I‘ll admit: I wasn’t expecting OneRepublic when Arknights: Endfield finally announced its release date. It’s always been about Starset, going back to the OG Arknights, but it quickly grew on me. Maybe it’s because the energy matched the sci-fi manifest destiny vibe. Either way, conveniently, “give me something” described exactly what I was hoping for from Endfield since it was first revealed in its top-down form.
Of course, as someone who’s sampled their fair share of games throughout the years – Genshin, PGR, WuWa, HSR, Reverse: 1999, ZZZ, so on and so forth (we don’t talk about Tower of Fantasy) – there’s always something appealing about a fresh slate. A brand-new world to explore with stunning, hopefully interesting characters to meet and build out; a new combat system to master and cry about when I can’t clear the end-game; and, of course, a banger soundtrack. If it looks good enough, it’s worth a try – maybe I’ll invest dozens upon dozens of hours, maybe I won’t. What better entry point than “free” and plenty of ways to avoid commitment?
But it’s different with Arknights. I relished the world and its lore – the mysteries of Originium, the harshness of Oripathy, the many diverse factions living out their lives, the Calamity, and all the little stories inhabiting each character. As much as I enjoyed the tower defense machinations, I wanted something more. More dynamic with a presentation that would do this incredible setting and characters justice (and that’s taking the already incredible art style and music into consideration).
Endfield delivers that in droves, which is honestly impressive given that it takes place on a new planet over 150 years in the future. As the leader of Endfield Industries – the imaginatively named Endministrator – you’re responsible for a great many things. Helping the Terrans on Talos 2 after the Aethergate that led them there was destroyed over a century ago.
Exploring the wilderness while dealing with risks like the Aggeloi, a mysterious, hostile species, and the Landbreaker raiders. Utilising all the machinery that you developed. To name a few, of course. The only problem is you’ve – surprise, surprise – lost your memories. How? Why? That’s the greater mystery, and you can bet that it has something to do with Originium. It’s cliché, I know, but it’s only the start.
Arknights has always been sci-fi. Heck, developer Hypergryph knows a thing or two about fully realizing a world in the throes of its own calamities, waiting for your amnesiac self to put the pieces back together (even if the solution isn’t what you expected). And yet, Endfield is a different breed of sci-fi. I’m talking about the horizons spilling forth, offering lush green fields to explore and get lost in. Wuling City – the one that we know of thus far – that’s more of a drastically sized-up campus, yet still bustling with life. It’s almost NASA-punk in a sense, especially as you venture more towards the industrial side (and you will in due time).
And while I’ve waited for the franchise to go beyond tower defense into full-blown action RPG territory, I’m impressed with how it’s not trying to ape the competition. Instead of a vast open world, Endfield consists of multiple large regions, each filled with unique activities that feed into the AIC Factory system. You’ve probably heard it compared to Satisfactory or Factorio – setting up elaborate production lines to harvest resources and refine them while optimizing the heck out of it. With the ability to copy other players’ blueprints, you can get as hands-off as you’d like with the whole automation process, but there are plenty of reasons to keep coming back to it.
The first and most obvious is exploration. Want to fast travel from one place to another? Build a network of ziplines, which especially comes in handy when delivering packages, Death Stranding-style (plus it’s just sick to look at). Earn enough Regional Stock Bills, and you can exchange them for gear and further upgrades.
The second is perhaps even more enticing – you can use the AIC to craft your own gear. For anyone who’s struggled tirelessly, trying to obtain that perfect Relic roll, this is a game-changer. Of course, you can reroll the stats to suit the unit in question, and there’s an entire end-game system, Artificing, that revolves around further upgrading. But removing such a frustrating mechanic in favor of something more deterministic is unprecedented.
Which brings us to combat. Ordinarily, in these types of free-to-play titles, you would have one character on the field at a time, but Endfield applies a more traditional RPG set-up where your entire team partakes in combat. While the age-old stagger mechanic is now present, stacking the same status effect can lead to a Burst of damage. Combine different elemental inflictions, and you’ll trigger Reactions.
What was once a fairly rudimentary system has evolved into one that prioritizes team-building to leverage Bursts, Inflictions and Reactions to quickly decimate foes. Plus, combat is just so much snappier now, as you trigger assists. Even the addition of a dedicated dodge button has proven very useful, since perfect dodges feed into SP recovery and more damaging attacks. The result is something that stays true to the spirit of Arknights – a well-built team will often succeed. At least, around launch – I wouldn’t put it past Hypergryph to add more premium units that power-creep the older ones, or even necessitate other premium units to unleash their full potential. I’ve played these games before.
However, the biggest selling point of Arknights: Endfield? It could have been released much sooner. There didn’t need to be another beta – with how successful the original is, Hypergryph could have easily unleashed this on fans desperate to play. However, it didn’t. Instead, it spent the time and money to rework significant portions of the story while massively improving the combat and factory systems. As noted in GameSpot’s preview from November, before the second beta went live, 40 to 50 percent of the level design had been overhauled, along with 80 to 90 percent of cutscenes and dialogue.
So much has changed since the last beta that it feels like a completely different experience (and that doesn’t include other improvements made since the second beta ended). The cynic in me wants to say that Hypergryph understands how the free-to-play market works – you only have one chance to make an impression, and it better count. After all, with the production values on display and the sheer amount of content – with 20 to 30 hours of story quests alone before the second major region opens up – it wants to deliver the highest quality experience to potentially rope in new players.
However, the Arknights fan in me feels a familiar sense of wonder, whether it’s of the art style or the world-building. The action RPG part wants to dive into combat more than ever, and the open-world enthusiast…well, I’ll appreciate dense regions that still offer plenty of content. With everything we’ve seen thus far, it remains to be seen if Endfield can compete with the titans of industry. Never mind upstart competitors like Where Winds Meet or future threats like Ananta or Silver Palace.
One thing is for sure, though: It’s offering a premium experience, right out of the gate, while defying numerous norms. And that’s certainly more than something.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.