Arknights: Endfield is primarily a single-player experience. You won't encounter other players while exploring Talos-II, and there's no way to team up for combat encounters or clear missions together. The game launched in January 2026 without the real-time co-op that titles like Genshin Impact offer.
Quick answer: No, Arknights: Endfield does not have co-op combat or open-world multiplayer at launch. You can visit friends' bases, share blueprints, and help with production tasks, but fighting alongside other players isn't possible.
Social features available at launch
While direct co-op is absent, Hypergryph included several asynchronous multiplayer elements that let players interact indirectly. These focus on sharing progress and assisting each other outside of combat.
Reception room visits allow you to drop by a friend's Dijiang (the mobile base/ship) and see how they've arranged their space. You can view their displayed medals, weapons, and portraits. It's a showcase feature rather than interactive gameplay, but it provides inspiration for your own setup.
Blueprint sharing lets you save your AIC factory layouts and distribute them to friends using codes. If someone has optimized a production chain, you can import their blueprint directly instead of designing from scratch. This works both inside the game and through external sharing.
Shared facilities appear throughout Talos-II as you explore. Structures like Memo Beacons, Ziplines, and Easy Stashes placed by other players can show up on your map. You can use these facilities, and the ones you build may appear for others. The system resembles Death Stranding's asynchronous multiplayer, where players leave helpful infrastructure for each other without direct interaction.
Dijiang cabin assistance enables friends to provide production help to your cabins, making resource management slightly easier. This is a passive support system rather than active collaboration.
Team composition viewing shows what Operators, builds, and team setups your friends are running. If you're stuck on difficult content, checking how others have approached it can offer useful ideas.
Why co-op wasn't included
The game's combo trigger system presents technical challenges for real-time multiplayer. Arknights: Endfield relies heavily on chaining attacks between your four active characters to trigger elemental reactions and combo skills. Coordinating these mechanics across multiple players with network latency would require significant reworking of the combat system.
Hypergryph's track record with multiplayer netcode also factors in. Players who participated in co-op events in the original Arknights reported significant ping issues, and implementing smooth 3D action combat with multiple participants would be considerably more demanding.
The developer hasn't ruled out adding co-op features in future updates. Other gacha games like Zenless Zone Zero took over a year after launch before introducing co-op combat events. Given the game's open-world structure and four-character party system, the foundation exists for potential multiplayer additions down the line.
Crossplay and cross-progression
Arknights: Endfield supports full crossplay and cross-progression across all platforms. Your account works on Android, iOS, PC, and PlayStation 5, and progress syncs automatically as long as you link all devices to the same account. You can play on mobile during your commute and continue on PC at home without losing anything.
To enable cross-progression, log in with the same account credentials on each device. If you create separate accounts on different platforms without linking them, your progress won't transfer.
Friend system requirements
The Friends List unlocks after completing the main story quest "Valley Reboot" and gaining access to the Protosync Menu. Once unlocked, you can add friends and access all the social features described above.
One limitation worth noting: you cannot add friends who play on a different server than you. Since there are only two servers, this can be frustrating if you want to connect with players in other regions. The restriction exists despite the lack of real-time co-op, which means lag wouldn't actually be a factor.
What players are requesting
Community feedback has been vocal about wanting more substantial multiplayer options. Many players expected open-world co-op similar to Genshin Impact, where you can freely join a friend's world to explore and fight together. The four-character party system seemed like a natural fit for four-player co-op.
Boss fights are a common request. Players want to tackle challenging encounters together rather than solo. Raid-style content with multiple participants has been suggested, though implementing this would require solving the combo system coordination issues.
For now, submitting feedback through the game's official channels is the best way to signal interest in expanded multiplayer features. Whether Hypergryph prioritizes co-op development depends partly on how strongly the player base communicates this desire.
Arknights: Endfield delivers a polished single-player experience with its blend of action combat and factory building. The social features provide some connection to other players, but anyone hoping to grind content with friends will need to wait and see if Hypergryph expands the multiplayer options in future updates.
