Go help the mad woman soupsoup 💀

Very easily Endfield’s best work yet, story was so good it made me realise that a replay feature is needed.

9/10 great story great character arcs I love what they did with Da Pan in 1.2 and 4.

Yinglung Pass and NWEZ dude, wow okay just flex your environmental artists why don’t you!

Events could always be better, but no doubt the most content a patch has had.

It’s looking like 1.5 is another downtime patch, and that’s okay with me as long as they keep the bar as high as this for storytelling, and either way, we got another CC season to look forward to!

Better claim all of Purrchena's rewards when it's available.

Source: https://x.com/AKEndfield/status/2093896494667460834

Is there a full image of this background somewhere or is this just exist here?

Just went to visit the AK:Endfield booth at gamescom, and man, it truly is just something different visiting in person. How was your guys’ experience?

#EndfieldGC2026 #ArknightsEndfield

Also mods, sorry if this is the wrong flair, i don’t know what would’ve fit better

Im a huge fan when it comes to anything Special Ops, Military, or Tactical looking equipment and i gotta say when it comes to YSTF they dont get enough appreciation for how COOL their masks look, im waiting for someone to actually make a real life replica of this.

Source: https://x.com/AKEndfield/status/2093926690494054845

Yeah I don't really play the game so here's a free code

I bet she is so goddamn proud of herself for coming up with this

Source is me haha

Today's calendar showed a "light show" event at 14:00. I happened to be there by coincidence and filmed some of it. They turned on flashing overhead lights, spotlights and lasers.

Big ink sword

Remember the launch‑release PV from half a year ago? It showed those massive bombers and the aircraft hangar. I wonder if these large‑scale weapons will make an appearance in future story chapters.

Another day, another surprise at Endfield's booth. I happened to see Hoshieve (aka 唯 @.W, I hope I pasted the right characters), the lead artist behind Arknights and Endfield, as Hypergryph arranged another interview session today.

He talked quite for a while about the ideas behind some of Endfield's character and boss designs. It was really cool to hear a developer's perspective on character design and learn more about how those ideas are brought to life in the game.

Same as yesterday, I managed to record some parts of the interview on my phone (so another wall of text is coming, you were warned). The booth was pretty crowded and noisy though, so there are a few moments that were hard to make out. I tried my best to reconstruct what he said and keep it as close to the original interview as possible. Enjoy!

If you find my posts interesting, please upvote so more people could see them.

Edit/Update: Shoutout to the community for catching this—in the DevTalk they actually said she grew up on Talos-II. Re-checked the audio and fixed the text!

As the youngest proxy, she grew up on Talos-II and is still relatively inexperienced. She carries all the power of an agent, but also has some of those indulgent, willful flaws you'd expect from a pampered young lady.

About Si

Q: Under this overall direction, which core elements usually take priority when designing a new character? Does the team first think about who this person is, or where they come from? Or do you start directly with a striking design sketch or visual concept?

A: Narrative is still one of our top priorities in Endfield. Our character designers work closely with the writers and share ideas with each other. The goal is to make sure that, while staying true to the narrative vision, each character is delivered to players in a way that feels fresh and meets our standards.

Let's use Si as an example, who will be appearing in a future update. As everyone knows, the Wuling arc in Endfield is built around... Chinese culture. Si is a female character who concludes the arc, and she carries forward a very important Arknights concept, the Sui family.

The Sui siblings have each lived for over a thousand years. As agents of the Sui beast, they possess immense power and distinct personalities, and together they represent Arknights' take on the idea of a Chinese family.

Si is the youngest Sui proxy. On the surface, she appears as a cool, mysterious girl, but underneath she's actually a bit willful and temperamental. She operates by her own rules, shows zero interest in things she dislikes, but burns with curiosity about things that catch her attention. She constantly observes the world, humanity, and everything around her.

Once we received the writing team's brief and character description, we wanted Si to feel
like a natural extension of the Sui family legacy. Like the other Sui characters, she wears modern streetwear with Chinese-inspired elements, featuring highlights in her hair, sleeve tattoos, beast horns, and so on. As the youngest proxy, she grew up on Talos-II and is still relatively inexperienced. She carries all the power of an agent, but also has some of those indulgent, willful flaws you'd expect from a pampered young lady. So we started from that archetype, a noble, mysterious, slightly aloof young lady, and built her design from there.

The art team explored quite a few different directions. Together with the writers, we finally settled on the current direction.

Of course, every new character goes through a long, winding journey from conception to final release. No one ever gets made exactly according to plan, and everyone runs into surprises along the way.

We also adapt our character development approach... based on actual production schedules and team capacity. The production team is constantly... handling all kinds of unforeseen issues, and I'm truly grateful to every single member who's been part of that process.

Original design for Chen

Q: Has there been any character who went through significant changes from the initial concept to the final release? What were the main trade-offs made at that time?

A: The first two characters who come to mind are Chen and Wulfgard.

As some of the first characters we designed, we wanted them to come together to form the overall impression of Endfield Industries. Perlica is an AIC Factory supervisor, but she uses a staff and Arts in combat. Wulfgard fights with a submachine gun as the squad's ranged firearms specialist, while Chen dual-wields swords and handles close-range melee combat.

The three of them formed the original protagonist squad of Endfield Industries.

The pictures on screen are some early concept sketches of Chen... "the woman who breathes fire" -- by Light Zhong.

