Arknights

Submission 16,619

About

Arknights is a Chinese mobile tower-defense game developed by Hypergryph. In the game, the player controls an unseen "Doctor," who commands a squad of "operators" in an attempt to stem a growing plague. The game has been praised for its high production quality and emphasis on lore.

History

The game was in development in China and began growing popular after a Promotional Video released in September of 2017 (shown below).

In China, the game went into closed beta on December 1st, 2017.^[3] _Arknights_' international release was teased in December of 2018^[1] (trailer shown below).

The game released internationally late January of 2020,^[2] with a preview appearing on the iOS App Store on January 15th, and the game releasing the next day. In the game, the player controls a doctor and controls operators, generally moe girls, as they attempt to stem a plague of "Originium." Players can select which fighters they will bring into battle to stop invaders from reaching their defenses. It is free-to-play with Gacha mechanics, with fighters unlocked randomly or purchasable with real currency.

Reception

Arknights was praised upon its international release. Pocket Gamer^[4] wrote that though one might not initially understand why a mobile tower defense game was so popular, the amount of lore and attention to detail made the game look like "the coolest thing ever." The game has a 4.5/5 rating on Google Play based on over 11,000 votes.^[5]

Online Presence

Arknights has developed a strong international online presence. On Reddit, the /r/Arknights^[6] subreddit has over 47,000 members. The game's English Twitter account has over 58,000 followers.^[7] The game has been featured in several popular Let's Play videos, including a video by The Next Hokage that gained over 100,000 views (shown below, left) and another by Tectone that gained over 85,000 views (shown below, right).