Gryphline Expresses Interest In Releasing Arknights: Endfield On Xbox

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Arknights: Endfield is Gryphline’s upcoming real-time RPG, and a spin-off to the Arknights.
The game has garnered much attention as it is shaping to be even larger than its predecessor.
We interviewed the team at Gryphline over an email interview to get more details about the title.

Gryphline has created a few notable titles, like Ex Astris and Arknights, but perhaps its most ambitious title yet is Arknights: Endfield. Being a spin-off to a well-established title, Endfield has attracted even more eyes thanks to its real-time elements in the modern RPG genre. Despite that, the title is deemed to be beginner-friendly for anyone who has yet to experience Arknights, as per the studio.

The game recently concluded its first technical test and the devs now plan to optimize and listen to the feedback from players who were lucky enough to get accepted. I also got to play the technical test, and like any other Endministrator, I had many questions. As such, we at eXputer spoke with the team at Gryphline over an email interview to get more insights into the title and what we might expect in the future.

Read ahead for the full interview.

Arknights: Endfield has been in development as early as 2021. Can you tell me how it has evolved over the years and what some major changes are compared to the early concepts?

Gryphline: When compared to our early concepts, the biggest changes would be our core combat gameplay and default camera angles. We reduced the camera distance to give players a closer view of their characters, the enemies, and the environment. This also required us to significantly improve the quality of our art assets so that players would get a more direct and immersive experience.

The gameplay experience changed quite a bit and felt more engaging. We also accelerated the overall tempo. As for the world of Talos-II where the game takes place in, the once barren landscapes were transformed into a dangerous yet beautiful wilderness filled with engaging mysteries and unknown threats.

We also adopted a bolder approach to our gameplay design by combining the essential elements of RPGs as well as construction and management sims. Players are given a great deal of freedom to place their factory facilities, transmit power from their base to distant resource nodes, and automate their production lines. They can even use special facilities to traverse seemingly inaccessible routes and discover secrets or shortcuts.

The original Arknights is an immensely popular video game, but will Endfield be a similar-sized game or perhaps even bigger in terms of the scope and overall content?

Gryphline: Endfield will be a larger game with all-new graphics and gameplay systems, and the story of Endfield takes place in another world. We thus hope that the Endfield experience feels connected to Arknights in style while offering completely new content. Our aim is to realize the fullest potential of a 3D game.

Should players play the original game before jumping into this, or is this completely separate?

Gryphline: We hope Endfield is a game that’s fully enjoyable and accessible by new players whose understanding of Arknights might be limited. Of course, we are also fully aware that Arknights has created a very engaging world. Endfield would be a continuation of this grand universe in another place. We know that many Arknights fans, myself included, want to see the stories and world-building elements of Arknights continue in Endfield.

Those who experienced Arknights would notice certain elements of the Arknights saga in Endfield. Key events and individuals of Arknights are also instrumental in determining the course of the Endfield story that takes place in the future. Changes to the lives of people in the Endfield story were only achieved through the hard work of the Doctor, the Operators of Rhodes Island, and various figures of Terra.

Both the original game and Endfield have some degree of connection. Could you tell us to what extent we may see the overlap between both stories and the overall world?

Gryphline: People of Talos-II (Talosians) descended from the Terrans who ventured to the new world. The story of Endfield also takes place in the distant future after the story of Arknights.

Originium and the Infected (people afflicted with Oripathy) were major issues in Terra (the world of Arknights). Though these problems have not been completely resolved in Talos-II, they are no longer the most pressing concerns in the new world. However, the Talosians must stand united once more to fight against new threats found only in Talos-II.

Rhodes Island and Endfield Industries are both organizations founded in Terra. Rhodes Island will continue to be an active player in the story and provide indispensable support to the protagonists in Talos-II. They will be an important ally to overcome the enemies that we must fight in the new world.

Are there any fan-requested features you are still working on or aren't considering despite being heavily requested?

Gryphline: So players exceeded our expectations when they expressed great enthusiasm in the factory automation and simulation of Endfield. They also want the factory game to be more convenient, so that’s definitely at the top of our list. We want this hardcore yet addictive gameplay to be as accessible as possible so that everyone can enjoy the fun of setting up their production lines. We also adjusted basic movements and attack animations. Characters in the game will move more smoothly and battles will be more exciting and intense.

Are you considering an Xbox release in the future? If not, could you tell us why?

Gryphline: We hope users of every leading platform can play Endfield on their platform of choice anytime, anywhere. We definitely want to leverage the respective advantages of consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. This is why we’re trying to cover as many platforms as possible. Of course, this would entail quite a bit of work for our development team and we must be fully prepared to meet this challenge.

Do you have plans to have more open or closed tests before the game's release?

Gryphline: We just concluded the first round of testing with our players and will be working on adjusting and optimizing the content. Once various preparations are done, our players will definitely get to see more of the game this year.

Could you tell us about the graphic modes the team is aiming for in the final PC and PlayStation 5 versions?

Gryphline: 4K/60 fps. Players can also choose to prioritize graphics or frame rate. They will also get options like ray tracing and true HDR.

Is there anything else you want to share? Something we haven’t touched upon yet.

Gryphline: We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support. Both the Arknights and Endfield teams are doing everything they can to create a unique universe. We’re also aware that making something unique can be extremely difficult. But coming up with such worlds and special blends of gameplay can be very exciting to developers like us as well as our players. As a team developing a game of such massive scale for the first time, our journey will be filled with challenges (though we did run into a lot of problems, we’re happy to say that we managed to solve them).

We also hope our Doctors and Endministrators will continue to press forward and remain in this epic adventure. Use your creativity to beat challenges, solve mysteries, and help more people. It is our sincere wish that we can see the worlds of Terra and Talos-II to a happy future.

Arknights: Endfield — Arknights spin-off — is an upcoming real-time RPG by Gryphline. The game has not yet received an official release date but has been confirmed to be released on PlayStation 5, PC, and Android/iOS. We thank the developers at Gryphline for answering our questions and Tyler Nagata from One PR for helping us.

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