As someone who isn’t big on free-to-play titles in general and doesn’t play a lot of multiplayer, let alone competitive multiplayer, I’m surprised I even gave The Finals a chance. I remember seeing that original first look a while back and thinking to myself “Cool, another battle royale game. At least it looks gorgeous and seems like a fresh take on the already saturated genre.” I was keen to dive into this one! Fast forward to the 8th of December when it launched, I had let this game completely slip off of my radar. I begrudgingly installed it as the other half of me didn’t find it necessary with my current Baldur’s Gate 3 obsession. Eventually, I pulled myself away from The Game Of The Year to have a quick few rounds of what I thought would be yet another battle royale title I’m bad at and dropped after a few hours of playtime and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

It’s not a “battle royale” as such. If you’re thinking of Call of Duty’s Warzone or Respawn’s Apex Legends, you can think again. The best way to describe The Finals is that it’s a mix of both and a breath of fresh air within the first-person shooter space. The Finals is a combat-centered game show in which you fight alongside your teammates in virtual arenas that can be altered, exploited, and destroyed. The Finals is developed and published by Embark Studios, based in Stockholm, Sweden, and is also responsible for the PvPvE shooter, Arc Raiders.

(The Finals, Arenas)

The World Is Watching

Like most game shows, they need to be entertaining to be able to retain their viewership. I imagine that The Finals are very entertaining to watch but I can confirm they are ridiculously entertaining to take part in, too. Players can jump into two different modes at the moment. The main one is Cashout, which has two different variants. A quick play option and pits three teams of three against each other with a target of 20,000 in cash and is comprised of one single match whereas the latter is a tournament mode and pits four teams of three against each other with a target of 40,000 in cash and takes place over three rounds. In quick cash you don’t lose money if your team gets wiped out and you have unlimited respawns but the tournament mode is less forgiving, taking away a percentage of your earnings when your team is wiped out and you also have a limited number of respawns coins.

Bank It is similar to the Quick Cash mode except from the fact that it’s a target of 40,000 cash and when you kill a player (or get killed) you burst into money and this can be picked up and added to your overall team total but it must be deposited at boxes that pop up around the map. Sure, two modes don’t sound like much and I’m sure after a season or two we’ll be itching for another mode but the way the game plays right now with the amazing moment-to-moment gameplay, it enough honestly. There’s also a small amount of maps available right now, maybe 3 if I remember correctly. But again, and maybe just personally, its enough right now, thanks in no small part to the destruction and traversal. There are so many ways to traverse these arenas; actual working elevators that take you to different floors, jump pads, ziplines, goo guns, rappels, etc. Not forgetting you can just blow the surrounding area to smithereens and make your own path!

(Turned To Cash)

It’s a fast-paced first-person shooter for sure and it took me a few rounds and subsequent games with friends to kind of get to grips with it, but when it clicked, it’s the most fun I’ve had with an FPS game in a very long time.  The Map Variants certainly help the small number of maps and these consist of things like; Cashout stations being placed on moving platforms, part of the arena being half-built and under construction, Cashout stations being suspended high up on destructible platforms, and so on. This helps keep the “same map” fresh, as you can play the same map three times in a row but start with fallen buildings or suspended cashout stations. It helps to keep every match fresh and stops it from feeling like a game of Domination on Crash in Call of Duty where you get hit by the same Noob Tube match after match because, fundamentally, nothing about the maps change, this is where The Finals excels. Being a team with ex-Battlefield developers, you can see they’ve left their mark, especially with the ability to flatten every single thing in sight. For me at least it just adds another layer of immersion as the maps are very malleable which constantly opens up new possibilities and different lines of sight.

On top of this, different Game Show Events get sprung upon you randomly during a match. Things such as Meteor showers bombard the map with a barrage of chaos, making it dangerous to be outside. Low Gravity moments can arrive at crucial moments, allowing players to jump to ridiculous new heights and clutch a Cashout. The Dead Go Boom makes sure that you deal damage to anyone within a certain radius as you explode upon death and Lasers that will aim down and shoot at players that are camping, to name a few. Between the Game Show Events and Map Variants, it does make up for the small number of maps available. Not to say it’s a bad thing as I love the way Embark has approached this. Throw in daytime, nighttime, and different weather effects and you’re in for a treat.

The Las Vegas 2032 map for example can be crisp and clean or can be caught up in the middle of a snowstorm, which changes the style of play for the map drastically, adding a whole new challenge and a butt-load of fun to boot!

(Very Impressive, Not Just Visually)

Play Your Way

The Finals let you pick between a Light, Medium, or Heavy build. Each is equipped with a roster of Specializations, weapons, and gadgets unique to them. A Light Build for instance will be good for close-range combat and carrying the vault due to its low health but fast pace while a Heavy Build is slow-paced but can deal the most damage, take the most damage, and demolish the arena the quickest. The Medium build is the most all-around character but works best as a support role and is moderately paced. I’ve found the most fun so far running a Medium Build and playing more of a support role, but this hasn’t hindered me when I’ve wanted to get stuck right into the action either. Of course, like most FPS games, the more you play, the more you’ll learn and it will enable you to tinker with the gadgets available to see what works and what doesn’t and there’s a great practice arena where you can jump into, in case you want to try out new unlocks or builds before taking them online. It’s heavily team-based but that didn’t stop me from bagging an achievement for three wins in a row with strangers. Whilst it’s doable and is not ‘bad’ per say, this game is infinitely more fun if you can jump on with some friends and communicate.

