There aren’t many games that leave me in awe, but Embark Studios’ The Finals certainly left me speechless. This multiplayer FPS from a development team of DICE veterans appeared out of nowhere and suddenly emerged as a closed beta product. After earning the title, I played this chaotic game and have a lot to say about everything I’ve seen so far.

The few hours that I played this closed beta, I had a rather mixed impression. On the one hand, the presentation, the concept, the plot and the performance are very high quality, interesting and up-to-date. On the other hand, there are other aspects that didn’t impress me as much. From the weapons and movement to the character class system and level design, there were aspects of The Finals that left me wanting more. Again, this is a closed beta, however, and as of this writing, the title doesn’t even have a release date, leaving plenty of time to resolve any issues.

But, What is the final? It’s a multiplayer shooter where teams of three compete in extravagant battles. At least in the beta, that means participating in a game type called Cashout. In this game mode, teams have to break through the chests on a medium sized map and then take the goal which is a sum of money to a payout station to deposit the money and collect points to advance. the rival. teams. The problem is that usually only two cameras and two boxes are active at the same time. At any one time, four teams are on the field at the same time, all fighting for the same or similar goals.

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It’s simple gameplay and pretty easy to understand, but quite difficult to master. The Endgame isn’t your typical down-to-earth shooter. In fact, it’s more like the Apex Legends moveset, with quick jumps and long dashes, and all sorts of abilities and gadgets that provide additional movement options. For example grappling hooks, abseiling ropes and jumping mats. But that’s one of the things that I don’t think has been perfected in The Finals, because the characters aren’t really built for rooftop combat, and because each map is very vertical, most of the time you’ll have a hard time taking an elevator or stairs climb. It’s not the best moveset in the world as it looks like Apex Legends did it back then, but on maps that look more like Hyperscape.

At first you might be surprised at what The Finals brings to the table with its weaponry and devastating physics, but it really isn’t any more impressive than any Battlefield game. Yes, the physics of destruction in Battlefield are amazing, but it’s also more of a factor that goes hand-in-hand with weaponry in the game’s overall objective, while in The Finals it seems to be the opposite. The characters and their weapons are designed to blast the map into 1001 pieces, and it’s true that strategically a lot can be gained by doing this (moving a team, for example, by literally destroying the bottom of the building in which one is situated) . However, since gun play seems a bit rough, most players use explosives, which are the most valuable at the moment. Because of this, the game is so absurdly chaotic that it’s difficult to really focus on what’s going on. A few changes to the damage numbers and kill system can further improve the game, but then the cards would become a problem.

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Finale has some of the flashiest and most engaging maps I’ve seen in a shooter in a long time, but the problem is that they feel pretty empty. The buildings are empty and lack furniture or aesthetics that make them look real. There is no more life on the map than that of the 16 players, making it even more inhospitable. Even if I can’t complain about resource reuse, as I understand that game development is a very slow and complicated process, the fact that most of the buildings and rooms look like identical replicas (especially on the Monaco map) leaves us ). with a bitter sense of repetition.

And what about customization? Well, as a beta I only had a limited number of weapons and items to play with, but for the most part it’s awesome. Some are purely focused on damage and destruction (like hand grenades and auto-turrets), while others are more strategic and supportive in design (like mines that block doors and slow enemy attacks, or thermal imaging that detects enemies through smoke). All of this aspect of customization promises, but I’m not so sure about the classes among which we can choose between light, medium or heavy characters.

The light (light) are the weakest, but the most agile. The Heavy are slow but unkillable, while the Medium is somewhere in between. In my opinion, the middle class is by far the most balanced of the three. The heavy class is overly crushing and difficult to defeat most of the time, and the light class is an overly high skill class that’s either untouchable or useless, usually depending on if you combine invisibility with a murder knife for a fair hit. Again, this set of classes could be even better with various tweaks and revisions. As things stand, however, that’s not what I’m most looking forward to about The Finals.

Overall, The Finals left me unsure. On the one hand I see the full potential of this game. On the other hand, I also fear that this title will meet the same fate as countless other “up and coming” shooters over the years. So my question after playing the beta is what else can we do? The withdrawal is amazing. Also a great concept is the tournament mode where you play against 16 other teams in cashout matches where the top two teams in each stage advance to the next round until the winner is determined. But The Finals has to give us more if it’s going to survive.

This game will not thrive without other game modes to sustain it, as the monetization and progression is like any other live service multiplayer title released in the last decade. It’s a bit concerning and hopefully The Finals won’t be inundated with monetized offers, but when a beta includes a Battle Pass and a randomly running shop, alarm bells start ringing. in the head. It may be a bit of a prejudice, but I don’t want to be fooled anymore.

But still, The Finals doesn’t have a release date and we don’t know when the game will actually come out, so for now I’m staying more or less optimistic with what I’ve already played. It needs a few tweaks here and there, but as a starting point, the developers at Embark Studios have shown that they can also make some pretty cool multiplayer shooters without the support of EA and DICE.