Arknights: Endfield is Hypergryph’s action-adventure RPG with factory management gameplay set in a different realm from the original Arknights. Check out our first impressions review to see if it's worth a try.
Everything We Know About Arknights: Endfield
Arknights: Endfield Plot
Arknights is set in the hostile and mysterious planet of Talos-II where players assume the role of the Endministrator, an enigmatic individual entrusted with great authority over Endfield Industries. As Endfield Industries’ head and trump card, their mission is to journey through the treacherous, hostile regions of the planet while setting up outposts to expand the organization’s area of operations.
The game’s story delves into themes of exploration, survival, and the pursuit of progress in a world fraught with peril. Talos-II is plagued by deadly creatures called Aggeloi and a strange, corruptive force known as the Blight, both of which threaten the fragile efforts to colonize the planet. The Endministrator leads the charge in rebuilding infrastructure, managing resources, and fending off threats, all while uncovering the planet’s secrets.
Arknights: Endfield Gameplay
Arknights: Endfield introduces a real-time action RPG experience enriched with base-building and strategic management elements. Set on the planet Talos-II, players explore a semi-open world marked by dangerous creatures called Aggeloi and hostile factions. Gameplay emphasizes tactical party combat with up to four characters engaging enemies simultaneously, each with unique skills and abilities. Seamless character switching and precise skill targeting amplify the action's intensity.
The game’s standout feature is its base-building system, deeply integrated with exploration and resource management. Players can construct various facilities such as relay towers and refineries to automate tasks and expand territory. This aspect of the gameplay offers a satisfying loop of gathering, refining, and optimizing layouts through a tech tree that unlocks advanced structures.
While exploration is more structured than traditional open-world games, players can enhance traversal by deploying ziplines and other structures. Combat emphasizes timing and strategy, as well as building and synergizing units.
Arknights: Endfield Release Date
Released on January 22 (UTC+8) / January 21 (ET/PT), Arknights: Endfield is now available free-to-play on Android, iOS, PC through a dedicated client, Epic Games, and PlayStation 5.
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Arknights: Endfield Review [First Impressions]
Top Quality, Signature Arknights
Arknights: Endfield has finally arrived today in all its glory, releasing onto mobile, PC, and the PS5. It only feels like yesterday when I played the game’s Beta Test II, and I surely enjoyed my time back then. It’s one of the most anticipated games as of late, attracting both Arknights players and action-adventure RPG enthusiasts to take a swing at it.
It’s still fun the second time around, feeling smoother and overall better now that it’s the full launch. As expected—it comes from Hypergryph, who has already made its name known in the industry with how well they managed the first game of the series, Arknights. There’s a reason that game is still going strong even after almost seven years, and sure enough, Arknights: Endfield is on track to receiving the same treatment. While I’ve barely scratched the game’s surface as of writing, it’s more than enough to keep me going.
A New Home on Talos-II
Set in a different moon-planet called Talos-II that is millions of lightyears away from the setting of the original Arknights, Endfield mainly follows the player character, the Endministrator, after they wake up from their decade-long stasis. Although they have no memories to speak of nor a hazy understanding of what’s going on, they are immediately hurled into the center of trouble brewing on the planet. As the leader of Endfield Industries, it is their duty to make humanity flourish and prosper once again.
For starters, the northern hemisphere of Talos-II remains unexplored and unreachable due to the presence of the Auroral Barrier that effectively cuts the world into two—the dangerous, frosty North, and the green, inhabitable South. However, the South is also in danger because of the prevalence of the Blight, a corruptive phenomenon that negatively affects both the land and human beings. What’s worse is that a mysterious entity has arrived on Talos-II who has the enigmatic ability to control the Blight at will—and appears to be determined to cause chaos and destruction to the world.
It is then up to the Endministrator and their fellow Endfielders to get to the bottom of it all, saving the planet, one step at a time.
At this point in time where I am, this premise is followed up with a solid foundation of a plot. The prologue admittedly leaves more questions than answers, giving more of a motivation to push through with the story. The initial beginning chapter after your awakening already introduces who seems to be one of the main antagonists. I appreciate that I didn’t have to slog through lots more dialogue and fetch quests just to get to that point.
Along the way, you also meet several people, ally and enemy, adding more flavor to the story as you go on. Even though most of them are NPCs, the writing makes them seem more fleshed out and human, and can leave you pretty attached to some of them.
Fight, Build, and Explore To Your Heart’s Content
Arknights: Endfield’s (from here forth will simply be referred to as Endfield) gameplay mainly consists of three major gameplay structures: the real-time action combat system, the factory-building and production mechanics, and open-world exploration that encompasses all other gameplay systems in place. Essentially, it’s an action-adventure RPG that plays similarly to other well-known titles such as Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves.
Across the map, there are dozens of discoverables such as interactive environment puzzles, following cute grass bunnies for hidden treasure, rare resources to gather, or simply to look for scenic spots to watch and take in. Crafty sales-minded people are also able to take part in buying and selling goods across regions, complete with its volatile economy and the need to know when to buy and sell. It’s enjoyable in its own right, and gives motivation to actually explore the map.
