The Finals, the F2P shooter made by Ex-Battlefield devs at Embark Studios, is shaping up to be the next big player on the FPS market. Here’s why we absolutely love the game so far.
Battlefield is currently in the worst state it’s ever been in, partly because key members of developer DICE left the studio over the years. But some of these fine folks are now back with a new studio and a brand-new game: Embark Studio is making The Finals, and this game is shaping up to be quite special.
The Finals is currently hosting its first closed beta, and what we’ve seen so far of the game has absolutely wowed us. The game is quickly conquering the internet and shaping up to be a big hit once it comes out.
The Finals Is Shaping Up To Be The Next Big Shooter Hit
This has the potential to be the next big thing on the shooter market. But why would I make such a bold claim? What makes The Finals so damn good? The most obvious reason is that the game is free. Duh. But there's so much more to it.
Revolutionary Levels Of Destruction
Number two on the Captain Obvious list is the first thing everyone will notice when looking at the game: the destruction. Unlike even the Battlefield games, which had mostly scripted destruction, you can dynamically destroy everything in this game. Whatever you see, you can reduce it to rubble and that just feels amazing.
Unlike pretty much any other game, The Finals actually handles its physics server-side, which allows for this level up in technology. The utter chaos and unpredictability are not just mega impressive but also a constant joy to experience.
This is really a different beast from any other game with destruction. Check out this clip to see some of the mayhem you can get up to in the game:
A Much-Needed Breath Of Fresh Air
Currently, The Finals has one mode. In snappy eight minute rounds, four teams of three players each fight to accumulate as much money as possible. You mainly do that by stealing safes from vaults and bringing them to cash out points, where enemies can steal the money from you.
This multi-tiered objective mode has been a lot of fun. The changing objectives create a constant dynamic, as you always need to be on the move. And I’m absolutely loving having more than two teams compete. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a competitive shooter do that (I never played Halo before Infinite, sorry) and the added complexity is definitely a welcome breath of fresh air.Another cool selling point is the diverse array of abilities and gadgets you get to play around with. Every one of the three classes has different tools, like ziplines, an ability to run through walls, ziplines, a strange goo that can create platforms and block paths, ziplines and so on and so on. There is already a really decent number of different abilities, which adds tons of movability and options for tactical gameplay as well as that juicy chaos I mentioned earlier.
Extremely Promising, But We Still Have Some Concerns
TLDR: The game is a ton of fun. And it feels fresh, which is a rare feat in the FPS market. It definitely has a ton of potential, but there are of course also some concerns. For one, it’s questionable how long this one mode will keep players engaged. It’s good, but we’ll need at least a handful more of these things. What exactly The Finals will offer during later betas and at launch is still unclear, as Embark hasn’t revealed any of those details.
Content in general will be an important factor. Many online games quickly fall off after initial hype due to a lack of consistent content updates, like MultiVersus and Halo Infinite among many other examples.
This closed beta feels almost like a vertical slice: two maps, a few guns, short rounds, that’s pretty much it. And that’s perfectly fine for the game’s first impression and works. We will have to wait and see, if the final product will be able to offer enough new stuff to keep players engaged.
Embark is definitely aware of that at least, and promises a different approach to content creation including machine learning and AI.
“We’ve been reskinning the same game over and over for almost 20 years. And I’m pretty guilty of a stretch there. I’ve been part of that. But at Embark, this is actually what we’re trying to change. We believe that there’s a much better way of building content and making games. And that’s actually one reason why we founded this company. We have trying to completely change how we produce and build games by removing all the overhead and all the hard manual work.” — Robert Runesson, CCO at Embark Studios
The beta already has a store and battle pass set up, because of course it does. Even here, Embark’s approach seems really smart, as the game already offers a ton of different designs, which can really shine in the fictional game show conceit of the game. But this is also another part of the game, that the developers will need to fill with life to keep audiences engaged.
If Embark can manage that, and keep polishing the game and refining the gameplay, this could be a really big deal. The Finals is extremely promising, and we’re excited to see it continue to grow and finally come out. Hopefully it will deliver on some of those promises.