When Arknights: Endfield was first announced, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The original Arknights carved out its own space as a 2D mobile tower defense strategy game with visual novel elements to tell its story and expand its lore. The idea of turning that into a real-time 3D RPG with open exploration and base-building really seemed like a bold step for the series, maybe even too ambitious. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to fly out to Los Angeles and try out around seven hours with an early build of Endfield, and I walked away impressed by the potential here, though a little overwhelmed.
A New Frontier
The story of Arknights: Endfield is set on Talos-II, a harsh frontier planet where humanity is still trying to gain a foothold. You play as the Endministrator, tasked with exploring, protecting, and expanding that frontier. However, the Endministrator is unaware of their tasks, as they suffer from amnesia and must piece together their past and how they came to Talos-II, and rebuild their relationship with their crew. The game immediately establishes a strong sense of place, with environments that mix futuristic machinery and natural landscapes in a way that feels believable. The world comes to life with truly stunning visuals and excellent animations.
The first major area I explored, Wuling City, is a perfect example. It blends traditional Chinese design with modern industrial elements, and while nothing in particular stood out as mind-blowing, I appreciated the attention to detail throughout the city. It feels alive, as if it serves a purpose in the world rather than merely existing as a backdrop. The voice acting was well done for the most part, and the writing focused on expanding the lore in ways fans of the original will recognize without alienating newcomers. With Endfield moving from the visual novel-style storytelling of Arknights to fully voiced 3D cutscenes, it’s a big step forward in presentation that I feel many will appreciate.
Pump Up the Action
If there’s one thing that immediately separates Endfield from its predecessor, it’s the combat. The switch from a grid-based tower defense system to a real-time action RPG is a bold move, and it could have easily gone poorly. Thankfully, I found the combat to be rather fun to play around with and surprisingly deep. You control a team of up to four operators and can swap between them freely during combat. Each operator has their own class and abilities, so there is an incentive to switch things up and play around. Combat feels fast and fluid, with a strong emphasis on timing and coordination. Initially, I only had access to two operators for combat. However, after entering a build that put me further into the game, I was able to explore the full cast. You can tell a lot of work went into making these operators distinct, and I had a lot of fun experimenting with team compositions.
The opening tutorials do a good job of walking you through the mechanics, from basic attacks to dodging and managing skills. It’s responsive, and chaining dodges into counterattacks feels natural and fun to pull off. There is a rhythm to the combat that really starts to click once you get the hang of it. While the early encounters were pretty simple, they did a good job of showing how deep the system can go. Later fights require more deliberate team management and a better understanding of positioning. I was even able to take a look at a later boss fight that raised the stakes considerably and posed a much larger challenge than anything I had encountered previously.
Exploration is another significant part of Endfield’s design. During the preview, I spent most of my time in the opening areas and didn’t get to explore much beyond Wuling City, yet the game still made a strong impression. You’ll find resource nodes scattered across the landscape, mission markers guiding you to objectives, and smaller events that help break up the flow of exploration. The world isn’t the most active I’ve experienced in a game, but there is enough spread throughout the environment to make you want to explore every inch of the map.
Built Different
Outside of combat, Endfield introduces a vast new system with the AIC Factory. It’s part base builder, part automation simulator, and it ties directly into your overall progress. During my time with the game, I got to experiment with building construction and automated resource gathering. It instantly reminded me of Satisfactory or Factorio, which also have a lot of in-depth construction layouts you can experiment with. You build facilities to gather materials, refine them, and support your operations across Talos-II. Not only that, but you also must construct power relays that you then have to connect to power sources to expand your territory or restore power to abandoned facilities you may cross on your journey.
I’ll admit it — this was overwhelming at first. The menus, resources, and layout options pile up quickly, and it took some time to wrap my head around how everything connects. Still, the potential is there. Once I started playing around with my factory setup and began to understand the intricacies of the systems, I could see how players could spend dozens of hours refining their setups and optimizing their factories’ production. Endfield’s Blueprint System should help make this more approachable. It lets players save and share their factory layouts, which is a smart way to encourage creativity and community engagement. This is a fantastic workaround for those who would rather avoid the building aspect of Endfield. Being able to exchange factory layouts with friends or view how others have optimized their setups will likely keep players engaged long after finishing the story. I can easily see players swapping efficient builds and turning the factory management side into its own meta-game.
A Promise of More to Come
After spending seven hours with Arknights: Endfield, I came away impressed by both its scale and its ambition. It’s a massive leap for the series, blending action combat, resource management, base-building, and open-zone exploration into something that feels vastly different from other games in the genre. But it can feel like a lot to take in at first. The AIC Factory, in particular, is packed with layers of systems that will take time to understand fully. However, there’s also a rewarding sense of depth here that makes me want to keep learning and experimenting.
The upcoming Beta Test II, launching on November 28, will bring new regions, nine additional operators, and expanded systems that tie exploration and production together even more closely. If what I played is any indication, Arknights: Endfield is shaping up to be a game worth paying attention to. It’s ambitious, complex, and sometimes a bit overwhelming, yet it’s also full of promise. I’m looking forward to diving back in and seeing just how far this new frontier goes.
Arknights: Endfield is set to launch in Early 2026 on Android & iOS devices, PlayStation 5, and PC.
