Now that Season 4 has concluded, I can confidently say that The Finals is the multiplayer shooter revolution many have been waiting for.


This game feels fresh with its highly destructible environments while still leaving you enough breathing room to strategize and avoid exhaustion. The "respawn-die" cycle of shooters is refined - thanks to the ex-Battlefield devs - balancing chaotic action with moments to reset. For every dose of chaos, there's just enough downtime to keep things manageable.

Incredible visuals, varied maps, diverse weapon options, snappy gunplay and movement, destructible environments, a well-tuned ranked playlist, and the possibility of either insanely strategic (or accidently but funny) good plays, result in a consistently high fun factor. Whether you're a sniper, a movement wizard looking to bonk opponents or someone that loves explosives as much as the Battlefield 3/4s Operation Metro 1200 Ticket NO RULES servers - The Finals has something for everyone.

The live service component is where The Finals also shines:

- Tournaments feature varied themes and objectives.
- Weekly patches offer a mix of significant and minor updates.
- Fair challenges and plenty of free unlockables are available.
- Spending money feels optional; the battle pass is almost filler-free and "straightforward" to level up.
- The developers explain their balance changes and reasoning in every blog post.
- At the end of each season, players earn Multibucks (real-world currency) based on their ranking.


That said, no game is without its flaws. Here are three areas where The Finals could improve:

Performance has taken a noticeable hit since Season 3, especially on maps like Kyoto, which is a resource hog. While it's understandable that intense destruction, gadgets, and events can strain the game, it feels like we're not back to the smooth experience of earlier seasons. While the devs have made efforts to improve performance with patches, progress feels incremental at best.

Upscaling tech is also heavily relied upon, which is a mixed bag. The game employs TAA (temporal anti-aliasing) extensively, causing "ghosting" artifacts around players at distances of about 50 meters. While DLAA helps mitigate this somewhat, sniping and precise long-range shots often feel less satisfying without crisp visuals. (DLAA is also very resource intensive, even for my 4090 RTX + 9800X3D configuration)

Earlier, I praised the battle pass for being "straightforward" to level up—but I didn’t use quotation marks lightly. In Season 3, the grind felt perfectly balanced, with lower XP requirements for the final "bonus pages." Season 4, however, ramped up the grind significantly, and it feels like a misstep.

The Finals isn't the kind of game that benefits from excessive grind. A better approach might be offering exclusive cosmetics in a separate in-game shop for earnable credits. Encourage play with meaningful goals, but don’t inflate the progression system players have already grown accustomed to.

On top of the battle pass, Season 4 introduced "Sponsorship" progression. While it adds free cosmetics tied to a thematic sponsor system, grinding "Fans" to complete this progression was frustrating. Exploits allowed some players to farm Fans faster, but those were patched mid-season, leaving others with an uphill climb. The double XP/Fans boost at the season's end was welcome but felt like a band-aid on an already tedious system. This FOMO-driven design detracts from the overall experience.

I understand the push for higher engagement metrics, but the grindy elements introduced in Season 4 feel like a step back compared to the well-balanced Season 3.

Cheaters, while not rampant, have become increasingly noticeable in the past few weeks. While most cheaters rely on subtle ESP or soft aimbots, there are instances of blatant aim-locking from afar. Thankfully, the game compensates lost ranked points if a cheater is detected, and many reports result in valid action. However, the recent uptick in cheaters warrants closer attention to anti-cheat measures to preserve the competitive integrity of ranked play.


When I first tried this game, I didn’t enjoy it. But once it clicked, I was hooked - and now I can’t wait for Season 5. With its incredible art style, fair(ish) live service model, great music, and fresh innovation in the market, The Finals has become my personal GOTY. It's been a long time since I’ve had this much fun with a multiplayer game.

But to reach the next level, the game needs performance tweaks and a re-evaluation of the grind introduced in Season 4.

Give this game a try - grab your gaming buddies and jump in. You won’t regret it!

