Last Epoch is the fourth breakout game of 2024

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(Image credit: Eleventh Hour Games)

Last Epoch key art with five characters representing each class standing in front of a portal

Like bugs bursting through the planet’s surface, four games came out of nowhere this year and they’re all exploding in popularity.

This week, it’sLast Epoch, a Diablo-style action RPG that’s currently being crushed under the weight of over 160,000 concurrent players on Steam. Itsserver issuesare being worked on, but its offline mode seems to be keeping players fed.

Last Epoch hasn’t exploded like Palworld did last month, but committed action RPG fans argue that its extensive item crafting system and satisfying build variety put it in direct competition with Diablo 4, a hugely popular game you’d think would’ve had all that figured out. As Diablo 4 players wait for Blizzard to address some of its long-standing issues next season, an alternative that has years of community-driven development already under its belt looks pretty enticing.

But Last Epoch was just one of four games that went big this year. These three other games continue to thrive.

Helldivers 2 celebrates the perseverance of players

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Enshrouded fills an open world with everything you’d ever want

(Image credit: Keen Games)

An adventurer in Keen Games' enshrouded sits by a crackling campfire in the middle of a forest clearing.

Chris describedEnshroudedas “Valheim crossed with Zelda,” an open world game with secrets and quests and NPCs hidden throughout. The Steam reviewers agree: Players praise it for its mix of exploration, building and storytelling, and just the fact that it’s even able to wield all three at once so well. Studio Keen Games says it’ll be in early access for about a year, and given the staggering level of interest it already has, it might go toe-to-toe with Helldivers 2 and Last Epoch soon enough.

Palworld breaks the rules and lets you break them too

(Image credit: Pocketpair)

Palworld -

None of these games made as big of a splash as Palworld. The Pokémon-like survival game didn’t quite come out of nowhere. It’s always been “the survival game with guns and Pokémon” since it was announced in 2021. Now, three years later, it’s the survival game with guns and Pokémon that has completely taken over the world.

It didn’t matter how egregious some of its creature designs were or how wonky some of its systems felt, Palworld gave people the kind of open world survival game experience that Nintendo probably never will. It’s absurd and compelling and honest about what it is, which I think is what truly resonated in a sea of bigger releases that keep trying to push tired live service models built on generations of systems from similar games. Palworld, like 2024’s other surprise hits, nailed a simple goal: take a familiar genre and hone in on exactly what players want within seconds of booting it up.

PRODUCTSLast EpochHelldivers 2PalworldEnshrouded

PRODUCTS

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Helldivers 2 celebrates the perseverance of players#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Enshrouded fills an open world with everything you’d ever want#

Palworld breaks the rules and lets you break them too#

Helldivers 2 celebrates the perseverance of players

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Enshrouded fills an open world with everything you’d ever want

Palworld breaks the rules and lets you break them too