That's fine, but surely action RPGs can be more than this

It's written that whenever Blizzard releases a Diablo game, players will be annoyed by it – it's too dark, or not dark enough, or too grumpy, or not grumpy enough, or the loot isn't good, or it doesn't work, or its business model is suspect. It's also written that there will be a challenger, a game from a scary indie developer that looks like Diablo and plays like Diablo, but is pure at heart and will deliver to all the frustrated Diablo players exactly what they wanted but Blizzard refused to give them.

Right now, it's the game Last Epoch from the global indie studio Eleventh Hour Games that is in the distance. Last Epoch came out on February 21st and has been doing very well on Steam, sitting comfortably in the top 10 most played games at the time of writing. As seen on Reddit and elsewhere, many players can't help but compare Last Epoch to Diablo 4. Many Diablo fans are treating it as a refuge from a troubled period for Blizzard's recent that included a disastrous reception for its first season and a generally underwhelming response to what has followed.

However, it is important to note that Last Epoch has been in development for a long time. Its first free-to-play demo was released back in 2018 alongside a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. In that sense, it cannot be specified as a reaction to Diablo 4, which was not revealed until late 2019 or released until June 2023. For its developers at Eleventh Hour, Last Epoch is probably a pure expression of what they want this specific type of action RPG to be.