THE FINALS
Money shots
RELEASED OUT NOW! Reviewed on PS5
Also on PC, Xbox Series S|X
Publisher Embark Studios
An FPS where you’re taking part in a sinister, deadly game show is a great idea. Sadly this is less Squid Game, more damp squib game, with the only nods to that idea being some awful commentary over the action.
Luckily, the free-to-play shooter under this inane presentation more than makes up for it. It’s a multiplayer team game where kills don’t matter. This is all about looting money and banking it before someone shoots you down and steals it for themselves. The juiciest payouts are kept in vaults, spread around the map, visible to all, and happy to take their sweet time to open.
It’s a fun concept, boosted by how delightfully destructive it all is. Can’t see a quick route to the vault? Use grenades to make your own. Vault on the ceiling and you’re on the floor below? Take the roof out with an RPG and let the money come to you. It’s as joyfully unsubtle as you’d expect from former Battlefield devs.
Appropriately for a game about brazen heists, The Finals has taken a lot from other shooters. The penny-pinching is very Payday, and banking the score before you’re sniped very Titanfall 2. There’s some Overwatch and Apex Legends too, so it can feel like a greatest hits collection. Still, it’s nailed a fun core gameplay hook, with tons of potential to build something truly special. Abbie Stone
Graffiti reading “SR.!” is a nod to Embark Studios co-founder Rob Runesson, dubbed “Saint Rob” by Easter egg hunters.