamescom, the developers show the new update featuring one of the most exciting classes in the genre.
What kind of game is this? Last Epoch is a classic ARPG, putting it next to Diablo, Path of Exile, Wolcen, and others. You play as one of a total of 15 classes from an isometric perspective, battling through hordes of enemies to obtain better loot.
The special feature of the title is the time travel mechanic that gives it its name. As you progress through the story, you change timelines multiple times, giving the developers great freedom in designing the world. In addition to the commonly dark areas typical for the genre, there are also colorful excursions into the fauna from time to time.
Furthermore, Last Epoch boasts depth in its skill system without becoming unnecessarily complicated. Nevertheless, each skill has its own skill tree and can be customized and even fundamentally altered through up to 20 nodes.
You can find the new trailer from gamescom with an insight into the class “Runemaster” here:
The new Runemaster can trigger 40 different spells with just one button
What new features are being added? At gamescom, the developers from Eleventh Hour Games announced the major patch 0.9.2. The game will therefore remain in Early Access but will expand massively with the update.
In addition to numerous new monsters, items, and a completely new map mechanic, the studio is also releasing a localization in 8 additional languages, and yes, German is one of them. Until now, the game was only playable in English.
The big highlight, however, is the class Runemaster. It is an expansion of the Mage base class and will be accessible after about 10 to 15 hours of gameplay. The spell-crafting mage strongly resembles the game Magicka, as also mentioned by the studio’s CEO in the interview as inspiration.
What can the Runemaster do? If you have played Magicka, you should be familiar with the principle. For everyone else, here is a brief explanation. The Runemaster has access to skills from three different elements: fire, lightning, and ice.
Each skill leaves a rune of the respective element above you, and you can stack up to three of them. Depending on the order in which you combine the various elemental runes, a different ability comes out. Therefore, fire, lightning, and lightning create a different skill than lightning, ice, and lightning.
The whole system goes even deeper. Through the various nodes in your skills, you can choose and customize the elements of each individual ability. Additionally, there are also spells that are stronger when you keep the runes instead of using them.
The entire Runemaster system seems very well thought out and fun. It has the necessary depth to allow for diversity and builds, but it is never too complicated to provide beginners with a good class.
The developers themselves say about their creation: “The Runemaster offers more options and diversity within a single ability than some ARPGs have in a complete class.” You will be able to test it yourself starting from September 7. That’s when patch 0.9.2 is released, one of the last before the final release, which is planned for the end of 2023.
Last Epoch comes from fans, for fans: We are literally the community
Why is the game such a hidden gem? Last Epoch has been in Early Access on Steam since 2019 but has not yet made a major breakthrough. Nevertheless, the game is very well received by those who try it. Currently, 84% of the total 19,290 reviews are positive, a multiplayer patch was able to increase the number of players by over 4,000%.
The game’s founder also tells us in an interview why this is the case. Last Epoch originated from an idea he had while playing. He himself claims to have spent well over 10,000 hours in various ARPGs, but none satisfied him completely. So he started the project on reddit and sought like-minded individuals in the communities.
Within a short time, 8 other people joined him to develop Last Epoch in their spare time after work. Hence, the name of the studio, Eleventh Hour Games, is derived.
How does being a fan manifest? We asked. As an example, he mentions the dedicated skill tree that exists for each individual skill in the game. He explains that this is not something other games would do and it would have been much too much work. But the community wanted this feature, and they themselves also wanted it because they are fans of the genre: We are literally the community.
Have you played Last Epoch yourself? What do you think of the idea? And how do you find the Runemaster as a new class? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
Our editor Benedict Grothaus was already enthusiastic about the title back in March: A small ARPG on Steam is currently the perfect game to play while waiting for Diablo 4
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