The Finals: A Delightfully Destructive Shooter

Disclaimer: This article talks about a game that is focused on the use of guns. However, there is no blood or gore contained in the game, and any eliminated players simply dissolve into coins.

Gaming, like any other form of media, goes through its ups and downs. While 2023 has been a legendary year for certain genres such as RPGs with incredible releases such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate III, other genres have failed to entertain. One such genre is the first-person shooter, or FPS, which has generally failed to capture the attention of players, with many releases lacking innovation and having lackluster gameplay. However, Embark Studios’ The Finals, which released in early December, has avoided both of those pitfalls with multiple features that other FPS’s have simply lacked.

First, The Finals’ unique game modes have set it apart from many of this year’s shooters. Unlike many shooters, where the goal is either to eliminate as many opponents as possible or play a large-scale capture-the-flag game, The Finals has one main game mode: Cashout. To win in this game mode, one’s team must find a box of money, unlock it so it can be carried, take it to a kiosk, and enter it into the kiosk so that they can gain the money, which acts as the game’s points. However, enemy teams can steal the box in any step of the cycle, meaning teams have to be cohesive from start to finish if they desire to gain the cash and win the game. This high-octane, high-stakes gameplay ensures that there is never a dull moment from start to finish of a game. Also, when players are eliminated they can either be revived, respawn within around twenty seconds, or—in the case of the entire team getting eliminated—respawn around twenty seconds after that with their entire team. This fast-paced, team-based gameplay creates a great dynamic that many shooters have been recently lacking.

However, the game mode is far from The Finals’ best feature. That achievement would go to The Finals’ fully-destructible environments, which truly set it apart from nearly every FPS ever created. In previous games that have attempted to have destructible environments, doing so would take a heavy toll on the computer or console, as it takes a lot of processing power to simulate the physics. However, Embark Studios solved this problem by performing all these calculations on their dedicated servers for the game, allowing the game to run incredibly smoothly yet have phenomenal physics simulation. During gameplay, players are given a variety of explosives, from detonatable charges to rocket launchers, and are encouraged to use these to solve problems. If another team is in an adjacent room attempting to deposit the box of money, another team could easily blow a hole in the wall or the ceiling to get an angle of attack. Or, thanks to the game’s multistoried level design, one could collapse the floor beneath the opposing team and attempt to get the jump on them that way. The possibilities and angles one could take are endless, and having such destructible environments solves a typical problem in FPS games where teams will often “camp” in advantageous spots to get ahead of other teams. This, combined with heavy, medium, and light options for players, and many different abilities, guns, and items to strategically use, along with the simulated game show aesthetic gives The Finals a truly epic setting that makes any fight a blast.

Overall, The Finals is an amazing shooter unlike anything released before. The extremely tight core gameplay—coupled with the incredible physics simulations and further bolstered by its unique game structure—makes this game truly exemplary and personifies everything a competitive shooter should be. For anyone who’s a fan of polished combat, immersive settings, or just shooters in general, this game is an instant recommendation to anyone seeking a new, explosive experience.

Photos

Cover. scii51 by Rock Paper Shotgun. https://assetsio.reedpopcdn.com/scii51.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&fit=bounds&quality=70&format=jpg&auto=webp

Figure 1. Destruction by Josiah Long.

Figure 2. Firefight by Josiah Long.