There’s a lot here to play around with and it boasts a nice varied mix of gadgets and the like. It’s been a lot of fun working out who works well with whom and whether it’s beneficial to run two heavy players with a medium or two lights with a medium etc. There’s plenty of experimenting to be done with everything at your disposal.

Of course, being free-to-play means The Finals comes attached with something a lot of us gamers don’t like, the trusty ol’ Battle Pass and Microtransactions. That being said, it’s the first and possibly only (from what I can remember) free-to-play title I’ve enjoyed enough to buy the battle pass for. I have dropped about £20 on this game so far, it’s safe to say I am enjoying it. For better or worse, you can of course pay to skip levels in the battle pass – Why play when you pay, huh? And at the very least the store and the microtransactions as a whole aren’t shoved in your face like some other titles. I had to go into the store myself and look around there wasn’t an advert plastered over the screen upon start up every single time. Love ’em or hate ’em, The Finals is free-to-play. I’ve never been a massive advocate for this style of game but maybe all it took was for one of these to be… fun? Huh.

I suppose I should mention the elephant in the room, which is that The Finals uses AI to voice its characters. A big “don’t play this game it uses AI” trend I’ve seen on socials. Whilst they have indeed used AI in The Finals, they’ve made it clear that “Making games without actors isn’t an end goal for Embark.” To spin-off on a tangent for a brief moment, I am both optimistic and worried about the future of AI in our media, but if it can be used as an additive and not a replacement for the workers, then thats a win in my book.

(Brief Look At Some Of The Cosmetics)

Final Thoughts

The Finals snuck up on me this year. In the same year that’s been packed with great games like Starfield, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Lies of P, Alan Wake 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3. Add to that, this year I ended up completely hooked on Souls-like games, playing Elden Ring and Sekiro to 100% completion, I did not expect a free-to-play first-person shooter to shoot itself right up to the top of my favorites in 2023. It feels very similar whilst managing to provide a fresh take and looking stunning at the same time. With zero issues running on my Xbox Series X and quite possibly the first and maybe only online title that works with Quick Resume! (Shout out to you, Paul Tyre!)

It’s a pure adrenaline rush, pushing with your squad for the cashout in the last few moments when all three teams just need the one last cashout to win. So many cool and nerve-wracking moments come naturally to The Finals with plenty of chances for some cool last-second clutches. It’s honestly fun with a capital F. The maps and modes are great and work well and we aren’t in dire need of more for now because as previously mentioned, Embark’s approach has been great but of course like any gamer, I won’t ever say no to a few more maps and modes!

The builds are fun to play around with and traversal is excellent. As someone who doesn’t get on well usually with these faster-paced titles, it’s managed to be fast-paced without becoming another new-age twitch-shooter (so far). It’s fun (albeit painful sometimes) playing solo and downright brilliant when you can play in a squad, The Finals is a very welcomed breath of fresh air and I’m annoyed I didn’t keep Embark Studios on my radar sooner. I don’t usually keep a multiplayer game in my rotation, mostly due to life and time commitments but The Finals is one that’s got me hitting Play as soon as I’ve finished a match. It’s one I will be returning to for the foreseeable future and I only hope it grows from here on out. You can tell a lot of love went into this game and fans of Battlefield should check this one out! (shout out to one of my good friends and Battlefield super fan BOY RUSH for spending a ton of time playing with me!) Here’s to many more hours!

Just this evening as I’m coming off the back of some stellar matches with @TheGamingNook, I’m continuously reminded of why I love this game so much already. So many clutch moments, a lot of tension in places, it’s just absolutely incredible and makes for a brilliant time. Running across rooftops, ducking and diving trying to make it to the vault as the buildings crumble underneath your feet is a thrill and a half. Meeting random players in game chat and clutching a win. It sounds odd but for me this is probably THE MOST fun and most social FPS I’ve played since Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when I was in school.

I haven’t touched on EVERYTHING in this review, but I don’t think anyone wants to hear me gush about this game for 10,000 words, so I’d recommend watching some tips and tricks videos on YouTube, they’re definitely handy! Ultimately, it’s quick and chaotic fun. Nothing hits quite like throwing that last minute grenade or poison barrel and saving your cash out station at the last second!

I should also note, that I’ve spent the entirety of my 50+ hours so far playing on Xbox Series X and performance has been, despite how chaotic it gets on screen, flawless. It’s refreshing for a game to launch and just ‘work’ in this day and age, honestly

My rating for The Finals for Complete Xbox? Fun/10. Go play it, it’s free!