THE FINALS’ new 8v8 mode feels right at home, even if it’s just Rush from Battlefield

THE FINALS Season 9 is right around the corner, and with it comes a new core mode, Point Break. It’s an 8v8 attack and defend mode that resembles Rush from the Battlefield series, which isn’t a big surprise, considering Embark Studios was founded by former DICE developers.

On Dec. 8, I got an early look at THE FINALS Season 9 content launching on Dec. 10, including the new Point Break mode. While the ruleset is almost identical to its counterpart from Battlefield, the mode fits right in, providing a more casual, yet objective-based experience.

If you’re unfamiliar with how this mode works, the map is divided into sectors where two teams of eight attack and defend vaults. Attackers have 30 revives and must destroy all objectives in a sector to advance to the next sector. Doing so also replenishes some revive tickets.

To destroy an objective, an attacker must come up and interact with the vault (similar to stealing a Cashout). This sets a timer during which the defenders must disarm it, or it’ll blow up. Defending team has unlimited revives, and the game ends when attackers clear all sectors or run out of revives.

Sector size depends on the map. On SYS$HORIZON, areas felt smaller, forcing constant gunfights, while on Monaco, there was more room to breathe. You can choose to play strategic, with the entire team clearing objectives one by one, and even having dedicated support players to save as many tickets as possible, or embrace the chaos.

Point Break is a great alternative to casual modes like Power Shift. It doesn’t put any pressure on you, but it still has that excitement of stealing the objective at the last second. Because the objective play is similar to Cashout, Point Break might also be the perfect place to experiment with loadouts, as you can switch weapons, gadgets, and Specializations as much as you’d like.

Apart from the new mode, the preview also showcased other features coming to THE FINALS in Season 9. This includes an expanded sponsor menu where you can switch between sponsors on the fly and the World Tour screen, which replaces the traditional game mode select menu. And, as always, the audio team is crushing it with the seasonal soundtrack.