You just finished your third seasonal character. Your stash is chaos. You have opinions about optimal Paragon board pathing that no one at the dinner table asked for. And Lord of Hatred doesn't drop until April 28. Twenty more days is a long time when you're wired on the particular dopamine loop that only an ARPG can deliver — the one where every enemy death is a slot machine and every legendary item is a ticket to rebuild your entire character from scratch. The good news: the genre has never been healthier. The bad news: not all of it is obvious.
Everyone already knows Path of Exile 2 exists. Last Epoch gets recommended in every Diablo Reddit thread. This list assumes you've heard those names and asks a harder question: what else is worth your next 40 hours before Mephisto shows up to ruin your week? The answer cuts across PC, PS5, and Xbox — and it includes a couple of games you almost certainly haven't tried.
Yes, it's the one everyone mentions — but there's a reason for that. Grinding Gear Games rebuilt the sequel nearly from scratch, and the result is an ARPG that uses weight and momentum in combat rather than the pure button-mashing chaos of the original. Enemies telegraph attacks with readable wind-ups, your own skills have a satisfying physicality to them, and the passive skill tree — affectionately called "the galaxy" by the community — offers a level of build expression that makes Diablo 4's Paragon boards look like a pamphlet. The campaign is genuinely dark and narratively ambitious by genre standards, and the endgame Atlas system has more layers than most players will ever fully excavate. Still in Early Access as of 2026, which means GGG is actively adding content while you play.
The Diablo 4 Connection: Same isometric loot-and-kill core, but with a slower, more deliberate combat rhythm that rewards positioning over sheer speed.
Last Epoch doesn't get enough credit for solving one of the ARPG genre's oldest frustrations: the feeling that your gear progression is at the mercy of RNG and nothing else. Eleventh Hour Games built a crafting system where you forge exactly what you need, with meaningful trade-offs at every step — the "Forging Potential" mechanic limits how much you can modify any single piece, which means you're constantly making smart decisions instead of just gambling. The mastery system splits each class into three distinct sub-classes, and the builds enabled by combining your chosen mastery's skills with the base class's passives are genuinely inventive. The time-travel narrative is more interesting than the genre average, and the Cycle (seasonal) content has been growing steadily since full launch in 2024.
The Diablo 4 Connection: If the Horadric Cube returning in Lord of Hatred excited you, Last Epoch is an entire game built around that feeling of crafting something purposeful.
Moon Studios — the team behind Ori and the Blind Forest — made something genuinely strange here: an isometric ARPG that plays like a Souls game, pixel-art visuals that look like the most expensive painting you've ever seen, and a level of environmental detail that makes every zone feel like it was hand-crafted rather than generated. Combat has stamina, deliberate attack animations, and proper i-frame dodging, which makes it feel nothing like Diablo 4 on the surface — but the gear loop, the crafting, and the constant impulse to push one more zone before logging off is identical in spirit. Still in Early Access, which means rough edges remain, but the foundation is extraordinary. This is the game Diablo 4 players who also loved Elden Ring have been waiting for.
The Diablo 4 Connection: Same dark fantasy tone and gear obsession, but combat demands actual attention rather than optimal skill rotations on autopilot.
The Torchlight franchise always occupied the "Diablo but more colorful and approachable" corner of the genre, and Infinite leans into that identity with a free-to-play model that — against all odds — doesn't feel predatory if you're a single-player build-crafter rather than a competitive leaderboard chaser. The hero customization system lets you mix and match skill trees across classes in ways that produce some genuinely broken, deeply satisfying builds. Seasonal content has been consistent, the mobile-PC crossplay works well, and the game's faster pace is a good palate cleanser between Diablo sessions. XD Inc. isn't the developer name on anyone's hype radar, but they've maintained this game better than many bigger studios manage their live-service titles.
The Diablo 4 Connection: Seasonal structure, class builds, and endless itemization — same core loop, lower stakes, free entry point.
What this collection of games reveals — and what Lord of Hatred's own announcement confirms — is that the ARPG genre is in the middle of a serious philosophical split. On one side: faster, looser, number-bigger games that treat the endgame grind as the destination. On the other: slower, more handcrafted experiences where individual encounters matter. The most interesting titles right now are the ones sitting uncomfortably on that fault line, refusing to pick a lane. Players are clearly hungry for both, sometimes in the same week.