In combat and exploration, players directly control one of the four Operators selected in their on-field team, with the other three acting as auto-attacking supports. Their respective Battle Skills and Ultimates are executed with a corresponding button press (for Skills) or hold (for Ultimates). Pretty standard fare for an open-world game with real-time combat, and veteran players of the aforementioned games will feel right at home.
A rather different aspect to their combat system is the Combo Skills. Each Operator uniquely possesses one of these, and are not triggered automatically by a press of a button, but instead through meeting certain conditions on the battlefield. For instance, Perlica’s Combo Skill can simply be unleashed after the controlled Operator finishes their attack sequence with a Final Strike. However, Operators like Alesh and Avywenna need a bit more set-up such as requiring certain elemental Inflictions or debuffs to be cast on the enemy.
Team building isn’t anything new, but the way there’s a highlight on the need to synergize units and make use of proper strategy for maximum damage output. This was more evident to me because I pulled a different 6-Star Operator this time around—from Last Rite to Ember. I’ve never encountered her before, so playing around with her kit, building a team around her, and testing combos felt different from when I built one for Last Rite in beta.
In comparison with the beta, the core gameplay hasn’t changed much, although it feels smoother and more intuitive with timely responses in button inputs. Controls are smooth, snappy, and it adds to the satisfaction of executing the game’s flashy combat. There’s also the added bonus of being able to play the game at 120 FPS now (it was previously locked in at 60 FPS) that adds to the smoothness of it all.
Production, Production, and More Production
What sets Endfield apart from its contemporaries is the emphasis on factory systems, resource management, and building elements. Unlike other games where building anything is pretty much optional, it is central in progressing the game’s story and is the core of other gameplay systems such as area outposts, regional side-quests, and more.
This starts with the Core AIC Area, or the Automated Industry Complex. Your goal is to expand your influence across the regions through outposts connected to the mainframe using Sub-Automation Cores. These outposts can handle several factory machines at once, making efficient production lines for crafting products. At the beginning, you only have a number of standard machines to work with, but the more you expand and collect Index Points through factory gameplay and data point collection, the more advanced machines you can utilize.
Factorio and Satisfactory players will definitely be pros at this—unfortunately, I am not one of them. Luckily, Endfield is kind enough to provide one-touch blueprints for those who may not want to delve into the intricacies of figuring out the most efficient placements for their machines.
Stunning Audio-Visual Presentation
Maybe it’s just me or it's the 120FPS talking, but Endfield arguably looks much better this time around. They’ve probably smoothed out some of the game’s textures and visuals for launch. It’s magnificent, seen especially during the prologue in the cold wintry landscape. The scenery, the sights, the character designs—good quality visuals just seem to be the standard for Arknights, and it carried on to Endfield as well.
However, I did notice that some background assets during dialogue cutscenes were rendered to be a little more pixelated. Perhaps it’s with my settings (despite being on High) or it’s a way to lessen the load on the PC, but it does get evident especially when a high-textured character is face to face with it.
I’ve also noticed that they added a few things that weren’t there before, such as the character portrait appearing on the left-hand side of the screen when a Combo Skill is done, as well as new plants that can be used. Minor things, but it does add a bit to the experience.
Accompanying the visuals is its well-done audio, in soundtrack, voice-acting, and sound design. It makes an already vibrant world seem more alive. Not everyone is voiced, but that’s okay—the soundtrack is lovely enough to make up for it.
Gacha Can Be Confusing
While not exactly a con, it is something a bit new to those who may be coming from similar gacha-run games such the Hoyoverse games and Wuthering Waves. It’s quite the same as it was in the original Arknights, but I’m the type of person who just pulls if I like the character so I’m still learning the basics of how it all goes down.
What I got is that, essentially, if you don’t have the 120 pulls to at least guarantee yourself the 6-Star character on the banner, don’t pull. It’s already got a lower rate of character appearance (at 0.8%), and most importantly, you can lose the 50/50 multiple times, which is something shocking in the current similar gacha game climate ruled by the games mentioned above.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve unluckily pulled Lifeng from the standard pool 3 times in a row—there’s no other way to guarantee the limited character from the banner unless you get to 120 pulls. If you’re lucky, then good for you. If not…well. It’s a first impressions review, so I’m still wrapping my head around it, but for now, I think it’s goodbye Laevatain unless I swipe my card.
Definitely Worth A Try
Arknights: Endfield lives up to the Arknights name, and has the beginning chops to prove that it will become one of the mainstay games in this current gaming generation. So far, it’s got engaging and accommodating gameplay systems both in adrenaline-pumping combat and in lesser-action packed factory building as well as aesthetically pleasing visuals combined with solid audio design and soundtrack.
Many of its complaints come from its "unconventional" gacha mechanics, but otherwise if you’re not particularly troubled by it (or if you’re good at not giving into temptation) and would just focus on the game as itself, it’s definitely worth a shot. It looks like it needs quite a bit of commitment in the long run, but nevertheless, it’s shaping up to be fun, high-quality, and something that will stay for a long, long time.
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Arknights: Endfield Product Information
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| Title | Arknights: Endfield |
|---|---|
| Release Date | January 22, 2026 |
| Developer | Hypergryph |
| Publisher | Hypergryph |
| Supported Platforms | Dedicated Client, Android, iOS, PlayStation 5, Epic Games |
| Genre | Action, RPG, Adventure, Strategy |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Arknights: Endfield Official Website |
