Game Preview: The Finals

Written by Grady Fiorio Original Publishing Date: November 15th, 2023 Rating: N/A

Former Battlefield devs lay the groundwork for the next multiplayer hit

The Finals

Developer Embark Studios Playtime 6 Hrs 30 Min Platform PC Release Date TBD

Multiplayer games are starting to become a real drag these days. Everything is starting to blend into the same free-to-play, large-scale, looter shooter, battle roy… Yeah, I already stopped caring, and you probably did too. That’s why you should listen when I tell you that The Finals, a new free-to-play, large-scale multiplayer shooter, taking many cues from battle royales, is absolutely worth looking forward to. Coming from the new Embark Studios, comprised of former Battlefield developers, The Finals takes the best of Battlefield, Team Fortress, Fortnite, and a little bit of Payday, combining it into a genuinely new and exciting take on large-scale arena shooters, setting the foundation for something that could be amazing. From October 26th to November 5th, Embark opened the game to all players during an open beta, giving us just a taste of what’s to come before the game’s full release later this year. With 11 days of prerelease access, I decided to jump in and give you the scoop on one of the year’s most exciting releases. Keep in mind that this is a preview for an open beta, so things are subject to change.

So what exactly is The Finals? Set inside the presentation of a Hunger Games like game show, The Finals pits teams of 3 against each other in a race to steal cash and make deposits before other teams can catch up. The Twist? The entire map is destructible. Head to toe. The game actively encourages you to manipulate the map in any and all ways possible to outsmart and outperform the other teams, pulling off some of the most outrageous maneuvers I have ever played in an online game. This method of destruction is different than the kind seen in the likes of similar games like Fortnite, because in The Finals, all destruction is physics-based, using Unreal Engine 5’s new physics engine. To save on performance, all destruction is calculated server side, not locally on the player hardware. This allows the game to look great, play great, and run as smooth as butter. This combined with the game’s medium-large player count and high time to kill, allows for a new degree of fast-paced intensity while keeping an element of strategy. As someone tired of games where I die in 2 hits and have no options for strategic play, The Finals scratches that itch I’ve desperately been looking for.

The game is split into two different game modes, Quick Cash, and Bank It. Quick Cash stashes safety deposit boxes across the map that have to be unlocked and then deposited at specific, and ever-changing, deposit stations. However, despite the name, the cash ain’t quick, and deposits take a staggering amount of time. Just enough time for another team to make a steal and take your deposit. On the flip side, it gives you just enough time to make a killer comeback. It’s all-or-nothing, and very high intensity. The Bank It game mode, is more straightforward and will be familiar to FPS fans. It’s very similar in style to Call of Duty’s Kill Confirmed, where dead players drop markers, such as dog tags (or in this case cash), and then have to deposit those markers to earn points on the kill. The team that reaches the point limit wins.

The stylized presentation of a hectic and violent gameshow is the kind of originality that this genre needed. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s not too wacky that I lose investment. A lot of care and attention has gone into making the presentation match the high-intensity style of the game. While the character creator could use some more work, and the art direction can occasionally feel a bit flat, the cosmetics are genuinely well-made and add to the game’s unique style in a way most don’t. That does introduce the fact that The Finals is a free-to-play game, however, I’m happy to say that microtransactions are cosmetic only and do not affect gameplay. Could this change down the line? Absolutely. But, for now, things seem in the clear. It may be a controversial choice, but with the fickle nature of most multiplayer games, I do think that keeping The Finals free-to-play is for the best. It keeps the barrier to entry low and the player base alive and healthy for the foreseeable future.

So what does The Finals get right? I’m glad to say, a lot. First off, the concept is great. This general style of multiplayer shooter has needed a breath of fresh air, and The Finals strong core gameplay does this extremely well. It’s fast-paced and exciting, emphasizing split-second decisions moving at a breakneck pace. After a refreshingly short, albeit limited tutorial, the game introduces players to the small, medium, and large body types. All serve as different classes, with different speed and health attributes, as well as special weapons, gadgets, and rechargeable abilities. Weapons are hit-scan, rather than projectile, making the game feel much snappier than most multiplayer FPS games. Sniping is especially fun, as it feels incredibly accurate and responsive. However, the game emphasizes gadgets over weapons, giving the player only one weapon slot, but four gadget slots. These can vary from basic flashbangs and grenades to much more interesting ziplines, jump pads, and breaching charges. This encourages players to work as a team rather than go a solo route. Successful matches require that teams find a good balance of body types, weaponry, and gadgets.

