Arknights: Endfield Technical Test Impressions

<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Arknights&colon; Endfield is an upcoming real-time<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;is-it-wrong-to-try-to-pick-up-girls-in-a-dungeon-battle-chronicle-pre-registration-available-now&sol;"> gacha 3D RPG<&sol;a> with strategic elements by HYPERGRYPH&period; The game follows the Endministrator&comma; a highly regarded hero among the people of Talos II&comma; a region stricken with chaos from malicious creatures known as the Aggeloi&period; After fighting alongside Endfield Industries as a unique specialist&comma; the Endministrator was frozen in a hibernation state&period; However&comma; after a series of events&comma; the Endministrator is awoken yet again in an incomplete state with amnesia&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s now up to them and other operatives of Endfield Industries to find a way to fix their amnesia and find a way to solve the Aggeloi threat plaguing Talos II&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180174 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;03&sol;03135915&sol;Arknights-Endfield&lowbar;2022&lowbar;03-17-22&lowbar;011&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">An Intriguing But Slow Narrative<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">The Arknights&colon; Endfield alpha test hits the ground running in all the right ways&period; The game starts by slowly introducing players to Talos II&comma; presenting a little exposition about its current state but not in a way that gets too overwhelming&period; The introduction felt especially great for someone like me who hadn&&num;8217&semi;t played an Arknights game&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">The actual narrative progresses like any other RPG&period; Players move from one location to another&comma; fighting progressively tougher enemies&comma; meeting characters&comma; and revealing more information about the world&period; However&comma; while the narrative was far from bad&comma; most of the start is rather uninteresting and even mundane&period; At least until players start finding more interesting characters later on in the build&period; Before that&comma; nothing really stands out in the narrative&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Additionally&comma; while the alpha build was fully voiced&comma; the voice acting was all over the place&period; Some characters sound both serious and playful in moments that dont call for it&period; Some characters also sound like they were given the complete opposite direction for their scene&comma; while other characters just sounded really awkward regardless of what they said&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180170 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;03&sol;03134941&sol;Arknights-Endfield&lowbar;2022&lowbar;03-17-22&lowbar;001-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Captivating Visuals<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Other than that&comma; Arknights&colon; Endfield has really unique and attractive visuals&period; The title sports a melancholic aesthetic with levels filled with intricate and mysterious sci-fi objects&period; The models are detailed&comma; and the visuals are crisp&period; However&comma; while I&&num;8217&semi;m a fan of the game&&num;8217&semi;s melancholic&comma; drab&comma; and moody aesthetic&comma; the entirety of the alpha is set in one location with the same aesthetic&period; As such&comma; it gets old pretty quickly&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">In terms of gameplay&comma; Arknights&colon; Endfield offers players a variety of different features&period; In moments of combat&comma; the game shifts focus from its third-person perspective to an isometric view&period; While I much prefer a third-person view in any game&comma; the isometric view lets players fight all enemies in their surroundings much easier&period; Players can use both basic attacks as well as special skills in combat&period; Basic attacks have no cooldown but are weaker&comma; while special skills have cooldowns but are much stronger&period; Additionally&comma; players unlock several powerful skills as they progress in the game&comma; as well as elemental attacks that deal devastating damage to many opponents&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180173 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;03&sol;03135208&sol;arknightsendfield03-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">A Mixed Gameplay Experience<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Additionally&comma; as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;crunchyroll-games-announces-princess-connect-re-dive-holiday-event&sol;">a gacha game<&sol;a>&comma; players will recruit several characters into their parties&comma; each with different abilities and playstyles&period; You can also switch between these characters on the fly&period; This allows for more strategizing&comma; and thankfully&comma; because each skill has a cool down&comma; switching between characters makes combat much smoother and seamless&period; Characters can switch and combine skills for maximum efficiency&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s worth noting that without party members&comma; the combat becomes incredibly stale and more daunting&comma; as running missions solos will only result in fights taking much longer and feel less enjoyable&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Outside combat&comma; the alpha included other gameplay features&comma; including base constructing features&period; These features have players build facilities with resources found around the world&period; These facilities range from machines that make equipment gear for operators&comma; to large items for traversal&comma; like zip lines&period; There are also power facilities&comma; crafting facilities to gather more materials&comma; transport devices&comma; and more&period; The base-building elements work shockingly well and make the gameplay unique and fun without being too tedious&period; As such&comma; it makes gameplay much different from other gacha games&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-180175 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;03&sol;03135955&sol;arknights-endfield-image&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Overall&comma; for now&comma; Arknights&colon; Endfield is a mixed bag&period; The alpha featured good gameplay elements but a mundane start to its narrative and an odd voice direction&period; The overall experience was far from awful&comma; but the game obviously has much to improve&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;