During my time at PAX West 2024, I had the chance to check out Arknights: Endfield, a game I was particularly interested in due to my past obsession with the gacha game Arknights. While Arknights focused on tower defense combat and base-building to gather resources, Arknights: Endfield takes the same universe and expands it into a vast, open-world action RPG.
Into The Game
There were four parts of Arknights: Endfield we got to experience during the demo. The first was a basic tutorial that introduced movement and combat mechanics. You could dash, jump, perform normal and charged attacks, and even switch between characters. One feature I appreciated was that your entire party is active on the field, rather than just controlling one character while the others stay off-screen. Ever since Genshin Impact’s success, many open-world games seem to follow the formula of controlling only one character at a time, so this was a refreshing change.
Another key mechanic involves enemy attacks that feature a red AoE indicator. When you see this, you can perform a quick skill to stun the enemy and interrupt their attack. However, timing is crucial—you need to charge your skill and hit them before they complete their attack.
The post-apocalyptic landscape in Arknights: Endfield offers a lot of variety, both in terms of environments and verticality. You’ll encounter hills, mountains, steep drops, and platforms, making for dynamic map designs. There are also grassy areas to explore, where you can gather resources and loot treasure chests. Exploring the world rewards you with new weapons, resources, and different weapon types. The first part of the demo concludes as you discover a gate to open, triggering a cinematic sequence.
The second part of the demo takes place in a story dungeon. You’re tasked with finding someone while navigating a forested area with your full party. At the end of this section, you face a small boss fight. It was challenging at first since I was only familiar with the character I used during the tutorial, but I quickly adapted by constantly switching characters to use their skills. I relied on the original character mainly to stun the boss when they attempted large AoE attacks. The best strategy against bigger bosses seems to be switching between characters and stacking skills until your ultimate gauge fills. Once it’s ready, holding the skill button unleashes a much more powerful attack. The animations for these ultimate skills are absolutely stunning.
After the boss fight, a cinematic plays, transitioning you to the next part of the demo—a much larger and more challenging boss battle. This time, your entire party is at level 60, with a wider array of skills and options. Each number key serves as a shortcut to different characters’ skills, making combat more complex. This fight required a lot more dodging and quicker skill stacking. You also had to use items for healing and buffs, adding an extra layer of strategy.
The demo didn’t give much insight into the mechanics of building characters, as most of them were already pre-built for the playthrough. However, given the number of resources available in the game, I imagine there will be plenty of options for leveling up both weapons and characters. That’s why the final section of the demo took me by surprise: it introduced a base-building mechanic.
Arknights: Endfield offers a ton of resources to collect, and using your base is one way to automate the gathering process. As you progress through the game, you can place refineries and electrical power supplies to automate various tasks. The base-building system seems to cover a large portion of the map, and you can install zip lines for quicker travel between areas. Additionally, machine belts allow you to deposit resources in easy-to-access locations, streamlining your resource management.
Overall, there’s a lot to like about Arknights: Endfield. The game offers a good challenge, especially in the boss fights, and I enjoyed the experience of learning how to play as the Endministrator and the operators. Unlike in previous titles, your Endministrator character is no longer relegated to the backlines—they’re actively on the frontlines throughout much of the game’s story. While I wish the demo had provided more insight into the story and mechanics, from what I played, I had a great time and am excited to see more.
Arknights: Endfield has no firm release date, but it will be coming to PC, iOS, Android, and PS5.