On top of that, these gadgets emphasize the real-time physics-based destruction. It’s one of the game’s main selling points and a core pillar of the gameplay structure. Environmental manipulation is encouraged by giving all player classes various gadgets and weapons to further destroy the environment. However, it’s not all destruction as the game gives various opportunities to build small barriers and blockades, most notably with “goo grenades” that explode into a wall of destructible foam that can be used to barricade both players and objectives. It’s unconventional, but it allows for a new level of strategic play that can make or break a round for any given team. Combining this with the various movement abilities really allows players to craft their own playstyles. It’s just one of the many tools that adds a new layer of strategy to The Finals winning formula.

With so much happening on screen all at once, it brings into question the game’s performance. However, I’m happy to report that performance is rock solid. Embark has gone one step ahead by having the game’s destruction physics be calculated server side, so the game is much less demanding on player’s CPUs. While I don’t have exact framerate graphs to show, I had no performance issues whatsoever. Even with raytracing on, I was running the game at 60+ fps, and no notable frame time issues. Running on the new Unreal Engine 5, The Finals looks beautiful and plays great in an era where most developers have struggled with Epic’s new engine tech. I played the game on PC* (Specs at the bottom of the article) and didn’t get a chance to try any of the console versions, but from my understanding, there haven’t been any major issues.

However, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. If The Finals is to be the next great multiplayer shooter, it has some kinks to work out. The most clear from the open beta is balancing. As it currently stands, balancing is damn near nonexistent. The effectiveness of weapons and tools can vary dramatically, and I felt that the medium body type was nearly useless. It doesn’t move fast enough to avoid incoming attacks, but also doesn’t have enough health to take on said attacks. It’s the worst of both worlds and only felt useful as a support class with its defibrillator and movement gadgets such as the jump pad and zip-line. Unfortunately, most players were not using the class in this way, and the game doesn’t reward you for playing in this support style. During my playtime, it was clear that the small body type was the most superior class, as it could move insanely fast and had weapons with a very high TTK. The only real downside I had with the class was that the grappling hook tool would get stuck on ledges, leaving me falling from buildings. But this is a bug, not a feature, and will hopefully be patched by the full release. On top of class and weapon balancing, the game modes need some tweaks too. While the cutthroat nature of the game’s high stakes is certainly part of the appeal, too many times I found myself getting absolutely destroyed on the leaderboards, or completely destroying other players. With Quick Cash especially, it’s too hard to make a comeback or supplement points. More often than not one team completely outshined the other, leaving them literally penniless without a single point on the board. With the game’s current balancing issues, this can become frustrating and make both wins and losses feel unjustified. During the latter half of my time with the beta, I found myself gravitating toward the Bank It game mode, as it felt much more balanced and gave more opportunities for comebacks.

With team play being a pillar of The Finals balancing act, there is a surprising lack of communication options. There is team voice chat and a ping system, but the game lacks a text chat or any type of all-chat feature. I know some games have been cutting this to try and avoid toxic behavior, but this always seems more like a cop-out and an excuse to not moderate player behavior. We’re all adults here, we should be allowed to communicate with each other freely. If somebody can’t play nice, give ‘em the ban hammer. There also needs to be more in terms of team moderation. On multiple occasions I had my entire team drop out within the first few minutes of a match, leaving me completely alone and outmatched. However, this could be an issue of server connection, as I consistently found myself against long queue times and dropped connections. Thankfully I had no rubber banding or issues that affected me directly in-game.

While I hate dropping the C-word, another clear issue is the lack of content. The Finals will need more meat on its bones in terms of maps and game modes. Embark hasn’t been super clear on what the long-term plans are for the game, but if they want to keep player retention, there needs to be more. This issue has plagued other promising multiplayer games such as Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042. Both games needed 6+ months of dev time and radio silence, just to get their games into a state where players could justify their investment. I really don’t want to see this happen to The Finals, but it very well could if Embark doesn't ship with enough content to keep players busy.

Despite some of these flaws, The Finals is shaping up to be a very strong contender for the next multiplayer hit. As is, I am absolutely loving it and am completely addicted. Embark’s new twist on large arena shooters is an addictive and dynamic form of gameplay, that got me incredibly invested and competitive in a way that no other game really has before. It felt like it was activating a new part of my brain I hadn’t accessed yet, and it was just flipping that switch over and over. I’m not sure if that’s healthy, but damn it I had fun. However, for this to be the next big thing, it is imperative that Embark fixes the current balancing issues, while also adding a steady stream of content for players. Clearly, Embark has set themselves up for a home run, their swing just needs to follow through.

PC Specs*

GPU: RTX 2070 8gb CPU: i7-9700k RAM: 64gb DDR4 Storage: 1tb NVME SSD