Now that Season 4 has concluded, I can confidently say that The Finals is the multiplayer shooter revolution many have been waiting for. [h1]Pros[/h1] This game feels [b]fresh[/b] with its [b]highly destructible[/b] environments while still leaving you enough breathing room to strategize and avoid exhaustion. The "respawn-die" cycle of shooters is refined - thanks to the ex-Battlefield devs - balancing chaotic action with moments to reset. For every dose of chaos, there's just enough downtime to keep things manageable. [h2]Look and feel[/h2] Incredible visuals, varied maps, diverse weapon options, snappy gunplay and movement, destructible environments, a well-tuned ranked playlist, and the possibility of either insanely strategic (or accidently but funny) good plays, result in a consistently high fun factor. Whether you're a sniper, a movement wizard looking to bonk opponents or someone that loves explosives as much as the Battlefield 3/4s Operation Metro 1200 Ticket NO RULES servers - The Finals has something for everyone. [h2]Live Service and Progression[/h2] The live service component is where The Finals also shines: - Tournaments feature varied themes and objectives. - Weekly patches offer a mix of significant and minor updates. - Fair challenges and plenty of free unlockables are available. - Spending money feels optional; the battle pass is almost filler-free and "straightforward" to level up. - The developers explain their balance changes and reasoning in every blog post. - At the end of each season, players earn Multibucks (real-world currency) based on their ranking. [h1]Cons[/h1] That said, no game is without its flaws. Here are three areas where The Finals could improve: [h2]1. Performance and Ghosting[/h2] Performance has taken a noticeable hit since Season 3, especially on maps like Kyoto, which is a resource hog. While it's understandable that intense destruction, gadgets, and events can strain the game, it feels like we're not back to the smooth experience of earlier seasons. While the devs have made efforts to improve performance with patches, progress feels incremental at best. Upscaling tech is also heavily relied upon, which is a mixed bag. The game employs TAA (temporal anti-aliasing) extensively, causing "ghosting" artifacts around players at distances of about 50 meters. While DLAA helps mitigate this somewhat, sniping and precise long-range shots often feel less satisfying without crisp visuals. (DLAA is also very resource intensive, even for my 4090 RTX + 9800X3D configuration) [h2]2. Grind[/h2] Earlier, I praised the battle pass for being "straightforward" to level up—but I didn’t use quotation marks lightly. In Season 3, the grind felt perfectly balanced, with lower XP requirements for the final "bonus pages." Season 4, however, ramped up the grind significantly, and it feels like a misstep. The Finals isn't the kind of game that benefits from excessive grind. A better approach might be offering exclusive cosmetics in a separate in-game shop for earnable credits. Encourage play with meaningful goals, but don’t inflate the progression system players have already grown accustomed to. On top of the battle pass, Season 4 introduced "Sponsorship" progression. While it adds free cosmetics tied to a thematic sponsor system, grinding "Fans" to complete this progression was frustrating. Exploits allowed some players to farm Fans faster, but those were patched mid-season, leaving others with an uphill climb. The double XP/Fans boost at the season's end was welcome but felt like a band-aid on an already tedious system. This FOMO-driven design detracts from the overall experience. I understand the push for higher engagement metrics, but the grindy elements introduced in Season 4 feel like a step back compared to the well-balanced Season 3. [h2]3. Cheaters[/h2] Cheaters, while not rampant, have become increasingly noticeable in the past few weeks. While most cheaters rely on subtle ESP or soft aimbots, there are instances of blatant aim-locking from afar. Thankfully, the game compensates lost ranked points if a cheater is detected, and many reports result in valid action. However, the recent uptick in cheaters warrants closer attention to anti-cheat measures to preserve the competitive integrity of ranked play. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] When I first tried this game, I didn’t enjoy it. But once it clicked, I was hooked - and now I can’t wait for Season 5. With its incredible art style, fair(ish) live service model, great music, and fresh innovation in the market, The Finals has become my personal GOTY. It's been a long time since I’ve had this much fun with a multiplayer game. But to reach the next level, the game needs performance tweaks and a re-evaluation of the grind introduced in Season 4. Give this game a try - grab your gaming buddies and jump in. You won’t regret it!