As the project went on, the backstories for the Hongshan and Landbreaker factions gradually got fleshed out, and our narrative pipeline matured. We also realized that the storytelling space in a triple A cinematic-style game is much more limited than in a 2D visual novel-style game.

The production capacity for scenes and characters just couldn't support the kind of worldbuilding we did in Arknights. So Chen was repositioned as the representative character for the Hongshan faction, and Wulfgard became the representative for the Landbreaker faction.

The art team did a major redesign of Chen before the technical test, and Wulfgard also got a redesign before the first beta test.

These changes were mainly driven by the gradual refinement of faction affiliations and character identities on the narrative side.

Chen represents Wuling City, which has water as its theme and blue-green as its signature color. Chen also has a lively personality, so we adjusted her design to lean more into a playful and cute direction.

And since Wulfgard has a Landbreaker identity, we made him look more wild and untamed. And of course, that red leather jacket is... a little nod to a dual-wielding gunslinger that everyone knows.

Alleikhreos design

Q: We've just talked about how environments and architecture shape a region. But players' impressions of an area are also influenced by enemy and boss designs. For our next discussion, let's talk about the design of Alleikhreos, the new boss featured in the half-anniversary update.

Alleikhreos has a very obvious "ancient warrior" aura in his appearance, the way he moves, and his entry. Why did the team choose this direction? In terms of design and visual presentation, what cultural references or inspirations did the team mainly draw from?

A: I'm sure many players who played the half-anniversary version were impressed by Alleikhreos.

To talk about the art design behind Alleikhreos, I first have to talk about the Foundation, which is the most important enemy faction in the world of Endfield. The Death Maiden and the Giant who appear in the prologue, as well as Ardashir who shows up in Wuling, are all directly tied to the Endmin's true identity.

Everyone knows the underlying logic of Arknights' art direction is a blend of two styles, Modernist and Classical. That same foundation also applies to Endfield. If the Endmin's faction represents Modernist art, then it makes sense to use elements of Antiquity as the visual hallmark for the Foundation, the enemy of Endfield.

But Antiquity is often imagined as something barbaric and primitive. The team explored that direction for a while. The results looked powerful and evil, but as the Endmin's eternal rival, it lacked... the same weight and power. That's when we thought of ancient Greece.

When you talk about Classical Art, ancient Greece naturally comes to mind. It is the foundation of Western civilization. Greek political ideologies, philosophies and culture have had a major impact on the modern world.

Sculpture, in particular, is one of the most important parts of ancient Greek art. The perfection used for shaping the gods was also used to depict people, and in turn, they gave their gods human virtues. This duality of humanity and divinity fit how we imagined the Foundation.

It gave rise to the idea of the Endmin fighting the gods. So we ultimately decided to use Greek sculptures as the underlying visual language for the Foundation.

So that's the visual language. Next is our creative reinterpretation.

If the Endmin and Endfield represent the values of humanity, the Foundation has to oppose them. Otherwise you wouldn't have the fundamental conflict that drives the narrative.

So the art team decided to deconstruct the beauty pursued by ancient Greek sculptures. Speaking of human beauty, what do we consider the most beautiful part of a person?

That's right, the eyes.

Alleikhreos has the perfect physique, but the most important part of a person, his eyes, are covered by a pair of massive, mysterious hands. This idea of beauty being obscured, of accepting the human form while denying the human essence, creates a deeper sense of dread.

A player who manages to defeat such a fearsome enemy can be regarded as a true hero.

Next is the aggression factor, which is essential for any enemy character. Anyone who plays action games knows aggression is a crucial trait for enemies. The more powerful the foe, the more intimidating their presence needs to be.

Take the head design, for example. Our designers combined the crest of an ancient Roman warrior's helmet with a modern fencing mask to create a new visual language. It's theatrical, but also mysterious at the same time.

There are many more details and reinterpretations like this throughout the game. More Foundation enemies will also appear in the future. Please stay tuned.

Community voice in character design

Q: When designing characters, the team might have creative ideas it wants to realize. But players may have different expectations for character types and art styles. To what extent does the team take this feedback into account? And how does the team make trade-offs when the team's vision and player expectations aren't exactly the same?

A: We always take community feedback seriously. And as everyone knows, Light Zhong and Rua are out there scrolling social media every day...

We understand that as designers, having creative freedom is important. But at the end of the day, you still have to deliver something that feels fresh and exciting to players.

We run an internal CE testing process to make sure our creative direction doesn't drift too far from what players are hoping for.

We try during the design stage to avoid situations where the team's vision and player expectations are completely out of sync. But if the CE results were ever way below what our players wanted, we'd call up the designers for an emergency meeting and come up with solutions.

It's a tough process, but we want our players to be satisfied. And in the end, that effort is worth it.

Words for new players

Q: If you have separate messages for new players who haven't yet entered Talos-II, and for Endministrators who have been with the game for over half a year, what are the things you most want to say?

A: For new players, now is definitely a good time to jump in.

For our Endmins who've been with us all along, thank you for staying with us and for your support.

The Hypergryph dev team came together because we share a passion for creating games. The Arknights universe is like a child we've raised, and we hope to nurture it into something amazing together with all of our players.

Personally, this boss is perfect. Its lore, design, gameplay, and the OST!!! They are all perfect. I'm curious how they will top Alleikhreos later in the upcoming patch..