The Finals preview: go big or go home

Being overly cautious is not an attribute that will get you very far in The Finals, an upcoming first-person shooter by Embark Studios – you go big or you go home.

Each match features four teams of three players fighting over two cash vault locations on a map. Having to hold the position as a vault is unlocked, teams then have to grab the goods and bring them to a drop-off zone, where they once again have to hold their ground for a bit as their score is being processed. There is not a moment of safety during this entire process. Enemy teams can come up any time and steal that hard-earned loot away, reaping the fruits of another’s labor. It’s kind of like Sea of Thieves in that regard – there are no rules or protections.

This gameplay loop not only forces you to grow eyes on your back, but also makes it important to switch between offensive and defensive approaches many times during a match. Mastering only one style won’t be enough to claim victory at the end of a game. Ambushes can be deadly, but the same goes for a well-prepared defense at a choke point, which can buy time with items like barriers. Due to the nature of the game – pure, straight-up chaos – being on the offensive is a lot more fun, though, as it gives you the initiative. Being the instigator of all that chaos is better than being only at the receiving end.

That chaos is strongly supported by the fact that every wall, floor, and ceiling in The Finals can be brought down if enough force is applied. This makes for cool moments any time it happens, but so far never presented itself as a really useful tactical option when planning an attack.

The Finals’ gameplay loop has a great flow to it. It’s a constant push back and forth, and even losing a cash vault to another team doesn’t spell an immediate end to this, as the heist takes long enough for your squad to make a comeback and threaten the cashout process.

Plans are never set in stone in this game, because another team might show up unannounced at your back as you’re fighting, or may immediately confront you after you’ve just won a hard battle. Improvisation is definitely a key skill to have.

That can definitely be frustrating. While fights tend to be over quickly, each player can tank a surprisingly big amount of damage, leading to the feeling that everyone is a bullet sponge – a view that set in while using the standard assault rifle and did not fundamentally change with further progression in equipment and skill.

Even the pump-action grenade launcher didn’t feel particularly powerful – taking a direct hit to the face? No problem. Too low a health pool would pose its own problems with how quickly battles would be over, but it also makes certain strategies very potent.

Here’s an example: You can choose your character’s build from a light, medium, and heavy version. Heavy builds have lower mobility, but possess much more HP. Combining this heavy character model with a sledgehammer, which can kill people in a couple of hits, was pretty devastating and very hard to deal with. A character like that has so much health that it’s almost impossible to step them from reaching and clobbering you.

Obviously, balancing is a marathon and not a sprint – it takes a lot of feedback and time. It’s just a bit strange that the developers informed us after our time with the game of their intention to nerf things like the mentioned grenade launcher, which seems like the opposite way of how things are supposed to go.

Still, embracing the chaos and throwing yourself into the middle of it is lots of fun. You can bring so many different gadgets and items from high-explosive grenades to zipline guns and sticky goo that change the dynamics of what’s going on on screen from one moment to the next.

Drawing you right into the action, the game encourages you to get stuck into the fight and survive on instincts and quick thinking. It’s so intense and action-packed that you really want to dive in for another run immediately, despite some balancing frustrations. The closed beta period beginning on March 7, 2023, will be a blast.

Written by Ryan Woodrow and Marco Wutz on behalf of GLHF.