Arknights: Endfield Review – Welcome To Endfield Industries

For the past three months, not a day has gone by that I don’t think about Arknights: Endfield. I went to the Beta Test II event. I also got into the Beta Test II when it was being tested, and have essentially been playing it at least daily since I got access to the review build of 1.0.

Game Name: Arknights: Endfield
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, PC (Reviewed), iOS, Android
Developer(s): Hypergryph
Publisher(s): GRYPHLINE
Release Date: January 22nd, 2026
Price: Free To Play

Arknights: Endfield has you playing as the Endministrator as you are working with Endfield Industries to help make the moon of Talos-II into a livable world, as well as work on making the lives of the inhabitants better. The Endministrator comes out of stasis with no memories of what they were involved in, so they have to get back up to speed. To help them get up to speed on the work with Talos-II is Perlica, the one in charge of Endfield Industries currently. Perlica hires other operators from Endfield Industries to help Endministrator get the lay of the land as a new threat reeks its ugly head to the peaceful existence on Talos-II. It is up to you to figure out what this threat is and how to keep casualties to a minimum.

The Good

One of the perks of keeping up with the development of a game like Arknights: Endfield is seeing the improvements with each build. I first played the game at Pax West 2024. I was able to join the original Beta Test months after that, and eventually Beta Test II, to then finish it off with the 1.0 build of the game. After each iteration, there were fixes to each of my complaints. Whether it be the poor controller support, the HUD, or the UI designs, they were all fixed. Each build looks more and more gorgeous in its design and aesthetic. The jump from Beta Test II to the review build isn’t nearly as much as the other jumps, but there are still things to notice.

One thing that stands out to me is the animation for headhunting. Headhunting is the gacha system for the game, and before 1.0, you had to wait a while to notice the animation change between a five-star pull and a six-star pull. There is a much faster shift with a hand pulling a lever to launch the pods now. Six-star pulls will make the lever shine reddish orange, whereas five-star pulls will shine a light yellow. If you are saving a ton of resources to use them all up on a specific banner, it is significantly faster with this change.

I really love the combat system of Arknights: Endfield. You have characters that provide different roles to the team. Even the four-star characters can help with buffing your characters or nerfing enemies. A big difference between Arknights: Endfield and the other free-to-play gacha games out there is that all four of your party members are fighting at the same time.

The tutorials in Arknights: Endfield are super detailed, but in Beta Test II, there were some that were mandatory for facility building that did not jive well with the community. I only had to do one tutorial for facility building to progress, which means you can just get the rest of the blueprints via the community.

Characters rely on two primary types of abilities. The first are active abilities, which can be triggered once the SP gauge has at least one available segment. The second are reactive abilities, which activate automatically based on specific conditions. These can include being hit by an enemy, completing a combo, or triggering another character’s ability.

With a well-built team, combat becomes a constant back-and-forth between active and reactive abilities. Without that synergy, you will often find yourself relying on basic combos while waiting for SP to refill. Arknights: Endfield allows players to approach combat at their own pace, but mastering these mechanics makes battles far more dynamic and satisfying.

The Bad

If you want a six-star character in Arknights: Endfield, you are beholden to the gacha system. The gacha system was made a bit more complex in the 1.0 build of the game. The thing to note is save all your currency for a specific, limited banner. If you aren’t good at saving currency, then you will be unhappy not having every character in the game. That is something you have to learn, though, in every gacha game.

There are level gates that limit the amount of progress you can make in the story. If you are someone who is focused on the story, this might be upsetting. You will need to wait at times to do dailies or to do side quests to reach the rank you need to progress in the story.

The Verdict

Arknights: Endfield is a high-production free-to-play game that has a lot to love. Great combat, gorgeous graphics, a unique aesthetic, and a story that has the potential to reveal a lot about the world of Talos-II. It comes with the downsides of a gacha game, but it does have the production value that makes it look like some of the best-looking Bandai Namco anime games.

Arknights: Endfield launches January 22nd, 2026, for PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android.

Review Disclosure Statement: Arknights: Endfield was provided to us by GRYPHLINE for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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