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Arknights: Endfield Might Give Genshin Impact a Run for its Money

The Arknights tower-defense game is getting an RPG spin-off called Arknights: Endfield, and it's surprisingly more robust than I thought it would be. During Anime Expo 2025, Anime News Network got the opportunity to play a 30-minute demo. It has a lot of potential with its slick art direction and mixture of action-RPG and tower defense gameplay, which will help it stand out amongst the crowded RPG field.

Endfield's demo dropped me straight into the tutorial without any story context, but what immediately blew me away was the art direction. The graphics and menus invoke a sci-fi feeling, and the player, called the “Endministrator,” wears a gray jacket with yellow accents. It's most reminiscent of games like Scarlet Nexus.

Gameplay wise, Endfield plays very similarly to Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves. It's an action-RPG where you just attack enemies in an open field with your attacks. You also have a meter that fills up that allows you to unleash flashy special attacks.

But one differentiating factor that Endfield has is that instead of only being able to control one character out on the field at a time, you can have up to four, just like a typical RPG. Sure, these gameplay mechanics aren't groundbreaking in and of themselves, but within the context of being a potential Genshin Impact competitor, small details like this could sway new players to trying out Endfield. For Japanese RPG fans like myself, party-based battles is an enticing feature that could draw me further in.

The other characters on my team were the staff user (and cat girl), Perlica, the combat specialist Chen Qianyu, and the dual gun-wielding mercenary Wulfgard. I was a fan of their designs, especially Wulfgard's. The developers really played around with the “canine” theme and gave him these ghostly black and white wolf spirits that dangle around him. He's also a former member of a clan called the Pack, and is described as trustworthy and loyal, traits generally associated with dogs. While I didn't really know too much about him due to my limited time in the demo, his design gave me a glimpse into his personality, which is a testament to the artists.

An even larger differentiator are the base-building elements. Admittedly, I didn't completely understand how the base building works because there really wasn't a tutorial for it. Here, it looks like you can create weapons like automated cannons to shoot at enemies while you're attacking alongside with your party members. I wasn't able to really learn about how these machines were built or their full synergies, as many of the weapons were prebuilt for me. Still, I like how the developer Hypergryph was able to implement some of the tower defense elements from the original Arknights game into Endfield. This gives Endfield its own unique identity that'll help it stand out against the Genshin Impacts of the world.

One aspect that I also didn't really get a grasp on was its story. The game takes place on a planet called Talos-II and players must explore its areas for Endfield Industries. It's got a space-opera vibe similar to games like Mass Effect, Starfield, and Destiny. Endfield seems to lean much more into its sci-fi inspirations than either of them, so it'll likely appeal to those who resonate with the setting while also being able to offer the charming anime aesthetic that fans of this genre love.

The story set up is also interesting enough for me to try it out when it launches. If Arknights: Endfield sticks the landing by telling a good story, then I have a feeling it could reach new heights and surpass its competitors.

Arknights: Endfield will launch on PC, PS5, and mobile.