Last Epoch is set in Eterra, a world that’s already ruined in several different ways depending on when you visit it. The story has you bouncing across eras — ancient, divine, imperial collapse, apocalyptic future — trying to untangle how everything went to hell and whether you can actually fix it. Time isn’t just lore wallpaper; it’s baked into zones, enemy sets, and how the endgame is framed.

On the character side, you start with one of five base classes and then lock into a mastery (like Void Knight, Bladedancer, Necromancer, etc.), each with its own passives and signature skills. The real sauce is in skill specialisation: every active skill has its own tree, letting you turn a basic ability into something unrecognisable — chain clear, single-target nuke, utility, or hybrid. Respeccing skills costs time, not cash shop drama; the game expects you to tweak and iterate.

Loot is straightforward but flexible: affixes, crafting, legendaries, and uniques that are strong without demanding a spreadsheet to equip them. The crafting system lets you push good drops into great drops without feeling like you’re rolling a casino every click. It’s closer to “respect your time” than “hope this 1% chance doesn’t brick your gear for the night.”

Endgame revolves around three pillars: the Monolith of Fate (timelines you push for loot and corruption), Dungeons with their own mechanics and rewards, and Arena for pure scaling difficulty. The Monolith network is the main spine — timelines, bosses, corruption ramps, and empowered variants that become the long-term grind once your build is online. On top of that, Cycles act as the seasonal reset: fresh ladders, new mechanics, and a reason to re-roll without turning the game into a second job.

In the Vault, Last Epoch covers the slot of “tight ARPG with modern quality of life.” When you want to talk about skill trees done right, readable endgame structure, and a seasonal model that doesn’t demand your soul, this is the example.