Last Epoch 1.0 Overview by Game Director, Judd Cobler Last Epoch is Releasing 2024-02-21T17:00:00Z (UTC)! Welcome everyone to the Patch Notes for Last Epoch 1.0! It’s been an amazing road to this point, and it’s unreal to be writing patch notes without using the term “Beta Patch”. With this patch Last Epoch will officially be leaving Early Access. We couldn’t have made it to this point without all of you, our amazing community driving the world of Eterra alongside us. We ...
And yet even with chat disabled, “Welcome to Last Epoch chat!” still pops up every time you change zones, as it has since day 1 of the chat function being forced on users, even users playing offline, sometime last year. And while a bug like that might be irrelevant, it captures the essence of the experience of playing the game perfectly: incompetence and thoughtlessness shine through absolutely everywhere, and nothing works the way it ought to.
I wanted to love this game, but it’s impossible. I’m pretty sure the devs have their hearts in the right place, but they’re not good enough to maintain a game of this type and scope. Even the graphics look like a $5 asset pack from the Unreal store.
FYI the disable chat bug has been fixed for several months now. We’re also getting true offline mode with 1.0 tomorrow. I think the current version of “offline” will still be available, but I’m not certain.
1.0 is getting a “true offline” mode where there won’t be any chat (and where a connection isn’t required for server authentication). Personally, I quite like the chat and the sense of community it brings (apart from when it’s filled with “D4 bad”) but I can see myself wanting it turned off if the game gets much more popular and attracts a more casual playerbase.
Honestly, though, I feel like that’s such a minor quibble to have - especially for a game still in beta. While Last Epoch obviously doesn’t have the budget behind it that Diablo 4 or Path Of Exile has, I think it’s done a great job of cementing itself as a worthwhile addition to the genre already. The developers have done a brilliant job of coming up with creative solutions to problems (both LE’s own problems and problems that other games have suffered from) and I think they’ve laid a very strong foundation to continue to build upon going forward. The game is mechanically interesting, has probably the most interesting itemisation and by far the best crafting in the genre, and generally feels good to play.
I agree that the art style isn’t as strong as Diablo 4, Path Of Exile or Grim Dawn, but I think it looks much better than a cheap Unreal asset - especially with the lighting overhaul in 1.0. And I’m glad that it isn’t just another dark fantasy setting; as much as I love those kinds of settings (Grim Dawn’s, especially), having the more lush, vibrant style of Last Epoch makes for a nice change.
It’s not a perfect game by any stretch, but I think it’s a very good game and I think it has a lot of room to grow going forward.
I find the graphics to be on par with grim dawn and path of exile, and I don’t feel d4 is a good comparison because the art styles are so different.
How much have you played the game?
It’s in a very good state, even with the bug you describe which is very low priority and I haven’t even noticed myself, the majority of people play online.
They have made a game that is objectively better than D4 in some areas, I think that’s pretty good for a small studio and saying they are incompetent and thoughtless just sounds like back seat driving to me.
lol
Considering that the game is done in unity, the graphics looking like a $5 asset pack from the Unreal store sounds like praise to me, given that they have custom made all the models now.
What a bizarre reply.
As bizarre as someone saying that incompetence and thoughtlessness shine through everywhere.
I mean the website also feels quite amateurish, as does the art-design. It’s not bad for an indie game, but it seems to want to be so much more.