Preview Arknights: Endfield - First impressions

Arknights: Endfield is an Arknights spin-off, set in world thousands of years ahead of the 2019 Tower Defense. Now Hypergryph is working on this new multiplatform action RPG with real-time strategy elements.

And it was at Brasil Game Show 2024 that the Latin American public had their first contact with the game. We at UmGamer covered the event and played Arknights: Endfield to provide details on our first impressions of this title. Check it out!

Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, Android, iOS

Developer: Hypergryph

Publisher: Gryphline

Genres: 3D Action RPG; Real-Time Strategy

Release Date: Planned for mid-2025, but no confirmed date yet

The story of Arknights: Endfield brings the setting of the population moving to a new planet, called Talos-II. With several challenges, including hostile beings, the presence of a hero known as Endminister was necessary.

This will be the character you control during the game, and who will play the role of our protagonist. Your duty is to follow orders from Endfield Industries to rid the people of the infestation.

Talos-II is said to be a dark and mysterious territory, full of threats, and the setting manages to convey this. Which even benefits exploration, since it’s extremely intriguing to wander through the planet's lands.

We played on a high-end computer at Brasil Game Show, without playing on a mobile device, but at least in my experience, Arknights: Endfield offered great graphics, which is a big positive.

Interface

The interface is another topic of excellence when dealing with visual aspects, it’s very clean, providing information on combat, missions and exploration, but without disturbing your immersion.

I felt a slower pace, focused on characters' dialogue at various times. Of course, a title with a plot requires dialogue, but the consensus among fans of this genre, including myself and other players I spoke to at the event, is that they are looking for more combat. Endfield offers this, but with great moments of interruptions.

There is a functionality which allows us to skip the dialogues, but the break in rhythm still exists, and we will lose a good part of the story in the process.

Combat

Arknights: Endfield's biggest differential is introducing the player to strategy mechanics during battle, bringing a more logical and less chaotic style, but it’s still an excellent gameplay for those who enjoy action.

An example is the image below:

Here, we see the release of a skill in combat. At these moments, the game is “paused”, allies and enemies are frozen until you decide where to launch the skill, this favors the style of play mentioned above.

Another point which brings tactics to the game is the possibility of changing characters in the middle of the confrontation, we have three heroes attacking simultaneously, and you can switch between them, but staying in the same location. For example, if you advance with hero 1, and switch to hero 3 who is behind, you will not go to that location, but rather you will place character 3 in the advanced position where 1 was, and leave character 1 where character 3 was.

This allows you to think of a combination of skills intending to execute an idea, I can start combat by advancing with a hero to get closer to enemies, after which I can switch to another character who has strong area magic, taking advantage of the fact that they’re now already within a short distance of their opponents.

Creating your own sequence of characters and skills to use is what differentiates the game from a simple Action RPG. In addition to being fundamental in advancing your progress, as some enemies really work like a puzzle, requiring you to think about the ideal strategy to face them.

Combat is also marked by other tools, such as Elemental Orbs that can appear in the environment. When you hit them with an area skill, you will activate it, causing special effects.

There are also several other battle systems, explained very effectively in the game's tutorial!

Arknights: Endfield goes beyond just fights

One of the pillars of the game, with great systems and tools, is base building. In Arknights: Endfield, it’s possible to have your own base to facilitate and automate your resource gain.

With this, we are also introduced to crafting, interacting with your items to create new ones, such as potions that heal and improve your characters. In the example below, the player is refining items to transform them into others.

Arknights: Endfield was charming to me, the game that still doesn't have an official release date already shows extreme maturity in its development. The addition of strategy elements to real-time combat was a big bet, and it was executed successfully, attracting both tactics fans and those who prefer agility. The crafting and base building systems were another success and further innovate in this genre.

This article was based on a first gameplay at Brasil Game Show 2024. I'm looking forward to exploring more of Talos-II and its characters.