If you’ve spent any time scrolling through upcoming gacha game leaks or following the Arknights franchise, you’ve probably asked yourself at some point as Arknights Endfield a base builder game first, or an open world action RPG with throwaway side construction features. I’ve been playing the closed beta for three weeks now, and I’ve tested every part of the base system, from resource gathering to facility upgrades, to answer that question clearly. Base building isn’t just a random minigame here—it ties directly to every other part of the gameplay loop, including combat, character progression, and even story unlocks. You can easily sink 10+ hours into your outpost before you even touch the later half of the main story, if that’s the part of the game you enjoy most.
Core Features That Confirm As Arknights Endfield a Base Builder Game
A lot of gacha games add half-baked base building features as an afterthought to keep players logging in daily, but that’s not the case here. The first time you unlock your outpost, you’re given full control over almost every part of its design, with systems that match most mid-tier standalone base builders. I was surprised by how much depth the system has, even in the beta build where not all features are enabled yet.
Persistent, fully customizable outpost layout is the first big sign this is a real base building experience. You don’t get stuck with pre-set plots where you can only place facilities in fixed spots. You can place walls, facilities, decor, and defense structures anywhere on your allocated outpost land, as long as you have flat terrain and enough resources to cover building costs. I spent two hours my first day just rearranging my starter facilities to fit a layout that made sense for my playstyle.
Multi-tier resource production chains are another key feature. You don’t just collect raw wood and stone from the open world and use them directly for upgrades. You have to build processing facilities to turn raw ore into metal sheets, raw plant matter into chemical components, and scrap into usable construction parts. These processed materials feed into both base upgrades and character gear crafting, so you can’t skip building these lines if you want to progress.
Dynamic base defense requirements tie back to the original Arknights tower defense roots. Your outpost can come under random attack from wandering hostiles, so you have to place turrets, traps, and assign operators to guard duty to fend off raids. If your base gets destroyed, you lose a portion of your unprocessed resources, so you have to plan your layout with defense in mind, not just aesthetics.
How Base Building Ties Into The Rest Of Endfield’s Gameplay
What makes Endfield’s base system feel so satisfying is that it never feels disconnected from the rest of the game. You don’t build just for the sake of building—every upgrade you make gives you tangible benefits that make exploration and combat easier. I ignored the base for my first three days of beta play, and I hit a wall at the first major boss fight because I didn’t have the buffs from my research lab to help me deal enough damage.
Your base research lab unlocks account-wide passive buffs that apply to all your operators, both in base and out in the open world. You can unlock things like 15% extra damage against robotic enemies, 20% more resource gain from exploration, or reduced stamina cost for fast travel. These buffs are permanent, so upgrading your lab early saves you dozens of hours of grind later on.
Material processing facilities cut down the time you spend farming for character ascension items drastically. According to my tests, maxed out processing facilities let you craft ascension materials 30% faster than if you just farmed them directly from open world nodes, which cuts your weekly grind time by roughly 2 hours. That’s a huge win for players who don’t have 10+ hours a week to dedicate to farming.
There are also smaller, quality of life benefits you get from upgrading your base that add up over time. I’ve compiled the biggest perks of prioritizing base upgrades early below:
Limitations Of Endfield’s Base Building System
For all its strengths, Endfield’s base system isn’t perfect, and it’s important to go in with realistic expectations. If you’re coming into the game expecting a deep, standalone base building experience where construction is the entire point, you’ll probably be disappointed. It’s a hybrid game first, so the base building has some intentional limits to keep the focus on exploration and combat.
Outpost size is locked behind main story progression is the biggest limitation for players who want to focus on building first. You start with a tiny plot of land, and you can only unlock more space by beating specific main story missions. I wanted to build a huge, sprawling outpost my first week, but I had to push through 8 hours of story missions just to unlock the second expansion for my land.
Some facilities have fixed, non-resizable dimensions that limit how creative you can get with your layout. Power generators, research labs, and processing facilities all have set sizes, so you can’t shrink them to fit in small gaps or make them larger for extra bonuses. That means you have to plan your entire layout around these fixed sizes, which can be frustrating if you like fully custom builds.
The base defense system is also fairly shallow right now. There are only 5 different enemy types that can raid your base, and there’s no way to customize your defense layouts as much as you can in the original Arknights tower defense maps. The devs have said they’re adding more raid types and defense options in future updates, but for launch, it’s a pretty barebones system that doesn’t offer much of a challenge for experienced players.
Beginner Tips For Optimizing Your Endfield Base
I made a lot of mistakes my first week of playing the beta, and I wasted dozens of resources on upgrades that didn’t give me any real benefit. These tips will help you avoid the same frustrations I ran into, and get the most out of your base from day one.
Prioritize building three power generators before anything else when you first unlock your outpost. Almost every facility uses power, and if you run out of power, all your production lines shut down completely. I made the mistake of building processing facilities first, and I had to wait 4 hours for my resource storage to fill up enough to build extra generators to power them, which set me back almost a full day of progress.
Group your production facilities as close to your storage units as possible. There’s a hidden movement speed debuff for your base worker NPCs if they have to walk more than 10 tiles between storage and processing facilities, so grouping them cuts down production time by 10-15% across the board. I tested this myself by moving all my processing lines right next to my storage, and my hourly resource output jumped by 12% overnight.
Don’t waste resources on decorative items until you have all your core production facilities maxed out. Decor only gives a tiny boost to operator morale, and you can get the same morale boost by placing free furniture you earn from story missions instead of buying premium decor with real money or rare resources. I spent 2 hours worth of rare materials on a statue for my outpost early on, and I regretted it immediately when I realized I could have used those materials to upgrade my research lab.
Always assign operators with the Base Management trait to run your facilities. These operators give a 20% production boost to whatever facility they’re assigned to, and the boosts stack if you have multiple operators with the trait assigned to the same line. That’s an easy, free way to get more resources without any extra grind.
At the end of the day, whether you’ll enjoy what as Arknights Endfield a base builder game offers depends entirely on what you’re looking for. If you want a deep, standalone base building experience where construction is the entire point of the game, you’re better off sticking to dedicated titles in the genre. But if you’re an Arknights fan, or you want an action RPG where your base upgrades have a real, tangible impact on your combat performance and story access, it’s more than satisfying enough to hold your attention. I’ve spent almost 10 hours tweaking my own outpost layout so far, and I still find new small optimizations every time I log in. Just remember to prioritize your core production lines first, and you won’t run into the same frustrating grind I did in my first week of play.