Arknights: Endfieldis a 3D Action RPG developed by Hypergryph that combines real-time action combat with base-building factory gameplay in a sci-fi, anime-inspired setting. Like many other gacha game predecessors, the game has a semi-open world setting, allowing players to explore, engage in combat, solve puzzles, and more.
Hypergryph is well known in the gacha space for their first release, Arknights, back in 2019. It was a 2-D strategy tower defense game that has only grown in popularity, being one of the few gacha games pre-Genshin Impact to stand the test of time.
It’s been a while since the gacha genre has seen a major release of this caliber, the last few being Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves back in mid 2024. Overall, Arknights: Endfield has been released in a very promising state, so let’s dive into the pros, cons, and why this game might be for you
Our review for Arknights: Endfield was conducted using the PC version.
The Highs
Impressive Polish at Launch
Firstly, Endfield has extremely good polish for a brand-new gacha game. On release, many games are littered with bugs, have poor localization, or have bad optimization. Endfield has managed to launch a game without these issues that plague new gacha games. While not perfect, the art, sound design, textures, and overall attention to detail are a welcome sight to see.
The Basebuilding and Factory System Delivers
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Going into the release, many players were unsure what to expect when it came to the base-building aspect of the game. While many expected this gameplay feature to filter out a large playerbase that cared only about combat, a large number of players have expressed enjoyment out of the base system. It’s almost like the action combat pulled in a large net of players, and many were pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the base building can be.
While veterans to the genre might find Endfield’s base system simplistic, it’s a strong introduction to help bring new players to the genre. As the game continues to evolve, the base can certainly become more complex and continue to be an enjoyable gameplay experience.
Even still, for those who don’t want to interact with this aspect too much, you can still use Blueprints to copy other players’ work to min-max your setup. I would recommend personally giving the gameplay a chance as this is clearly intended to be part of the overall gameplay experience.
Enjoyable Exploration Loop
Open-world exploration can be a very cumbersome activity for many, especially those who have played a lot of Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves. Even still, credit where credit is due.
Many puzzles have interesting level design, and a few are actually difficult to solve (those last robot puzzles took me longer to solve than I’m proud to admit).
Exploration is also tied into thebase building, as you connect your main base to faraway mining locations to automate resource gathering, allowing you to produce more goods in your factory. This aspect gives exploration a good immersion, giving you a purpose that aligns with the in-game world rather than simply doing puzzles for some currency.
Overall, the exploration experience is enjoyable, albeit still an overdone trope of the genre.
Refreshing Take on Gear
One of the biggest improvements to Endfield compared to mainstream gacha is gearing. While still based on an RNG system, other games are essentially an infinite grind for small gains, you can never (realistically) complete a perfect endgame build for a character.
In Endfield, Gear stats are set, and upgrading them is simply a resource grind. For weapons (essences), you will need to farm for the right essence, but once you do it simply takes time to upgrade them to max level. While upgrading the essence to max level has RNG, it’s very realistic to max out your character with a perfect build, something other games do not realistically allow for.
The Lows
Story and Tutorials Can Be a Slog
Without a doubt, one of the biggest cons of Endfield’s release is the early story/tutorials. Almost the entire first chapter is written in order to serve as tutorials to the player. While the base can be daunting for new players to the genre, it’s certainly too hand-holding and shoves unnecessary tutorials at the player. There are even tutorials that repeat multiple times, making this even more excruciating to play through.
It’s a lose-lose either way since many players will just skip tutorials and be confused about the game, but they definitely went too far.
If you’re just starting out, just know that once you pass through the many tutorials and actually get to experience the game, you’ll likely start to enjoy the game much more.
Outside of the tutorials, the first chapter story (Valley IV) is not particularly gripping in terms of story. It picks up in the next region, but many players are hoping future chapters bring more to the main story.
Convoluted Gacha System
With many positives also come some negatives. The gacha system of Endfield is one of the most debated aspects of the game. It’s more convoluted than other gacha games by design, and while mathematically better than some other games, it psychologically creates situations that feel bad mentally rather than mathematically.
One positive of Endfield’s game design is character dupes. Unlike other competitors, dupes are much less impactful compared to other games. This reduces the need to consider high investment levels for some characters.
The game also currently does not contain a true endgame mode, meaning power level is not necessarily a priority for most players.
Gacha Income is Tied to Optional Content
Another poor aspect of the game currently is gacha income. Right now, a lot of the game’s income is tied to open-world exploration like puzzles, side quests, etc. Tying currency to optional content can be daunting for players who only have time to play through limited content.
It would be nice to see gacha income tied more to the core aspects of the game that players enjoy doing, like base building, connecting mining rigs, combat instances, the main storyline, etc.
Since the game is still in its infancy, it would be unfair to predict how generous future patches will be in terms of pull income, so we won’t comment on this aspect.
Combat Can Feel Monotonous
The combat system is well fleshed out, and not a full “con”. You can line up different character kits and abilities to synergize, increase damage, and pull off satisfying combos. However, as you figure things out, it can become monotonous repeating the same rotation over and over. In this way, the combat can feel more like strategy gameplay of teambuilding and sequencing rather than reactive/real-time.
In the age of information, where optimal rotations are theorycrafted and shared, the combat can feel more dull when it boils down to copying a set of button presses. Any player can opt to not pursue online resources and figure things out themselves, but this only prolongs the discovery phase. The combat can still boil down to repetition after this phase passes.
Still, much like the base system, the combat can certainly become more engaging if future enemy design challenges the players to approach fights in a different way, whether it be through team-building or through real-time mechanics.
Our Score
8/10 (Good Game First, Gacha Second)
All in all, Arknights: Endfield was a game that captured a feeling very similar to Genshin Impact when it was first released. While it may not have the same worldwide impact, the game provides enough to do that many players forget it’s even a gacha game.
This is one of the highest praises a gacha game can receive, when players are able to forget the many tropes of the gacha genre and just enjoy the game for what it is.
It’s a meme in the gacha community to say the “devs listened,” but it’s very clear that Hypergryph is already receptive to early feedback. They have already written a communication letter to players about improvements they’re making, and gave everyone a free 6-Star Selector.
This is a great sign of goodwill from the developers, and in general, Hypergryph has a very good reputation from their first game, Arknights.
However, this game won’t be for everyone. If you do not enjoy base building or open-world exploration, you’ll be bored for a large portion of the game. Even still, I would advise giving the system a try, even if you need to push through the early game slog.
