Action-RPG Last Epoch launches to rave reviews, over 162,000 concurrent Steam players, and glowing comparisons to Diablo

Action-RPG Last Epoch is off to a flying start on Steam after hitting 1.0 earlier this week, and it's drawing great comparisons to Diablo.

Eleventh Hour Games' hack-and-slasher just launched yesterday, February 21, and already it looks like a certified hit. Last Epoch sailed past 162,000 concurrent players yesterday on Steam, according to SteamDB, and considering that peak figure was hit less than an hour ago, there's every reason to expect it could rise further.

Last Epoch has even taken the Steam best-sellers chart by storm, beating out games like Elden Ring, which is seeing a resurgence off the back of yesterday's excellent Shadow of the Erdtree trailer. In fact, Last Epoch is only trailing in the best-sellers chart to Valve's Steam Deck and new hotness Helldivers 2.

What's more, Last Epoch is drawing some very favorable comparisons to Blizzard's iconic Diablo series. If you aren't familiar with the new game, it's played from a semi-top-down perspective, unfolding as an action-RPG with dozens of abilities spread out across its 15 character classes, and hundreds of loot items to combine for the perfect character build.

If that doesn't remind you of Diablo, we don't know what will. Last Epoch is very much a dungeon-crawler in the same sense - you work your way through waves and hordes of minions, as well as powerful boss foes in dungeons all to claim the epic loot waiting for you at the end. Last Epoch is a game that very deliberately encourages grinding for the best items possible.

The action-RPG is sat at a 'Very Positive' rating after more than 33,000 reviews. "Deeper than D4. More accessible than Path of Exile. Better quality of life than any other ARPG," reads one glowing review. "Doesn't insult your intelligence like D4 and you don't need a PHD for it like in POE. Perfect," adds another.

It seems Last Epoch's launch yesterday was beset by server instability, as over 150,000 players swarmed into the game. This makes the glowing reviews even more positive though, and from the sounds of some reviews, it seems like there were merely a few hours of instability, and the online issues are now mostly ironed out.

Meanwhile, Diablo 4 is under fire for charging $30 for different portal colors, which players aren't impressed by one bit.