MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller is completely convinced by The Finals and sees 5 reasons why it’s the best shooter of the year.
The Finals has been available on Steam and consoles since Friday, December 8, 2023. Embark Studios has released a fast-paced and action-packed shooter that gathered over 240,000 players in its first weekend.
And the success on Steam is not by chance, as the Swedish developer studio has crafted a really good shooter. I am already a big fan, having played over 40 hours in the game, including the beta, and I say it clearly: The Finals is the best shooter of 2023, and there are clear reasons for that.
Gameplay Depth Through Interactive Equipment
When I play a shooter, various aspects are important to me. The Finals has managed to implement most of the fundamental building blocks of a shooter very well. This includes the selection of weapons and equipment.
The Finals offers various weapons, abilities, gadgets, and classes to create your own loadout. The selection is not overwhelmingly large – on the contrary, it is relatively small. However, that’s not a problem because there is an interaction between the various aids.
I can, for example, counter a fire grenade with smoke or spot a camouflaged/invisible opponent with thermal vision. So there is a tactical component to choosing your own equipment.
You can learn more about the various interactions in our 10 tips for The Finals:
The Heart of the Game: Destruction
The best thing about The Finals is clearly the ability to destroy everything on the map. It feels incredibly good to tear down the supporting walls of a building with a sledgehammer, which then collapses completely.
But small, targeted explosions are also great. Whether I blow up the ceiling above the opponent or blow up the ground beneath them – I simply love it every time.
Even in Rainbow Six: Siege, the destructibility of the map and the resulting vertical gameplay were among the absolute highlights during the entire time I have been playing shooters. The Finals takes it up a notch.
Movement from the Sky
However, The Finals is much more to me than just the destruction of the map. I also enjoy playing shooters where the movement can be a bit faster. Bunny hopping is allowed, dropshotting is okay, and sliding is always fun.
The Finals has found a good mix in the possibilities that the movement offers. At no point does it seem that someone significantly younger could spin circles around me while shooting until I get dizzy.
The movement is complemented by ziplines, jump pads, and grappling hooks to maneuver through the map faster but still entertainingly. I don’t get bored in The Finals, even when I have to run to the other side of the map – even if I’m just running and swinging with my grappling hook.
Simple but Good Gunplay
The gunplay of The Finals is not highly complicated. It is simple and thus good. There is a relatively small selection of weapons with a moderate recoil that always shoots in a consistent pattern depending on the weapon.
This makes the gunplay not only very intuitively manageable, but it is also fun if you play more casually and don’t want to study to control a weapon.
No Match Like the Other
In The Finals, no match is like the previous one. Every gunfight feels different because the teams use their skills and gadgets differently.
Sure, blowing up the ground during a cashout or spamming gas grenades and mines isn’t special, but when a team destroys something and which equipment is used how makes a significant difference.
Just the change from light to medium or heavy class changes the gameplay so much that in three rounds I experience three completely different playing styles.
However, I am not the only one in the MeinMMO editorial team who has already spent several hours in The Finals. Here you can read a short opinion from my colleague Cedric:
Is There Anything Bad?
I personally am currently completely addicted to The Finals. No game is perfect, and after the release, there was criticism that the game feels different than in the beta, somehow slower. I can’t rule that out, but I don’t find that The Finals feels bad with the full release.
A bigger problem is cheaters – they are currently still limited, but there are already clips of obvious cheaters circulating on the internet. Since The Finals is free-to-play, this could become a major issue sooner or later.
For some players, it is certainly also important: The Finals indeed has SBMM in all modes, but it is said to be more relaxed than in other games, as the developers revealed to us in an interview.
