The Finals is a blast but it needs to pick its audience to survive

The Finals Open Beta gave many players their first taste of what Embark Studios is cooking up. But while the frantic action is an absolute joy to play, I can’t help but be worried about its long-term success in an already crowded market.

The Finals is the latest FPS trying to make a name for itself, pitting squads of three against each other to see who can extract the most cash from colorful maps. This free-to-play title is already making waves among the community, even overtaking juggernauts like Call of Duty on Steam.

It’s being developed by ex-Battlefield developers at Embark Studios, and the DNA is clear to see. For most players, the Open Beta is the first time they’ve dropped into the virtual game show and experienced the sheer chaos and destruction.

But after spending a few hours trying (and loving) everything The Final beta has to offer, I’m left with a few concerns. Who is it for? And can a fun game survive the crowded FPS market without appealing to a specific audience?

Method to the madness

Let’s get one thing out of the way – The Finals is an absolute blast to play, especially if you’re mic’d up with the rest of your squad. The fast-paced matches have been some of the most engaging I’ve had in an FPS for some time, with plenty of memorable clips already saved.

Extracting each Vault from its starting room and escorting it to a Cashout point feels like a mini heist, requiring sound tactics as well as quick-thinking when your plans inevitably blow up in your face. Being able to use Gadgets and each Contestants abilities to reshape the battleground on the fly opens the door for some bold plays and leads to some truly heart-pounding finales as you desperately wait to bank the money while everything literally crumbles around you.

Like nearly all shooters, The Finals really thrives when you can communicate with a willing team, as you’ll need to combine the skills of the different classes to beat the other teams to the punch. While they can take a few games to grasp, when you finally smash through a wall as a Heavy character to force an entry point for a Light teammate to wipe out a squad, it’s as satisfying as it is brutal.

But we know all too well that a fun hook and some early hype don’t guarantee longevity. For every success story, there are games like Splitgate that have a dedicated community, but soon die off as players start to look elsewhere.

Beginning to crumble

While The Finals is a ton of fun even in its beta form, there are some glaring issues that are hard to shake. The main one being that the game is a pretty miserable experience if you don’t have a squad of friends to join you.

As mentioned earlier, most games are more enjoyable with friends, but The Finals requires a level of communication, planning, and quick changes of course that the in-game ping system can’t make up for. In the many solo matches I played, I often found myself sprinting off with a Vault toward a Cashout station, only to find that my voiceless teammates were rushing toward a completely different point.

Even at this early stage of the game’s lifespan, matches are also extremely sweaty and unforgiving compared to other shooters. You’ll need a good mastery of the many different playstyles and strategies to have any hope of beating the already well-oiled teams that dominate most lobbies, who are quick to punish any wrong move.

You also can’t change your class mid-game to try and alter your team’s fortunes, only their equipment, so you’ll have to sit and suffer if your opponents start to clean up.

Game show needs an audience

This means The Finals doesn’t have the pick-up-and-play appeal that a game like Call of Duty has, and it might quickly turn away players who don’t want to be on the edge of their seats with clammy hands in every single match.

That’s not always a bad thing, as many shooters have made a name for themselves by being uncompromising and tactical. However, I also worry that The Finals is missing the precision and depth to become a real player on the competitive scene.

The gunplay doesn’t stack up well against the likes of Valorant, with serviceable but occasionally clunky weapons that don’t lend themselves to sharp fights. Meanwhile, the destruction is nowhere near as deliberate or strategic as something like Rainbow Six Seige.

With all this in mind, it’s tough to know where to place The Finals in the increasingly crowded FPS market, with XDefiant also on the way. It’s frantic but deceptively complicated moment-to-moment gameplay is a great time, especially if you have a team of friends to scream at among the chaos, and the destructible maps will no doubt make for hilarious clips once more streamers get involved.

But sweaty lobbies and some unforgiving design choices make it unlikely to appeal to the average player, while its less refined gameplay means it’s unlikely to trouble the big names on the more competitive side of the genre.

Of course, this is only the first Open Beta, so there’s plenty of time for Embark Studios to make changes and give this genuinely great game a clearer identity. I really do hope The Finals succeeds, but I fear there’s still plenty of work to be done before it lives up to its potential.