Arknights Endfield Exploration & Map Systems: What We’ve Seen So Far
Arknights: Endfield turns Talos-II into a dense, region-based sandbox where exploration, factory development, and regional progression all feed into each other. It is not a full open world, but a set of large, layered zones filled with events, enemies, resources, and systems that evolve as you develop each region.
How Exploration Works on Talos-II
Endfield uses a World Map/Overworld where you select and enter large explorable areas on Talos-II. Within these zones, you move your squad freely in real time, fighting enemies, opening crates, triggering events, and discovering new points of interest.
- Zones are “sandbox-style”: routes are guided rather than fully open-world, with clearer paths to objectives in Beta Test II to avoid players getting lost.
- Exploration naturally leads you toward mission goals while you gather resources and fight enemies along the way, instead of feeling like disconnected stage menus.
Key explorable regions shown so far include early industrial badlands and the new Wuling area, which dramatically changes the look and feel of traversal.
Regional Development System and Outposts
Beta Test II introduces a Regional Development System that tightly links exploration, AIC Factory output, and outpost trading.
- As you complete exploration activities, delivery jobs, and outpost supply missions, you earn Regional Development Metrics and a special currency called Regional Stock Bills.
- These bills can be spent to upgrade outposts, redeem resources, craft gear, and expand Core AIC Areas, forming a loop where better factories support better exploration and vice versa.
- Upgrading Regional Development Level unlocks advanced gameplay options, new functions, and additional rewards across that region.
Outposts themselves can be leveled and expanded to increase their stock-bill generation, turning each zone into a semi-autonomous economic hub tied to your exploration efforts.
Regions, Biomes, and Wuling City
Talos-II is built around distinct regional ecologies rather than a single continuous landscape.
- Early areas are described as “Borderlands-lite” industrial wastelands with Originium outcrops and warehouses.
- Wuling, headline content in Beta Test II, is a water city mixing traditional Eastern architecture, bamboo forests, rivers, and misty valleys with futuristic infrastructure, offering a major visual and navigational contrast to earlier regions.
Developers also hint that regions are “densely packed” by design, with handcrafted routes and encounters instead of a “go anywhere, do anything” open world, to keep players from getting lost and to maintain pacing.
Map Layers, Navigation, and Shared Facilities
To make traversal manageable, Beta Test II adds multi-layered maps and new navigation tools.
- The map screen lets players switch between different vertical layers of the current area, aiding navigation through complex terrain like multi-level facilities or stacked city sections.
- Players can place custom tags on the map to mark important locations such as rare resource nodes, chests, or tough encounter spots.
While exploring, you may also encounter Shared Facilities, structures left behind by other players, such as buffs, utility devices, or shortcuts, which add a light asynchronous multiplayer flavor to the overworld.
Regional Mechanics, Hazards, and Interaction
Each region adds its own stage mechanics and environmental interactions tailored to its ecology.
- In areas like Valley IV, exploration stages have been refined to feel more self-contained, with updated mechanics and improved pacing from earlier tests.
- In Wuling, design revolves around a “Fluid” motif: you use jet drones to spray fluid to clear Active Blight or unlock mechanisms, and fluid-based hazards and puzzles define many local encounters.
- Across Talos-II, new creatures and enemy behavior patterns make ecosystems feel more alive and layered, increasing variety in exploration combat and events.
These systems sit on top of the combat and factory loops, reinforcing Endfield’s identity as a hybrid of ARPG exploration, tactical encounters, and simulation-driven regional growth rather than just a string of instanced maps.
