C21: Steel Battle Chronicles

VS

Last Epoch

C21: Steel Battle Chronicles is an online action RPG from CyberStep released in 2006. Given its age (over 15 years), niche publisher, and the lack of widespread recognition outside of Japan, it is likely to have a very small but dedicated player base. Its live services seem primarily targeted at a Japanese audience. Unless supported by recent re-releases or major updates, games of this profile generally retain a few hundred to a few thousand daily players.

Last Epoch is an action RPG released in early 2024, developed by Eleventh Hour Games. It has received strong attention from the ARPG community, especially in the wake of Diablo IV's mixed reception. Daily player count is estimated around 70,000 based on Steam charts peaks and genre trends for new, well-received indie ARPGs. Continued post-launch content could sustain or grow this. It is not an MMO, as it does not feature a true persistent world or large-scale multiplayer environments—multiplayer is limited to smaller parties.