Copyright Wccftech
Wccftech was recently invited out to join a select number of content creators and fellow journalists to get an early look at the upcoming Beta Test II for Arknights: Endfield on PC. Throughout this seven-hour session, we were treated to a live performance by Starset, a band that has done a number of collaborations with Gryphline for Arknights trailers and will be debuting a new track for Arknights: Endfield sometime in the future. During the actual gameplay, we were permitted to play through the redesigned opening act and then free rein across a number of saves at different level tiers to get samples of the combat at various difficulties, as well as exploration of the new hub city of Wuling. Gryphline started off the preview event with a brief rundown of the current state of Arknights: Endfield and what it’s taken to get to this point. During this presentation, we were introduced to Endfield through a live-translated fireside chat with Lead Designer Ryan (last name not given) and Producer Light Zhong. As they wanted to address the matters of “Whenfield”, the developers talked about how Endfield first began proper development in 2022 with a technical test in 2024, followed by the first beta test earlier this year. The development team at Hypergryph is currently recruiting for the second beta test, currently slated to open on November 28th. The intent for Arknights: Endfield to differentiate itself from other gacha action RPGs out on the market is the factory building systems. Light Zhong talked briefly about how sandbox titles offer freedom for players to explore the world and make it more immersive, while the factory elements are something refreshing for the players, as most gacha games don’t dip their toes into these systems. By using the feedback from the first beta test earlier this year, Arknights: Endfield’s upcoming test was centered around three refining pillars: overall game progression, the stages and maps, and redesigning the cutscenes and cinematics. One example they provided was changing out an early quest involving gathering piles of trash to clean up a camp and instead replacing it with clearing the camp of raiders and miscreants by way of combat. Overall, they’re intending to make the map design feel “more self-contained” and guide players through with both storytelling and gameplay. Whether this means that they intend for the quest chains to guide the player along a guided path or provide points of interest off the beaten path is something that players will have to check out for themselves if they’re selected to take part in the second beta test. Hypergryph estimates that the amount of content coming to Beta Test II is an average of 50-60 hours, with a majority of that time dedicated to new content. The factory building is, of course, going to be one of the key features that will set Arknights: Endfield apart from other action RPG games on the mobile market. Regrettably, I was not able to dive in from the beginning and experience building up a camp from the ground up, so I was limited in what I could see for myself and instead only got a glimpse during their keynote presentation. One of the features I saw most requested for the factory building was an element to share base creations with other players, and this is indeed a feature that will be coming to Arknights: Endfield at launch. By allowing players to share blueprints of their factory creations, they intend to make the system more accessible and encourage experimentation as players begin to understand what is possible with Endfield’s factories. Players won’t have to befriend one another to get access to these blueprints, as there will be a code system to post on social media and share with others. The opening act that aims to onboard players with tutorials is quite a bombastic opener, starting with choosing the gender of your player Endministrator and taking part in a raid against a raiding alien menace. While the opening act from the first beta test was far more introspective, examining artifacts and the relics left behind, the revised opener in Beta Test II is more in line with what players might expect from a Western action RPG. Enemies are slowly drip-fed to the player in combat encounters, leading to how to target and dodge attacks before culminating in a massive multi-stage fight against a behemoth titan that towers over the battlefield and uses its long reach to swipe and smack down the player Endministrator. Following this five-minute-long fight is a radical shift in thematics compared to the original story, instead focusing on a cycle of death and rebirth for the Endministrator, who returns to duty in a hospital bed, suffering from a small amount of amnesiac trauma from the whole ordeal. From here, it returns to being closer to the original beta test, where players slowly venture out to rescue a hub base and set up a proper base of operations on Talos-II. Arknights: Endfield’s combat has been greatly refined to be more in line with the popular character action games of recent years, obviously taking some notes from PlatinumGames’ Babylon’s Fall and Astral Chain. Each battle sees not just the Endministrator taking the field but also all three of their party members, who operate independently in terms of basic attacks. The player character has one main attack button where players can either tap the button or hold it down for a combo string and use dashes and dodges to evade oncoming attacks, often indicated by the enemy attacker's glowing red moments before their attack would connect with the player character. For some enemy types, the red aura can be difficult to figure out at a glance, especially on the fiery lava rock type humanoids. In its current form, party members don’t use any actual resources for their special attacks, meaning they don't need to manage MP, TP, or any other type of resource for these attacks. Instead, everything the player can do is time-based and recharges over a period of time. For those players who want to mash buttons and blast through battles as quickly as possible, sure it’s possible to fire off all four special attacks and abilities back to back but often, it’s better to utilize these abilities in a particular order as players learn to synergize the different roles in their party and take advantage of both player buffs and enemy debuffs to maximize their damage far above the couple of thousand damage they might be able to pull off otherwise. One comment I had for the Hypergryph developers during my preview session was a desire to have two different attack buttons for light and heavy attacks to help the combat feel more dynamic; going onto Beta Test II, the combat can begin to feel somewhat one note despite the polished dodging and