In the local hero-collector RPG market, the title 'Arknights' remains an outlier. Despite belonging to the relatively niche tower defence genre, it has maintained its popularity for so long that it recently celebrated its 6th anniversary. Naturally, its successor, 'Arknights: Endfield' (hereinafter 'Endfield'), was met with high expectations from the moment it was unveiled. It isn't just a simple expansion; it promises a challenge on an entirely different stage with a whole new approach.

Endfield offers an environment where players can explore the world more actively, alongside familiar faces. It was quite impressive to meet new companions, chat with them, and build rapport. Moving beyond the role of a mere administrator issuing commands, the game places you right in the heart of the adventure, letting you enjoy a constant flow of combat and design. It’s a title that expresses the developer's will not to settle for the status quo while honouring the series' reputation.

To survive in the harsh landscape of Talos, players must join forces with operators possessing diverse abilities to pioneer the planet. Basic combat revolves around a 'full squad' where the leader you control and the AI-driven teammates intervene on the battlefield simultaneously. Since characters other than the leader can have their skills manually triggered under certain conditions, you won't find yourself scrambling too hard. Consequently, combat focuses less on basic attacks and more on how you chain those skills together.

Combat in Endfield is categorised into physical and Arts (elemental) attacks, creating different status effects and synergies. Depending on how you combine these, the tempo and strategy of your battles will shift. For example, using a party familiar to veterans of the previous game—Adelia, Levatein, Pogranichnik, and Gilberta (Eyjafjalla, Surtr, Hellagur, and Angelina)—results in a distinct separation between the build-up and burst phases.

Pogranichnik and Gilberta can stack 'Cannot Defend' debuffs on enemies through continuous pressure. While that's active, triggering Gilberta's ultimate to apply multiple Arts vulnerabilities allows Adelia's natural explosions, corrosion, or Levatein's heat attacks to deal massive burst damage. Since Arts vulnerability increases incoming Arts damage, it synergises perfectly with Levatein's ultimate, which maintains a 3-stage enhanced attack state that applies heat damage and heat-affliction.

It is also worth noting that meeting unique conditions for each operator to chain skills recovers skill points. This system guarantees combat flow, significantly cutting down on those dull moments where you're just spamming basic attacks. Furthermore, successfully dashing in response to enemy attacks provides sensory feedback through altered animations, and the dash effect varies depending on the leader character, making strategic use of these nuances crucial.

Endfield's production system is factory-based, revolving around a core facility called the 'Protocol Anchor Core'. In this integrated industrial system, which feels somewhat akin to the game 'Factorio', players can print various facilities, manage storage and relayers, and build a structure to supply power across Talos. Furthermore, through modularisation, you can set up pipelines that process gathered materials sequentially to manufacture necessary consumables using simple drag-and-drop mechanics.

Factories built this way operate automatically as long as power is maintained. Players can continuously receive not only equipment but also tactical items and resources needed for facility expansion. This automation helps minimise repetitive, tedious processing tasks, allowing you to invest more time in exploring Talos. Even if you struggle with layout or lack structural creativity, it's not difficult to set up; the 'Blueprint' system allows you to share and apply layouts from others.

The game also features a unique system called the Integrated Industrial System Plan. It’s a technology research tree where unlocking new nodes expands your industrial capacity. You can increase this by activating Protocol Data Collectors scattered across the map, which serves as a reward-based incentive for exploration. As production capabilities vary by region, it encourages players to venture out and visit diverse areas.

One of Endfield's unique features is that besides power facilities, there are structures that assist in combat. In Talos, situations occasionally arise that your operators can't handle alone, or waves of enemies might swarm you. This is where Industrial Tactics come in. These are essentially 'defence towers' you can craft from materials you've mined and processed. Placing them with the terrain in mind allows for much more rational battlefield management.

Thus, the game consists of content that utilises strategic elements like custom movement, regional strategies, and production. It expands beyond simple resource gathering into questions of spatial design and operations. The hallmark of Endfield is providing an experience where you expand your reach, secure power, and use equipment across different regions, all while linking combat and design.

In short, Endfield centres on a cyclical structure where combat abilities are expanded through industrial tactics, and industrial zones are expanded by stabilising regions through combat. While both combat and production demand strategy—which could be taxing—the game adds a layer of kindness by providing numerous support tools. The narrative delivery, true to Hypergryph's style, maintains continuity with 'Arknights' while remaining accessible enough for newcomers to enjoy the story on its own merits.