as it approaches last epochEleventh Hour Games, the developer behind “Orobyss,” the first major expansion for “Orobyss,” has released a modest roadmap for what’s to come in 2026. Despite the studio’s previous claims that the game would never have paid content associated with it, EHG admitted last month that it may have to change its stance after failing to make a profit. Now, despite confirming that the expansion itself is free, the reveal that its new class would come in the form of paid DLC sent players rushing to their keyboards, and not in a good way.
Last Epoch somehow manages to fit neatly between two absolute gaming giants: Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. The RPG of the Eleventh Hour game completely captivated Ken, and he, like that guy in that meme, turned the established duo on to Last Epoch entirely. Blending the familiarity of Diablo with the depth of PoE, this game has the recipe to be a true mainstay for years to come.
Let’s start with the good news. According to a recent post from EHG CEO Judd Cobler, Last Epoch Orobyss will follow Seasons 4 and 5 and will be free to all existing players when it launches in 2026. Given that the season typically lasts about four months, we expect it to be delivered in late August or early September. Anyone joining the game after Orobyss drops will need to get Orobyss as part of the updated base game bundle. Kobler remains tight-lipped about what we can expect from the upcoming season, but he did say that Season 4 is “scheduled for early 2026 and will introduce new season mechanics and some highly requested updates.” It’s solid enough.
But what really got players excited was the announcement that Orobyss would be introducing the first iteration of a new paid class type called “Paradox Classes.” The Paradox class is described as “a completely alternative playable class built on a system that behaves differently than other classes in the game.” According to Kobler, “These classes allow us to experiment with new and innovative methods.”
Kobler had already laid out the studio’s rationale for introducing paid content in an Oct. 3 blog post (as seen above). Here, he notes that the first three seasons of Last Epoch were “not profitable,” and that increased development time and costs meant they had to look for alternative sources of revenue. “Years ago, when we were a very small team formed on Reddit, our goal was not to charge for content,” he says. “However, our cosmetics sales were not sufficient to cover our own development costs in the long run.”
We all knew this was a very real possibility, but charging for entire classes still leaves a bad taste. I’m not sure how powerful Paradox classes are compared to standard classes. We’ve seen in games like 40k Darktide where paid classes can completely flip the balance of the game. EHG must tread carefully as it is a slippery slope. I’d love to suck it up and see what happens, but the players have already agreed with EHG on this decision.
“Paid classes? Terrible. RIP Last Epoch,” one player said in response to Cobbler’s latest blog post.
Another commenter on Reddit wrote, “Paid classes are awesome. They wouldn’t over-adjust to increase sales, would they?”
Meanwhile, in typical Steam fashion, Last Epoch’s review section has been flooded with a relatively large amount of negative reviews since the post was published. Recent reviews for Last Epoch have been “mixed”, a far cry from previous “mostly positive” reviews.
Fan anger isn’t the only problem facing EHG. Earlier this year, EHG was acquired by PUBG developer and publisher Krafton, sparking concerns that it would result in a major shift in monetization. What’s more, Crafton’s recent shift to an AI-first attitude means it’s no longer as effective as a glass of cold chunder, leaving Cobbler to clean up as part of the studio’s latest update.
“There has been a lot of discussion surrounding Mr. Crafton’s recent comments about being ‘AI first’ and what that means for EHG,” he says. “To be clear, our development approach hasn’t changed. We remain focused on building Last Epoch the same way we’ve always done it, with the same pragmatic design philosophy.”
So while paid classes may be the problem today, let’s at least be thankful that that’s all there is to it and not another studio being sent down the AI path. After all, EHG has to make money somehow, and I’m afraid these Paradox classes aren’t the way to solve that. However, if cosmetics don’t work, something else will.
