For over half a decade gamers have been asking the simple question, "Are Battle Royales actually fun?" The answer - sometimes - isn't quite the digestible response most are looking for. If you like the genre - Great! If not - there is a glut of traditional multiplayer shooters to choose from. But what if a keen developer tried to turn the "sometimes" moments from BRs into the main gameplay loop for a whole title?
Enter The Finals, A heart-pounding destruction-based, team-oriented, class-focused 3v3v3(v3) arena shooter gumbo that gasp has a high enough TTK that even the most geriatric of players can respond when an enemy gets the jump on them. It turns out that making a game that consists pretty much entirely of the highlight reel moments of most Battle Royales is pretty fun to play!
However, many of the positive developments brought forth also have extreme drawbacks. The wholesale destruction of entire maps brings calculated chaos into team strategies, but the resulting detritus makes for glitchy geometry that is more frustrating than fulfilling. The class tied unlocks allow for diverse team comps and resulting tactics, but only a month into it's lifespan meta builds and cheesy combos already dominate. Some will point to that as a natural evolution of any game like this - I'm inclined to agree! - but it doesn't make it any less unsatisfying.
And then there's the lack of variety. Yes, this is a live service game and I'm sure the devs will add more gamemodes down the line. But as of now there are truly only two ways to play. And just by looking at the sandbox we are given in those, you can tell there is a plethora of untapped potential here. I sincerely hope The Finals doesn't die on the vine, and instead matures into a more complete and polished version of what it already is.
Enter The Finals, A heart-pounding destruction-based, team-oriented, class-focused 3v3v3(v3) arena shooter gumbo that gasp has a high enough TTK that even the most geriatric of players can respond when an enemy gets the jump on them. It turns out that making a game that consists pretty much entirely of the highlight reel moments of most Battle Royales is pretty fun to play!
However, many of the positive developments brought forth also have extreme drawbacks. The wholesale destruction of entire maps brings calculated chaos into team strategies, but the resulting detritus makes for glitchy geometry that is more frustrating than fulfilling. The class tied unlocks allow for diverse team comps and resulting tactics, but only a month into it's lifespan meta builds and cheesy combos already dominate. Some will point to that as a natural evolution of any game like this - I'm inclined to agree! - but it doesn't make it any less unsatisfying.
And then there's the lack of variety. Yes, this is a live service game and I'm sure the devs will add more gamemodes down the line. But as of now there are truly only two ways to play. And just by looking at the sandbox we are given in those, you can tell there is a plethora of untapped potential here. I sincerely hope The Finals doesn't die on the vine, and instead matures into a more complete and polished version of what it already is.