Arknights Endfield Review

The free-to-play third-person action-automation follow-up to the mobile game Arknights is finally here, after multiple beta periods. So, get ready to head off to Talos-II in Arknights: Endfield.

I don’t think that I can honestly say much else that wasn’t already covered in my preview without struggling to find new ways to say the same thing. So, you should go and read that for something a bit more in-depth.

You play the Endministrator of Endfield Industries, which is trying to make the moon of Talos-II better for its inhabitants from their massive spaceship Dijiang. You’re suffering from memory loss, but everyone loves you for whatever happened before you were put in stasis for 10 years. However, a lot of things just haven’t been getting done, as you’re the only one able to operate and/or repair certain mechanisms.

Chief amongst these is the Automated Industry Complex (AIC), which is the heart of your operation across the moon. It provides power to doors and elevators, as well as being the nexus of your automation processes. There is a lot of crafting in this game, but with a production line or eight, you can free yourself up to explore!

You need to craft materials for equipment, weapons, upgrades, and to barter with outposts. Once you’ve set one up, you can send them, say, ores in exchange for one of the many currencies that Endfield deals with. Outposts have a smaller AIC, which makes it a little easier to run power lines throughout regions.

You can also set up ziplines to allow you to reach places faster. Unfortunately, you can only have a set number of them, though that number is sufficient if you’re not being greedy with them.

As you progress across Talos-II you’ll encounter enemies: the Aggeloi are created from rock and energy, and the Landbreakers are your basic everyday raiders. As you level up, the enemies do too, so if you’re concerned that a trip through the early areas will become too easy, don’t worry.

Something that I didn’t touch upon in my preview was the region of Wuling. That’s because I spent hours playing the beta and never managed to finish the vast amount of content available in the first area of Valley IV. Well, now I’ve been able to see what I missed out on.

Simply put, Wuling has a lot of water. As such, it also has water-powered and -based systems. For instance, you get a drone which shoots water to power up locks, and can start carrying water with you in bottles. The area opens up a whole new line of machines to research and build at your AIC. And you can empty and fill basins to unlock new paths.

Exploration in Endfield is really fun, I honestly really enjoy finding ways to reach items or chests that seemed out of the way. You only have one jump and a dash (no air dashing!), so sometimes you have to really go out of your way to grab things. Opening chests also increases your exploration rank, which in turn grants you rewards, so it’s a good thing that roaming around is such a joy.

While combat can get a bit repetitive, I think that’s the only negative aspect that I’ve found in the game. You just hold the attack button and occasionally dodge, and use the special attacks when the meters have filled. Boss fights require more thought, taking notice of attack patterns and such, but it’s all quite samey. There are multiple weapon types, but that really just means that you stand in a different place while holding the button.

Music is also used very well, making epic moments feel more epic in cutscenes and just in general while wandering about. Not only are the tracks different for each region, but walking along a street or down a hill could change the tune playing, so none of it is present long enough to get repetitive.

The graphics are in a well-realised anime style, and while there’s undeniably some jiggle physics, they’re not too in your face… so to speak. The environments are great, the character and enemy designs are lovely, and it’s an altogether great package.

Given how polished and full Arknights: Endfield feels, I’m really surprised that it’s free-to-play. Microtransaction prices in the store pages may change once the game is live, but if you’ve seen the amounts and what you get for each tier in one mobile game, you get the gist — small amounts up to just shy of £100.

If you don’t like anime-style graphics or automation games, then you should avoid this. Everyone else should give it a try. I’m usually overwhelmed by the automation genre, but with the amount of in-game tutorials and guides, this was super easy to pick up. Arknights: Endfield is well worth a look.