Arknights: Endfield 1.4 sees the completion of the Xiranite Nexus, allowing Wuling to finally push back into the Northern Exclusion Zone and attempt to seal the Very Large Rift. Joined by the Endfield Crisis Response Team, Viceroy Zhuang Fangyi (Molly Zhang, Daemons of the Shadow Realm) leads her people in their efforts to remove the threat posed by the rift once and for all. But there is more than the ruins of a disaster waiting for them amidst the blight miasma.
One of Arknights: Endfield’s greatest strengths has always been how it pulls players into its world. The world is never simply a backdrop for the story to play out in front of, but a breathing thing that is given life of its own. And when the world bleeds, the player feels it. This approach has its biggest payout yet as the Wuling Arc of the story comes to a close.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
The destruction wrought by the Very Large Rift is one of the first background elements we learned about Wuling back in the 1.0 release. The lives lost and the pain the people have had to carry with them since the disaster 10 years ago have been a crucial moment in the city’s history. The fallout from the event largely led to the loss of infrastructure, which caused much of the animosity between Wuling and Qingbo Stockade.
Arknights: Endfield 1.4 plays out with a mixed sense of relief, hope, and sorrow.
As Arknights: Endfield 1.4 plays out, it is with a mixed sense of relief, hope, and sorrow as those who were driven from the area return to reclaim the ruins of their homes. Through the presence of numerous returning characters like Mi Fu (Rao Zijun, Honkai Star Rail), Da Pan, and Lifeng, the powerful storm of emotions is allowed to simmer throughout the journey. But while virtually everyone has their moment, the story’s greatest focus is on Arcane (Julia Gu, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty).
Commander of the Yinglung Special Task Force in charge of observing the Exclusion Zone and a survivor of the Very Large Rift tragedy, Arcane has more feelings than most about the expedition. Her single-minded focus for the last ten years has been to see the rift closed. As the day draws near, the story does a great job of highlighting the myriad ways the situation conjures emotions of all kinds for the veteran soldier.
From closure and hope to survivor’s guilt, the complexities of the mission’s emotional impact unfold through key moments in Arcane’s story. When the character is at the breaking point, Arknights: Endfield 1.4 sets her apart from the bulk of the expedition with only The Endministrator (Chloe Eves, Zenless Zone Zero) by her side.
How the pair bonds and the Endmin helps her see not just the pain and sacrifice that saw her survive the tragedy of the past, but the gifts and joy she has been given is an emotional highlight. It transforms Arcane, while also serving to give The Endmin a chance to feel like a deeper personality than they often get to be.
Arknights: Endfield 1.4’s final act weaves the narrative into the game’s larger plot.
The other most prominent personality in this update is Chen (Rebecca Hanssen, Stellar Blade). As a former Wulinger and long-time friend of Arcane’s, Chen is pulled into the emotional turmoil of her friend throughout much of the story. Worried about Arcane’s well-being, Chen frequently steps up to support her, lending her aid in several crucial moments, including perhaps the best cinematic sequence of the update, when the pair face off against the shadow of an old mentor.
While the bulk of Arknights: Endfield 1.4 is dedicated to the emotional reclamation of Wuling’s lost territory, the story’s final act weaves the narrative into the game’s larger plot. As new evidence about the nature of the Very Large Rift comes to light, The Endministrator, Fangyi, Arcane, Chen, and Perlica are forced to face off with an unexpected enemy of immense power. The final conflict is epic and heralds the imminent arrival of a threat that is leagues above what the plot has presented thus far.
Despite much of this update’s story hitting the mark wonderfully, there are a couple of struggles. The biggest is how long it takes to get going. Before the expedition can begin, some busywork must be taken care of at Yinglung Pass. The basics of what this portion of the journey does are fine; it just does it for a bit too long. This isn’t the only place where the game’s newest content drop drags out its efforts.
The fissure side quest overstays its welcome.
After the story resolves, players are given a side quest to seal three small fissures that still pose a danger to returning Wulingers. This requires building new factory elements and running conduits between locations, as well as waiting for the necessary gases to be produced, shipped, and applied for neutralization. For these three challenges, the formula doesn’t feel bad. But wait, once all three are sealed, another rift appears. This is when things go downhill.
With the fourth and later fifth objectives, a toxic miasma has become dense around the target location. This requires building more machines to create safe havens from the poisonous clouds or upgrading an item that can protect you.
Both options are laborious in execution. Upgrading requires building a highly complex new production line. Setting up the safe havens requires laying pipes through narrow hallways. This wouldn’t be bad, but when the system’s collision detection gets fidgety, and you run out of time, your characters will collapse from exposure and be teleported back to the edge of the cloud. It gets highly annoying.
Adding Arcane as a playable character doesn’t lessen the coolness factor of her cinematic fights.
This mission isn’t required to complete the story, but it is something that will feel bad to skip. With a pair of areas effectively locked out if you don’t clear the gas, there are a lot of rewards to encourage you to go for it. Plus, the whole point of the narrative was to cleanse the Northern Exclusion Zone. If you are invested in the plot, it will feel weird to leave it undone.
While there is a major miss in the side missions, something that the game’s gameplay doesn’t miss is its new operator, Arcane. Depending on how you kit her out, she can be either a Main DPS or a supporting DPS, giving her a lot of flexibility. This flexibility, however, does not come at the cost of simplicity, as one may expect. The character plays largely the same, whichever role she is occupying. Just as a Main DPS, she does more damage. When in the sub-DPS role, her abilities group enemies or put debuffs on defensive stats that aid the whole party.
The implementation of Arcane as a playable character doesn’t lessen the coolness factor of her cinematic fights. Her animations are slick, as she creates duplicates of herself to pin down enemies and manipulates three floating guns, blasting away all those who stand against her and her allies.
While Arknights: Endfield 1.4 isn’t flawless, it does a ton right.
During both the ups and downs of the experience, Arknights: Endfield 1.4 always looks gorgeous. Both Yinglung Pass and the Northern Exclusion Zone provide incredible visuals for the story to play out in. Even with the desolation of the Exclusion Zone, the game still manages to find a way to work impressive set pieces with the craters and ruins. By contrast, Yinglung Pass is simply breathtaking.
Also coming with this patch is a new combat mode, Echoes of War. Increasingly difficult scenarios are presented to the player, each with some mild twists to it. Nothing overall exciting is to be found in the batch of three scenarios, but with more set to unlock as time moves on, perhaps more unique situations will come along as the mode fully manifests.
While Arknights: Endfield 1.4 isn’t flawless, it does a ton right. A powerful story, an epic boss fight, and a fun, new playable character make the update a fitting end to the Wuling Arc and a promising springboard for what comes next.
Arknights: Endfield is available now for mobile, PC, and PlayStation 5.
