Gacha games are taking over the anime-style gaming scene: at least that’s what it feels like at times. They are everywhere and very hard to miss with how appealing the characters tend to be. So when Arknights: Endfield opened its second closed Beta test I decided to give it a go, even though there is no more space for gacha in my life (thanks Hoyo). So many people I know are waiting for this game, so the natural question that arises is whether Arknights: Endfield will be worth your time (and money).
As someone who never played the original Arknights, I was initially worried about catching up with the lore and storylines. But this is more of a spiritual successor than a sequel and the story is quite easy to follow. As an Endministrator you fight to save Talos II once again, after previously doing it under mysterious circumstances. Your guide is Perlica, a Supervisor of Endfield Industries who puts a lot of trust in you. I will not spoil the storyline further, although I’m not sure how much of it, if any, will change. I will say that it does a good job of integrating basic game mechanics while managing to be easy to follow and interesting enough to keep your attention. You can skip the story and get a summarized version of the conversation and you are limited to the first area of the game, but that is still a lot of content.
Arknights: Endfield has anime-style character designs with up to four-member teams. You can switch between active characters (with Q) and the combat heavily relies on performing combo attacks, as all the characters are on the field at any given time. This is a nice mechanic that allows you to see where all your whaling went. Fan service is definitely present and most characters treat you with a familiar level of affection, further adding to it. The characters feel alive and their movements are well-developed. I get that the point of the gacha game is to sell the company and I think Endfield is not going to have any problems in that regard.
The gacha system I will not comment on because I’m not entirely sure this will stay the same once the game actually launches. Just like any gacha, Arknights: Endfield has multiple currencies that are all used for different things (see above, Originium can be exchanged for Oroberyls, while HH permit is used on the LTO banner), from limited characters and weapons to standard items that can be obtained at any time or even bought. I’ve included screenshots of the current rate-up items:
Weapons (pulled on a different banner, called Arsenal Exchange) range from 3-star to 6-star, while characters come in 4-star, 5-star, and 6-star varieties. Pulling on character banners seems to give you Arsenal Exchange currency if you already have max copies of the character. The Beta test seems to have higher drop rates so that was nice if you like the gambling aspect. The pulling art and animations were sleek, combined with what I found to be quite nicely designed menus.
The game features a Guide that has various challenges and daily tasks you can fulfill for rewards, as well as a training program.
The open world will give it some replayability through gathering and grinding for resources, but you will be kept in check with an energy system and “Rifts.” This is not unlike other similar games and is a way to keep bringing you back. The Unstable Area rifts are a one-time challenge, with decent rewards that include level-up materials and pulling currency.
Combat
Fighting in Arknights: Endfield functions in a pretty straightforward way: all of your party members are on screen. By completing a hit sequence you get something called Final Strike, which gives you skill points (used for special attacks called battle skills) and can also stagger the enemy. Staggered enemies take more damage and the first basic attack following the status will deal a massive amount of damage and restore some of the skill points (SP). Battle skills can be cast whenever, as long as you have enough SP.
Completing specific attacks allows you to trigger a combo attack with another party member (or operator, as they are known in the game). Different operates have different skill combo triggers, and while these do not require SPs, they do have a cooldown.
Cast battle skills and combo attacks go towards recharging your ultimate attack with points known as Ultimate Energy. You cast ultimates by long-pressing the battle skill key. For example, if your operator is in the first slot of your party, pressing 1 will trigger the battle skill and long-press will trigger the ultimate. The operator doesn’t have to be your current active character for this to work but they will not cast any special attacks on their own.
The game also employs a dodge mechanic (shift) and has enemies with special attacks that can be dealt with using a specific combination of attacks; I will leave these to the theorycrafters. Each character has a specific element that they use to deal damage: Heat, Cryo, Electro, Naturo, and Physical. Similarly, some of these elements react better with others.
Factory Gameplay
What is Arknights without some kind of tower defense game? In Endfield, it all starts with the Automated Industry Complex (AIC), which is like a starting point. At the heart of every AIC is a Protocol Anchor Core (PAC) that provides energy and serves as the core of every grid facility. To transmit energy, you use Relay Towers, while Energy Pylons transmit power outside of AICs. Sub-PACs also exist and are pretty much the same thing, but smaller. Moving and placing these towers is made easy with “move” and “stash” options, that don’t come at a material cost.
As you progress, you unlock more facilities that make collecting resources, processing materials, and even fighting easier. I had quite a bit of fun placing them and working out all the different ways that they can be connected. It does help a lot that the game has a built-in tutorial database that you can always refer to.
Character Menus and Leveling
Pulling for characters in Arknights: Endfield is known as “headhunting.” Much like other gacha games, once you obtain them you have to level them, level their weapons, gear, abilities/talents, and even gather duplicates (raising potential) to make them stronger.
To gather the materials needed for all this, you need to grind. A lot. And while that adds to the replayability of the game, there are only so many resources to obtain and quite a few characters to work on. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide how and if you want to build them.
The game also has a trust/friendship system that goes up as you use the characters. The UI displaying all this is pretty neat but takes some time to get used to because many descriptions and explanations are hidden behind icons and in different menus. Each character has a unique greeting when you switch to their page and their idles are fun. Da Pan (the panda) putting sunglasses on with chopsticks is probably my favorite.
Compared to the Alpha test, there have been some updates with character designs and names; Angelina is now Gilberta, Wolfgard has a different color scheme, and so on. The game also has a side-quest program that functions through text messages with various characters:
Arknights: Endfield – Worth It?
If you are a fan of Arknights franchise then Endfield is going to be a no-brainer for you. The puzzles, the open world, battle mechanics with the entire party on screen, combo attacks, crafting, it’s all going to suck you right in. But is it going to be interesting for new players?
The answer, in my humble opinion, is yes. I wasn’t particularly interested in the game before I started playing it, but I found myself loving the art, gameplay, and especially the characters. The puzzles are challenging, but when combined with multiple open-world mechanics, they are also quite rewarding. The visuals are nice and the music deserves special praise.
I especially like the characters. Yes, they are there to sell you the game, but their designs are very well thought out. Movements, both regular and during fights, were smooth and felt satisfying. The writing managed to create personalities that are not too cliché and actually make the game’s world feel alive in spite of the ruin and destruction.
Playing a gacha game is an investment, primarily one of your time and energy. To me, the most important aspect is the story and if that fails to draw me in, then I’m sorry but it’s not for me. In Endfield’s case, I liked how straightforward the plot was, and as someone coming from Genshin Impact where the most important pieces of lore are found on the ground, under a leaf, moments before the whole area sinks, this was quite refreshing. The data will not carry over to the actual launch, which is a double-edged sword as I’m unsure whether I want to progress too far or just focus on building characters and fighting.
Overall, I think Endfield will come in strong, with a captivating storyline, good design, and fun mechanics. The Beta test already has so much content that feels polished. I can’t wait to see how it looks on the actual day and I will definitely be giving it a go.
One last thing, I didn’t encounter too many issues from a technical POV, outside of some clunky movements on the edge of the map. As the recommended specs for running the Arknights: Endfield are a bit beefy, I’m leaving them below:
- Windows 10 / 11 64-bit
- CPU
- Recommended: Intel Core i5-10700K or equivalent, or better CPUs
- Minimum: Intel Core i5-9400F or equivalent, or better CPUs
- GPU
- Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or equivalent, or better GPUs
- Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or equivalent 6G or equivalent, or better GPUs
- RAM
- Recommended: 32GB
- Minimum: 16GB
- Storage: 60GB free space or higher, SSD Recommended
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