While i might still do an EXPRESSO review for it, even if it’s a F2P game… actually because i’ve played my fair share of anime F2P gacha games over the years, i know that unless they completely overhaul the game, they will simply introduce more content or new game modes that don’t substitute the main core experienc, the story will be continued with new updates but the foundation will most likely remain, because unless is utterly broken or impopular, there’s not even a monetary reason to scrap the work already done.
I might reserve doing that EXPRESSO review when i at least finish the first chapter fully (at the time of writing i0m halfway through Chapter 1, are 2 big story chapters split in at least 5 subchapters each, more or less), even though i’m very close to doing that and i’ve already passed the “freeride” initial portion of a F2P game where progression will require grind not just to keep levelled up your squad (or level up a new one), but also to progress due to the story requirements being tied to your overall “research level/rank”.
I’m releasing this now as in a 4 days the game will receive the biggest update/expansion, “Homecoming”, i ment to release this piece 3 weeks ago but things got in the way, and i haven’t played much more in between that made me change my opinion on the game, plus i’m not even sure i will go back to the game on a regular base anyway, so we’re posting this now. before it becomes completely outdated.
I might still do an EXPRESSO review, but it seems unlikely, we’ll see.
So the honeymoon freebies are already over, the nice part meant to lull you into the gambling den, but still, i will at least write down my general impressions of the game so far, since i did like the original Arknights and i was curious to see where they were gonna do with this spin-off thing… even i happened to miss the beta period despite technically already possessing a PS5 by then (my PC is too old and crappy to even try run it, and i’m so not paying the inflated price due to GenAI gold rush).
Yes, this is my experience with the PS5 version of the game, it’s also on smarthphones now, and PC, it has its own launcher and at the moment there’s no plan for a Steam release.
YES, it’s technically available on the Epic Game Store as native app…. for now, but even so,i wouldn’t bother.
Arknights Endfield is that kind of spin-off, as in, it takes place in the same universe, some concepts like the Originium and the Oripathy are shared, it doesn’t retcon anything from Arknights, but its also a sequel taking place so much time after the events of that game and a related yet distinct planet, Talos II, a gas giant moon unrelated to the planet of the first game, Terra, yet features a set of (mostly) new characters in a new storyline that doesn’t really require to have played the previous game.
In other words, it’s a canonical yet undirect sequel thing to Arknights meant to be very beginner friendly.
Even more so since it does the classic “amnesiac protag that is kinda customizable but not quite”, in this case you’re not the Doctor (not of the Gallifrey kind), but the administrator of the Endfield Industries (dubbed Endministrator because pun), a spaceship operated industry focused that oversees the ground operations to terraform the planet, opposed by a mysterious miasma that is spread by some sources of the planet itself (opposed by the benevolent and multipurpose material called Originium that can be found on Talos II as well) and various band of humans that went full Mad Max style, living as violent bandits that use the malevolent material to their advantage.
You’ve just awakened from a coma, you’re nursed back to your senses by a woman with animal ears that remembers you even if you don’t, and with your abilities and presence the mission of making Talos II a new home for mankind and those infected with Oripathy, as in, you become a partial furry in the way some people actually believe the “process” works, and grow animal ears and maybe tails, if you’re lucky (or unlucky).
nothing too special, but i do like the new characters, design and the world of Talos II, and it’s a very big budgeted F2P anime game, it looks proper good, the soundtrack is solid, the voice acting is very good, and overall production values are very high.
Gameplay is typical action rpg stuff, with a single button for mashing a basic combo, holding it down for a charged attack, a dodge, with shoulder button special attacks for you and the other 3 squad members, with an ultimate for each character, a link-follow up action if you manage to strike down enemies with support specials at the right time, various
It’s no Devil May Cry 5 or Bayonetta 2, but its fine, really (again, these are games also meant to go on mobile sooner or later).
What i wasn’t expecting is the game’s other part to be what i assume Factorio is (i haven’t played Factorio or seen much gameplay), i can say it definitely lives up to you being the administator of an industry focused operation, because you’re gonna industry so much, building so many machines to extract resources, funnel resources into refinery, attaching these to power plants, automating creation of not just items but also gear, repairing machinery, connecting ziplines, etc.
If you’re into that, good, and i’ve seen some chinese players basically do amazing automated systems, but it also means a lot of tutorials on how to make these automated system work, how do they flow, how to check their outputs, so be prepared to be tutorialized well beyond what you’d expect, and i can’t blame the developers, as you’ll most likely need these tutorials to properly explain the automatation processes and how they work with each other.
Overall, in my relatively “brief” time i spent with the game, i had fun, to be honest, even if i found the industry management parts a bit much for my taste.
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