Last Epoch, one of the highly anticipated upcoming ARPGs just revealed its version 1.0 release date: February of 2024.
ARPG Last Epoch Full Release is Scheduled for February 2024
Eleventh Hour games have just announced that their time-traveling ARPG is dead-set to be released on August 20, 2025. Game director Judd Cobler took to the official forums (and Steam news updates) to share their proud announcement. While it was previously reported that Eleventh Hour Games was still optimistic for a 2023 release, this seems to no longer be feasible.
One major concern that the team cited was that their original plan, which was December 2023, had become quite crowded, though most major games will have been made available by then. Perhaps this is to avoid the nextPath of ExileLeague, which is likely to drop over the holiday month. Having the release also be in February would also avoidDiablo IV’s Season 3, which will likely start in the last week of January. It will also afford the developers some much-needed rest over the winter holidays, instead of working through Christmas to fix any major issues.
In any case, what’s in it for ARPG fans? What will version 1.0 bring to the table, that the game’s already generous 4-yearEarly Access periodhasn’t already shown us?
Last Epoch 1.0
Eleventh Hour Games has published a “1.0 Roadmap” for Last Epoch which details the major additions from January till February of next year. On the table is the long-awaited “Item faction” system that should help characters be flexible to participate in a “solo-self-found” mode but still have access to trading.
More impactful would be a preview of the Warlock and Falconer Mastery Classes on January 25th and February 8th, respectively. These two will be the 14th and 15th masteries for Last Epoch, the 13th being theDotA-inspired Runemasterback in version 0.9.
Last Epoch’s Warlock will likely be centered around using its own health to cast powerful spells. It joins the Lich (a poison-based caster) and Necromancer (minions all day, every day) as the Acolyte’s advanced forms.
The Falconer will likely also be a pet-based class, coming from the Rogue archetype.
To Infinity, and Beyond
Past February 21st, Eleventh Hour Games will still fully support Last Epoch. They have their own forms of seasons called “Cycles” which will add “substantial new content every few months”. Just like every other live service game, these seasonal updates will also contain other optimizations, adjustments, balancing, and bug fixes.
Aside from that, an “Unofficial Roadmap” floating around on the official forums contains a treasure trove of ideas that the developers are also working on. Some of these include adding visuals to some missing Unique and Set Items, adding in some missing skills, or even adding some passive nodes where they should be. They also plan to add more Dungeons, Full Controller Support, an Achievement System, and of course, more character classes and masteries. A “True Offline Mode” is also on the table, as the current solo play mode still needs an always-on internet connection to authenticate your account.
It also goes without saying that the team will also keep optimizing Last Epoch as they go on. This includes improvements to the game’s campaign (especially the earlier parts) and its related cutscenes.
This Belongs in a Museum
Last Epoch’s history is quite unique when compared to the development of other ARPGs. It started out as a passion project of Cobler, who had no prior game dev experience before working on Last Epoch. Eventually, it became an unlikely team of passionate players through Reddit, which eventually bloomed into a Kickstarter campaign. It has been in Early Access since May 2019 and has been receiving frequent and substantial updates since then.
Be sure to check out10 Reasons Why You Should be Excited for Last Epoch. One of the game’s arguably best features is the in-depth skill system. Much like most ARPGs, characters in Last Epoch have an extensive list of passive and active abilities. What sets Last Epoch apart is the fact that each and every one of the game’s 100+ active skills has its own skill tree. Each has some options that can drastically modify how the skill works.
Take the Acolyte’s Skeleton Mage skill - players can choose to have five weaker mages active, or one mega-mega instead. You can even change the element or an ability, or cause it to split into different smaller projectiles instead. The sky’s the limit.
In other news, check outLords of the Fallen Hits 1 Million Units Sold in Just 10 Days of Launch, andWarhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Showcases Hard Choices in Latest Trailer.