Crate Entertainment made Grim Dawn on a shoestring budget over several years, and the result is one of the most mechanically dense ARPGs ever created — and arguably the best dark fantasy atmosphere in the genre outside of Diablo itself. The dual-class system lets you combine any two of the game's nine mastery classes, producing theorycrafting possibilities that the community is still actively exploring over a decade after launch. The world of Cairn feels genuinely oppressive: a post-apocalyptic Victorian nightmare where humanity is nearly extinct and every NPC represents a fragile beacon of civilization. The reason ARPGs with strong mechanics endure is exactly what Grim Dawn demonstrates — a great system stays engaging long after the novelty of any individual story beats fades. Two major expansions (Ashes of Malmouth and Forgotten Gods) add dozens of additional hours each.
The Diablo 4 Connection: If you love Diablo for the atmosphere and itemization but wish the build theory ran deeper, Grim Dawn is where you go.
Supergiant's sequel arrived on console in April 2026, making it newly accessible to PS5 and Xbox players who missed the Early Access PC window. Where the original Hades felt like a complete, tight gem, Hades II sprawls outward — more weapons, a dual-direction structure that sends you both toward Olympus and into the depths of the Underworld, and a richer cast of deities whose boon combinations produce wilder, more elaborate builds than the original ever managed. Melinoe is a protagonist worth caring about, which is still rare in action games. The roguelite genre has plenty of Hades competitors, but none of them match Supergiant's craft for moment-to-moment game feel. Combat is faster and flashier than Diablo 4, but the same endorphin hit of a perfect run is absolutely present.
The Diablo 4 Connection: Greek mythology meets relentless action and build expression — for players who want Diablo's intensity without the overhead of managing a full seasonal character.
Haemimont Games built something quietly excellent here: an isometric ARPG that gives you real movement and dodge mechanics, making it feel more like a third-person action game viewed from above. Your build comes from the weapons you equip rather than a skill tree — each weapon type brings its own active abilities, and combining a shotgun with a scythe produces a completely different playstyle than pairing dual pistols with a hammer. The Motörhead-themed DLC is absurd and worth playing purely for the gag, but the Fractured Worlds expansion adds a genuine endgame loop with roguelite runs and modifiers. Victor Vran never got the attention it deserved, which is entirely the point of including it here. If you find yourself enjoying the Paladin's divine combat fantasy in Lord of Hatred, Victor Vran's monster-hunting tone will feel immediately familiar.
The Diablo 4 Connection: Dark monster-slaying environments with a character build that stems entirely from gear choices — familiar structure, fresher execution.
Wolcen gets a bad reputation because its launch in 2020 was a genuine disaster — crashes, broken skills, a campaign that fell apart in the third act. But the version that exists now, after years of post-launch patches, is a legitimately interesting ARPG built on one of the most visually spectacular engines in the genre. Unreal Engine 4 makes demon-slaying look almost obscenely good, and the Apocalyptic Form system — which lets your character transform into a powerful divine or demonic avatar depending on how you've built your passive wheel — captures the same power-fantasy escalation that makes Diablo's endgame so compelling. The passive skill wheel, borrowed loosely from Final Fantasy XII's License Board, rewards planning across the full arc of a character's development. Go in with lowered expectations and you'll find more to enjoy than the reviews suggest. ARPGs where mechanics outshine story often find their audience eventually, and Wolcen is still finding its.
The Diablo 4 Connection: For players specifically drawn to Diablo 4's visual spectacle and class transformation mechanics — the Angelic Form in Lord of Hatred will feel right at home here.
The Bottom Line
The ARPG genre's quiet golden age is happening right now — while everyone waits for Lord of Hatred to arrive on April 28, there are eight games above that will eat your evenings just as efficiently. The gap between mainstream Blizzard polish and indie ARPG ambition has never been smaller. These games aren't consolation prizes — they're legitimate alternatives for the part of you that doesn't want to stop moving.
★ Also Worth Your Time
If you've cleared everything above, consider Undecember (a Korean ARPG with a rune-linking skill system that borrows heavily from early Path of Exile), Path of Exile 1 (still receiving updates and offering a staggering endgame Atlas), and Chronicon — a one-person-developed ARPG with absurdly deep loot that costs less than a fast food meal.
Drop Your Build
Which of these is going to carry you to April 28 — and is there an ARPG we criminally left off this list that deserves the spotlight? Defend your pick in the comments.
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