On Nov. 28, I had the chance to play the latest build of THE FINALS featuring the new Las Vegas map and initial season one content. I got exactly what I expected—more of THE FINALS, but this time, set in the neon lights of Las Vegas.
I only got to play for two and a half hours, but it was enough to make me feel like I was about to waste all of my life’s savings in a casino and then blow it up in anger. And blowing up the casino is one of the things you can now do in THE FINALS, along with getting attacked by aliens and pulling off disappearing tricks in front of enemy players.
Viva Las Vegas
The new Las Vegas map is a big part of THE FINALS’ launch and season one. While it follows the general concept of the game’s other maps, it brings more than just the glam of Vegas to the table. As the developer told us during the playtest, Las Vegas is more about interiors and indoor fighting. There are buildings, but they are not as high as in Seoul, and most cashouts are in closed spaces. I’m more of a skyscraper fan, but for variety, this map is good enough.
Some of those cashouts are an absolute pain in the ass, though, not because they are indoors but because they have laser alarms and neutral turrets around them that shoot anyone in their vicinity. To deal with that, my team used a classic “drop the ATM down a floor” approach, which helped, but if there’s a reason for me to hate Las Vegas, it’s this.
Speaking of pains in the ass, as with other maps, Las Vegas has its own environmental variations, namely the sandstorm version. During the sandstorm, Las Vegas has decreased visibility and different terrain, with buildings and streets covered in sand. I can’t say this affected our team much because we weren’t familiar with the map in the first place, but visibility is certainly something to consider when repositioning and picking fights.
This all plays into the “wackiness and glitz of Las Vegas” the developer told us it’s aiming for in THE FINALS’ first season. But the chaos of the Las Vegas map is truly captured by its unique late-game event—Alien Invasion. A fleet of UFOs begins to hover in the air, shooting contestants and lifting objects into the air. My only disappointment is they don’t lift players, which could’ve been a fun feature.
Maximum destruction
In terms of gameplay, not much has changed since the open playtest at the beginning of November. Weapons feel mostly the same, although, to be honest, I mostly used the V9S pistol on a Light build. But I think it’s a solid enough indicator, as it was considered one of the best weapons in the game during the beta. And yes, the SA1216 on the Heavy can still absolutely shred. One developer wiped our entire team with it and didn’t even flinch.
Season one does add a few new items, however, namely the Vanishing Bomb and Throwing Knives for the Light build. Vanishing Bomb is like a smoke bomb that makes you and your team invisible, so it can come in pretty handy if you are not using the Cloaking Device as a Light build. I’m not entirely sure if it affects enemies, too.
The Throwing Knives are… weird. They deal good damage but are projectiles with a trajectory falloff and a set flying time. With how dynamic THE FINALS is, it was hard for me to be precise with these knives unless I was really close to the enemy.
In addition to these new items, the devs have implemented a few quality-of-life features. My personal favorites are the color-themed team outlines and cashout indicators. They make it easier to understand who you are fighting and who is cashing out/stealing the money. Previously, you could fight multiple people at once and not even know they were from different teams, so it’s an improvement for sure.
All in all, THE FINALS season one is more of the chaos and destruction we loved in the open playtest, but with a feel of freshness thanks to the glitz and wackiness of Las Vegas. The game looks and feels good, all that’s left is to see where it will take players moving forward. The devs mentioned season one will have several events, I’m just hoping they’re all as bizarre as the Alien Invasions.
