If the idea of combining Genshin Impact-style RPG gameplay with the factory automation of Satisfactory catches your attention, you might want to cast a thought towards Arknights: Endfield. Its Sanctuary of Ink update aims to show how the RPG is continuing to develop its automation systems. Building sprawling production lines is certainly a very different experience from exploring a vast world, fighting enemies, and collecting characters, but Arknights: Endfield wants to bring these activities together. Its factory system gives players another reason to explore, encouraging them to gather resources, expand their industrial networks, and produce supplies that support their adventures across Talos-2.
I can see the appeal, but I question whether the game can balance these two very different gameplay loops. It seems difficult without making one feel like an obstacle to another, and this ambitious combination presents a challenge yet. However, this creates a great opportunity for the game to make factory building feel genuinely important, rather than a feature competing for the player’s time.
Arknights: Endfield Makes Factory Building Feel Like Part of the Adventure
Endfield has all the familiar elements: finding loot, completing quests, collecting upgrade materials, fighting enemies. Talos-2 is a world of rugged terrain and snow-covered landscapes, and venturing beyond your base can uncover the resources needed to expand your industrial network. Through the Automated Industry Complex (AIC), players can build production lines using machines, conveyor belts, power networks, and resource-processing facilities, turning raw materials into equipment and supplies for future expeditions.
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It’s satisfying to think about returning from an expedition to see your factory in full swing. I wonder if this will encourage players to think about how materials can be produced more efficiently over time, too, and I like the idea of the relationship between exploration and preparation being closely intertwined, especially in a world as inhospitable as Talos-2. Your factory is a growing foothold in an unfamiliar, frozen environment, offering a place to regroup and prepare your operators. I think it gives the industrial side of Endfield more purpose, and the making of machines feel more fundamental to your team’s journey, too.
Arknights: Enfield’s Gacha System Could Get in the Way of Its Best Feature
It’s impossible to ignore the competing demands of progression in Gacha games, and it’s even harder to pass over Genshin Impact’s influence on the genre. Genshin Impact shows how much attention a familiar RPG can devote to character progression, while Satisfactory argues that factory optimization is the central reason to progression. Ideally, Arknights: Endfield could borrow the best of both approaches and reward players for developing their operators as well as giving them reasons to expand their industrial networks. It will be crucial for these two progression loops to complement each other, or else they will be essentially fighting for the player’s time and resources.
This is where Endfield could really shine if it gets the balance right. I already enjoy the satisfaction of building up a team in Genshin Impact, but it would be equally appealing to watch a factory grow from a handful of machines into an efficient production network. I think Endfield has a shot of making these two experiences feed into each other, despite the obvious risks of two competing progression systems: I’d want every hour spent building, exploring, or strengthening my squad to feel like part of the same adventure.
Arknights: Endfield Needs to Make Its Factories Essential
Most significantly is that factory automation is Endfield‘s opportunity to stand out. Many action RPGs have already built their long-term appeal around combat, character collection, and increasingly difficult encounters, but Endfield has a chance to go beyond these. It already has that added advantage of a meaningful Talos-2, so building a factory would give its players a lasting connection to the world, especially if that infrastructure will help them progress. I’ve seen some skepticism, but I think that this combination could hopefully give Arknights: Endfield an identity that goes beyond being another Genshin Impact-inspired RPG, and bring the satisfaction of an automated production network into an adventure that would otherwise focus on combat and exploration.
I’d want every hour spent building, exploring, or strengthening my squad to feel like part of the same adventure.
The free-to-play model already gives players plenty of potential progression goals. Therein lies the risk of factory building becoming a chore, ignored in favor of combat and character upgrades, and I could definitely see this being a possibility. It can seem wildly confusing at first, and for any newcomers, it could be irrationally daunting. But I think there should be consideration given to the genre: Gacha games are much more familiar to the gaming landscape in East Asia, where the model has deep roots in mobile gaming. Of course, familiarity varies between players, but the genre’s longer history in the region means its conventions may be more recognizable to some East Asian audiences than to newcomers in Western markets. I vividly remember when CocoPPa made its way over back in 2014, but Gacha games have come a long way since then.
Endfield Could Ultimately Be More Than Genshin Impact Meets Satisfactory
Arknights: Endfield‘s factory system already extends beyond simply manufacturing items, and the AIC can produce everything from equipment and batteries to tactical supplies. The official development team has actually described these mechanics as interconnected parts of developing Talos-2, with players earning Regional Stock Bills through exploring, supplying outposts, and completing deliveries. This is where I think Endfield can offer something different from Genshin Impact.
Making factory automation essential doesn’t automatically make it enjoyable, though. These changes suggest that making the system accessible is a key part of the experience, particularly for those players who arrive expecting a more conventional action RPG. See, I can appreciate the appeal of Satisfactory‘s production lines, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want every expedition to end with a complicated construction project. Ultimately, the ideal balance for Arknights: Endfield would be combining both systems without turning every upgrade into a lengthy production checklist.
- Developer(s)
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Hypergryph
- Publisher(s)
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Hypergryph
- Engine
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Unity
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Number of Players
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Single-player
