It’s insanely difficult to create something unique in the genre of multiplayer first-person shooters. Essentially everything has been done already. And with that said, you find THE FINALS which does stuff its own way and not only does it work, it’s incredibly fun too. FPS titles desperately needed a breath of fresh air for at least last 5 years until FINALLY someone delivered. Seriously, I cannot understate how important this game is for all gamers around the world and how much pleasure I’ve had discovering it. Considering that this title is free, it would be a crime not to try it out.


What is this game about and why is it fun?

THE FINALS is much different from your everyday shooter. The biggest selling point of it is understandably the destruction of all buildings found throughout the map. Product by ex-DICE employees behind the Battlefield series could be counted on to include that. You gotta stand in awe at the sheer scope and cinematic value of how almost every wall in this world can be destroyed. All you need is some explosives or… quite conveniently… a big enough gentleman or lady. Here’s the neat part though. Unlike games made by DICE, in THE FINALS reshaping the terrain bears a much more important role in how the matches play out. You can box people in, create new pathways, jump a few stories up or down, use the grappling hook or even create windows to shoot through and quickly seal them back up. There are way too many enticing ways to use the environment around you to keep listing them. Know one thing - THE FINALS will have you constantly focused on how to use the map and for the first time in forever, I don’t mean following the minimap.

The goal of Embark’s title differs from other shooters on the market. At its core, THE FINALS is a 4-team competition. Each group consists of 3 members, which means you will have 2 allies and 9 enemies. All of those are equally deadly to you, so you better keep tabs on your mates, in order to play around each other’s strengths and prevent unnecessary teamkilling. Every once in a while, you might find yourself creating temporary alliances with other teams in order to eliminate a bigger threat. Even if that sounds like something that may benefit two teams, not many rivals see the bigger picture and they just shoot whatever moves. After all, you’re literally made out of money, and money is what brings you victory.

Let me expand on that. The premise of the game is quite unique. THE FINALS is a virtual reality tournament, where its contestants are battling for real money. Within the virtual world though, the players are nothing but cold hard cash. Or rather coins. A LOT of coins. As you can probably imagine, the team with the most money at the end of a 10 minute match is declared a winner. This makes it ever more tempting to focus on creating 15 new holes within your closest enemy’s chest. Be mindful, as even though greed is good in this show, there is an objective way more important and beneficial than simply killing others.

Introducing: Cashouts.
Open a safe, take it to the cashout station and defend it for 2 minutes to seize all the money that’s within it. Lose it and not only drop all the money that was being extracted, but also award the enemies with a bonus for a successful steal. It only takes 6 seconds to take the safe away from the other team, so you better be on a lookout for pesky contestants trying to apply thievery on your legally stolen goods. There will always be someone interested in your money, so how about suggesting them a free purchase of lead to the head? After all, who wouldn’t take that offer? It’s a steal!

To make this a complete product, shove 8 teams into a tournament, knock 2 least paid teams out of every round and you got yourself one of the most addicting game modes I have ever played. Best of all, it’s only a tip of the iceberg. You have plenty of additional modes and quick join options if you’re more of a casual player, who values the possibility of starting and ending the gaming session at any time you see fit. The best of them all definitely being “Bank it”. THE FINALS’ spin on deathmatch where your kills don’t matter for ♥♥♥♥ until you grab all the money from the dead and bring it to a cashout station.


Visually this game has had me taken aback with not only how good it is but also how vibrant and clear everything is without causing a seizure. It’s easy to tell enemies apart from the terrain and each other. It’s easy to understand the layout of the maps. It’s easy to find arena throwables, cashout stations or jump pads allowing quicker way to travel through impressive verticality of THE FINALS. Better yet, it’s not devoid of a soul either. Environment is constructed to not only mix up gameplay but to look great as well. It’s not something that you will ever stop to admire though, as the game is so action packed, at no point is there time to do that.

You will look at the other players and sometimes yourself. This opens up a whole different market. One that Embark has very gladly (I imagine) taken by storm. Customization options of your character are already mostly endless and THE FINALS just recently entered its 5th Season. Clothing, gun skins, taunts, first person hand gestures, gun animations, sprays, voice quips, profile cards, pets… I’m actually gonna stop myself here. No point in listing it all, but you can already see the sheer number of things to customize. But you know what that means, right? Microtransactions.
They are not invasive, so that’s a plus. The prices are not tragic and if you purchase Battle Pass, there are plenty of options for earning premium currency. Embark uses what I like to call Fortnite BP model, where by completing the entire Pass you earn more premium currency than you have spent to get it in the first place. You earn just enough to get yourself a bonus item, yet you will be short on premium if you got something bigger on your eye, so remember to spend wisely if you want to buy the next Battle Pass.
Especially that getting to the end of the BP can be a chore. From my calculations, if you play alone, you’d need about an hour a day of THE FINALS for the entire season duration (90 days) to get everything. About 10% less, if you got friends to play with.


Truth be told, there isn’t much to complain about in THE FINALS, outside of its version of Counter-Strike gameplay model, which not only does not work but is also incredibly imbalanced, which simply defeats the purpose. I could bash it for its time to kill, which in some cases is around 3 presidential turns, but put that aside and you have a polished product that is constantly updated and given much love with new maps, weapons, gadgets and ways to play. Shame that some of the changes don’t stay around for too long.
I don’t know how much this game has left in its tank, but I do know that it’s damn fun. Given that it’s free I couldn’t recommend it more.