An Underrated, Forgotten, and Ignored FPS: The Finals

Are you tired of your favorite first-person shooter franchises constantly disappointing you? Do you get frustrated with developers focusing on pushing microtransactions rather than listening to community feedback, yet the microtransactions still feel lackluster? Feeling drained by the shooter genre cloning other games rather than just being innovative? Well, do I have a game for you that will cure your FPS fatigue! The Finals is everything you have been wanting.

Set in a near future, The Finals puts players in an international game show arena where your team of three faces off against multiple other teams. The main game mode, Cashout, is what makes the game unique. The objective is simple up front, but the possibilities are layered, cash boxes filled with money will spawn and must be escorted to cashout stations. At the station, your team must defend the cashout for a certain period of time until you receive your reward. Enemy teams will invade and try to steal your cashout before the timer runs out. The team with the most money wins. In tournament mode, the top two teams will qualify until a final 3v3 game, ‘The Finals’.

Players have the option to customize their contestant from physical build to specializations to gadgets, all varying different playstyles and never cornering you into playing a certain way. There are 3 different build types: light, medium, and heavy. Each has its own specializations and gadgets that differ from the other classes. Lights are built fast but with low health, making them excellent at flanking the enemy backline. Mediums are well-rounded for both offensive and defensive playstyles. Heavys are the tanks of the team, with slow movement and a massive health bar that focuses on being the frontline.

In late 2023, a beta for the exciting and refreshing FPS was released. Fully destructible environments, fun gadgets, smooth movement, creative theme, emphasis on team play, and the unique objective that is a melting pot of search and destroy, king of the hill, and capture the flag. The game was developed by Embark Studios, which is primarily composed of former DICE employees, the iconic creators of Battlefield 3, 4, and 5. Due to a lack of proper management at DICE and mostly EA, those developers left to form Embark and create a passion project that we know today as The Finals.

By the end of 2023, The Finals was released on all platforms following positive beta feedback. The release, however, had split feedback due to minor problems. These issues turned away a lot of the PC and streamer community. Problems such as frame rate spikes and connection issues made it harder for the streamers to enjoy and showcase the game. Unfortunately, they lost valuable advertising for The Finals. Console players, however, did not experience these problems. Due to the natural competitiveness, fast-paced gameplay, and high objective-based knowledge, it was dismissed by console casuals that would rather enjoy a game they know. By early to mid-2024, The Finals already had a low player count, even with its innovative gameplay.

However, with the release of Season 7, the game has made a comeback and is starting to get the love it truly deserves. Balanced changes and community feedback every couple of weeks, 10 maps, 10 specializations, 37 gadgets, 35 different weapons, contracts and events with free rewards, and a competitive system that gives you free microtransaction currency as you rank up. If some of these points have convinced you to download the game, here are some tips and tricks for new players when you hop into the arena.

Never Leave Your Team Behind

Teams that stick together win together. This is not a game about who can get the most eliminations. If you hop into a match with that mindset, you have already put yourself at a disadvantage. You should never be too far away from your teammates, even with the different speed types for each class. 

If you are a Light player, get in the habit of always circling back to your team when flanking, and never push too hard. Lights should be played like scavengers, circling and waiting for the right time to strike, but always within reach of the pack. Medium players have crucial support gadgets and specializations. The healing beam and the defibrillators are two of the best things to use in the game. As a Medium player, you should learn these abilities; healing and reviving your team at the right moments can determine a win or loss. For the Heavies, you are the slowest on your squad. It is up to your team to know to stick by you, but it doesn’t excuse you from leaving your team like any class. With the most health, you can divert attention to yourself easily and save a teammate. Don’t be scared to take damage as a Heavy, that damage received might have just saved a teammate.

For all classes, when it comes to stealing a cashout from the enemy team, learn to bodyblock. If your teammate is stealing, which takes about 5 seconds, they are very vulnerable. Stand in front of them, sacrifice yourself, and your teammate who is stealing has a better chance of surviving.

Learn Your Environment

One of the key gameplay aspects that makes The Finals unique is the option to pick up objects and element canisters from the ground. Basic objects such as chairs and flower pots to the element canisters varying from explosive, fire, gas, goo and smoke. Once picked up and thrown, these canisters will explode with that given ‘element’. Some of these elements can also cancel each other out. For example, smoke eliminates fire, and fire eliminates gas and goo. This also applies to any gadgets; for example, a pyro grenade will cancel out a gas grenade or set a goo wall on fire and destroy it. 

Another key to improving environmental awareness is to learn the map. Not just the general layout of the map, but also how to destroy it to your advantage. Since almost every part of The Finals’ maps is destructible, you can move a cashout or dislocate an enemy team by simply removing and destroying walls. If a cashout is above you, destroy the ceiling and move it down a floor. If the enemy team is elevated, destroy the structure that makes them elevated. The Finals is a game that will reward you for your creative destruction and overall knowledge of your environment.

A Game Of Numbers

Scorekeeping in this game is not like any other FPS, since your score is dealt in cash, you can always calculate where you will be in the leaderboard even in advance. Depending on the game mode, here are the amounts each cashbox/cashout will give you.

Quick Cash:

• First team to $20,000 wins
• Cashboxes are all worth $10,000
• 1 cashbox vault spawns at a time

World Tour:

• 3 rounds, top 2 teams advance to the next round, final round is the last two teams
• 6 cashbox vaults spawn throughout the round, pairs at a time
• First two rounds
  • $500 – Eliminating a contestant
  • $1,000 – opening a cashbox vault
  • $1,000 – Stealing an active cashout
  • $2,000 – depositing cashbox 1 or 2
  • $3,000 – depositing cashbox 3 or 4
  • $4,000 – depositing cashbox 5 or 6
  • $10,000 – completing cashout 1 or 2
  • $15,000 – completing cashout 3 or 4
  • $22,000 – completing cashout 5 or 6
• Final round is the same rules as Quick Cash, but cashboxes are $25,000, first to $50,000 wins

Although it may seem complicated, learning these numbers can cut a very close game. Don’t take it lightly, after all, it’s your money!

The Finals is a beautiful gem of a game hidden beneath invaluable rocks pretending to be shiny. It was created by a passionate team and overcame odds that would make other games fold. The community that has been created continues to praise the game and convince others to join. Let your combat creativity thrive and join us in the arena!