It's a great time to play ARPGs, but which one is really for you? Take a look at our list.
ARGPs are a ton of fun, and the genre seems to be more crowded than ever. With big names like Diablo IV leading the way, the market has really proliferated. Many of these orient their gameplay around Seasons, which rotate out mechanics and characters, giving you a reason to start up a new one and jump in again.
Here's a list of some ARPGs you should consider trying:
- Last Epoch
- Path of Exile 2
- Path of Exile
- Grim Dawn
- Diablo II/III
Last Epoch
Originally releasing on Early Access on Steam in 2019, Last Epoch has come a long way. With online play added only relatively recently, this is the best time to jump into Last Epoch, as "Cycle 1" (basically Season 1) just started. It added a really fun Nemesis mechanic to the game, where you can encounter a foe who gives you a few high-quality items including Uniques (like Legendaries), but you have a cool option of delaying the gear you'd like for later by Empowering it.
Spanning 5 classes with multiple masteries, it's pretty easy to find an archetype you like. You can be a minion-spamming Necromancer or a fast Bladedancer whose shadows repeat your skills. The real fun of Last Epoch is in tinkering with skills, because every single skill has its own skill tree! The skills level up as you play, and you can dramatically change them up; convert their damage type, make them a cooldown but increase targets a lot, and so on. You can truly make a build from just about any skill in this game.
On top of that, the crafting system is actually quite exciting; all the affixes you see on gear can be broken down and used as shards to make your own dream item, or make an item with good rolls even stronger. There's far too much depth to it to go over here, but the itemization is quite good.
The combat is pretty fast and you can start owning crowds really easily, so the power fantasy is definitely there. The end game consists of Monoliths, which is a mapping system of "rifts." There are also Dungeons with unique mechanics and lots of tough bosses. There are still many kinks to be worked out, to be fair, but over time, Last Epoch will shine.
Great for: Deep skill and Passives tinkering, precise gear crafting, feel of explosive power, big build diversity
Path of Exile 2
PoE2 is looking extremely hype; while no release date is yet known, the Path of Exile 2 Open Beta will most likely be around November 2024. The Witch gameplay showcase above speaks for itself; PoE2 looks freaking amazing. The slow-paced but really impactful animations, meaningful combat decisions, extremely wide build diversity, the ability to capture the souls of any enemies including exceptional ones... what's not to love. We are just waiting on a release date and more classes to be shown!
There's more footage on YouTube featuring lots of Monk and Sorcerer gameplay. The game is shaping up to be awesome for couch co-op. Path of Exile 2 will absolutely be a titan when it comes out.
Great for: In-depth, unique builds, slower and more tactical gameplay
Path of Exile
Path of Exile established a ton of trends in the ARPG genre and is still going with new seasons; the developers decided to keep it a separate title from PoE2. I haven't played PoE a lot, but I know that with its intense skill gem system and expansive passive tree, it's quite the ARPG.
Updates still roll out for this, so it's not too late to dive in, but many of you who wanted to have probably tried it. Still, it should be a good warmup for PoE2, even if the latter will feel pretty different to play.
Great for: Optimizers, speedfarmers, big build diversity
Grim Dawn
Another indie ARPG like Last Epoch, Grim Dawn is niche but fairly successful. Crate Entertainment drafted this successor to Titan's Quest and steadily built up the game from Early Access up to two expansions, with another one coming soon. Though it feels a bit dated, you won't be disappointed by the depth it offers.
You essentially combine two classes into a combo, and go from there. The steampunk flavor of the world brings in guns and explosives in addition to the typical sword and board sorcery.
No matter where you go in this huge world, spanning tons of acts (including actually meaningful story choices!), you will be satisfied, as the game is built around enemy factions to farm and lots of targeted drops. Even killing regular enemies is meaningful, as it fills up an "Anti-Reputation" or Infamy bar, which will culminate in super-powered Nemesis Bosses.
Great for: Expansive ARPG fans, build diversity, farming variety, fans of secrets
Diablo II/III
The classics — especially Diablo II — established a ton of precedents for the ARPG genre. Everything from affixes on gear, to the colors of rarity, to the skill tree system, a lot of that was, if not pioneered, then at least popularized by Diablo II. Diablo II (and you can play the Remastered version for some various improvements and better graphics) holds up with some extremely fine-tuned systems and some of the best item chasing out of all the modern ARPGs.
On the minus side, it doesn't have a system similar to rifts, so much of the endgame can be just running the same bosses over and over.
Diablo III made new trends for the genre, sticking us with a more streamlined skill bar and making the gameplay more based around a rotation and cooldowns. It also took strides with speeding up the gameplay a ton — something Path of Exile was probably already achieving around that time — leading to even faster jumping from pack to pack and speedclearing (though to be fair, even in Diablo II we already could get very speedy). But with the new Rift and Greater Rift system and its timers, what else was there to do but optimize clearing as fast as possible for maximum farm.
This "random dungeon" endgame system became a staple for most future ARPGs. Diablo III is still enjoyable to this day, with seasons introducing impactful and interesting mechanics.
Diablo II is great for: Classics fans, firmly established balance and systems, no "rotational cooldown" gameplay
Diablo III is great for: Fast, frenetic gameplay fans, characters on "steroids," quick sessions, Rifting
All in all, there's plenty of choice these days. With many titles introducing Seasons or Cycles, these also tend to rotate, so you can always jump between ARPGs when the opportunities arise. Try a few and find your favorite! But don't forget to get a great SteelSeries gaming headset to enjoy and chat with friends who will join you.