speed of combat as I simply held down one button for basic attacks for much of the fight while waiting for my abilities to charge up. There’s certainly the framework of what could be the single best action combat system for a gacha game on the market, but Arknights: Endfield needs to bring in more than just a good defensive system to truly shine. Exploring around Wuling City showed off one of my favorite parts of open-world games: environment puzzles leading to tangible rewards. Scattered throughout the city are dozens of collectibles and hidden treasure chests, rewarding exploration with bonuses to the regional development level for that area, as well as working towards an overall account level, which in turn leads to important boons like being able to increase the level cap of units. What kept me from really getting into the sense of exploration was the jumping mechanics and platforming. I would constantly want to double jump or try to climb up to a higher level by jumping onto rails and boxes, only to fall off. Instead, it’s more about a deliberate path through side paths to get up to some of these elevated rewards. Adding in a double jump might trivialize some of these exploration moments, so I’m curious to see what Hypergryph does to refine map traversal in the coming months. Even as someone who only knows the surface-level lore and gameplay of the original Arknights, having played early on in its Western launch and only having to rely on anecdotes from players who have been enduring through TN-4 earlier this year, I was able to get a proper grasp on the overall universe and themes that make Arknights what it is. Being an entirely new genre and set in the far future from the original game, Arknights: Endfield aims to be something that can draw brand new players in that might have otherwise overlooked the original tower defense game. The gacha action RPG genre has become competitive in recent years, but Endfield’s AAA presentation and emphasis on base building might do well to set it apart from the competition. Following my hands-on with Arknights: Endfield’s Beta Test II, I was able to take part in an email interview with both Ryan and Light Zhong, who were able to respond and get answers back to us ahead of publishing. While both developers took part in the email Q&A, the responses aren’t attributed to a specific person. There was one more question that was asked to the developers about balancing power levels in Algorithmic Memories, as some gameplay videos showcased a massive damage spike for certain team compositions, but that answer wasn’t returned in time for publication. What led your team to make such significant changes to the combat system over the course of the different betas? We believe players naturally develop certain habits, and game design trends follow those patterns. When developing our games, we’re always thinking about how to adapt to modern playstyles without compromising on the core fun of the experience. The changes to combat skills came from this idea—we wanted battles to feel smoother and more dynamic, matching the pace players expect. It greatly enhances the sense of impact in combat. As for strategy, that aspect hasn’t been diminished, in part due to the addition of the Combo Skill system. Battles are now more fun and have an extra strategic layer. Players must think carefully about team composition and skill timing if they want to unlock their characters’ full potential. Arknights is very well known and loved for its approach to unit design and distribution, with older units remaining useful over the life of the game. Is that something you’re looking to replicate in Endfield? Yes. In Endfield, the design philosophy ensures that early characters continue to play important gameplay roles even as new units are introduced. While six-star characters can be powerful, optimal team compositions often rely on a mix of units, including four/five-star or earlier characters, due to their unique abilities and synergy in combos. This approach keeps older characters valuable and relevant throughout the game’s lifecycle, maintaining strategic depth and rewarding long-term player investment. How integral will the factory be to resource generation in Arknights: Endfield? The efficiency of resource generation is something that veteran gacha players tend to theorycraft and come up with builds as quickly as possible to maximize what’s earned per day. The Factory System will allow players to greatly empower their characters with equipment and improve the rate of regional development. Even if players do not focus on the factory gameplay or production efficiency, they’ll still have a chance to create quality equipment for their characters; they’ll just have to wait longer for the region to develop. However, this does not make the game significantly more difficult. Nevertheless, we hope to share the fun of automation and make factory-building gameplay accessible to more players. Are there any plans for considering a blueprint system to make and share base designs? Yes, we have introduced the blueprint system for Beta Test II to help make AIC Factory planning and construction easier. This will allow players to use various blueprints to quickly set up a production line and expedite development across various regions of Talos-II. What are the current plans for an Endgame in Arknights Endfield? Will this be available at launch? If not, do you have a timetable in mind? Currently, the game is still in the testing phase, and more information will be shared in the future, so please stay tuned! Will accounts be shared across different platforms for Arknights: Endfield? Can players group together for co-op across different platforms? The test will be available on PC, iOS, and Android. Endministrators will receive access for their chosen platform, and your progress will sync seamlessly between PC and mobile. Are there swimsuits on Talos II? More information will be introduced in the future, so please stay tuned. Are there any elements to the store or gameplay that will require premium currency that isn’t earned through regular gameplay? We aim to give active players more free opportunities to get high-star characters and weapons. In the end, whether players choose to spend or not, they’ll still be able to experience the main content of the game—we’re not putting major content behind paywalls. We also greatly reduced character progression costs so players can devote more of their time to the core story content and gameplay. [Editor's Note: Travel accommodations were provided by Gryphline to attend this preview event. The game demo featured at this media event is a specially prepared build that offers early access to the upcoming Arknights: Endfield Beta Test II.]
