The surprise launch of THE FINALS means everyone can jump in and experience season one right now. But what comes after this first season? To answer this, the development team shared how they plan to approach the development of THE FINALS in the long term.
During the closed preview on Nov. 29, the developers from Embark Studios said they couldn’t provide a detailed roadmap for THE FINALS despite how much they wanted to. For them, the priority is making sure the game runs great, is fair, and well-balanced over releasing new content. This means that sometimes fixing issues or bugs will put new material on the back burner.
The devs explained it’s because with live service games, things can quickly change and they want to make promises they can keep yet still keep things fresh. “Live [service] games are meant to evolve and we will always pay close attention to player feedback as we settle into a rhythm that works for our community and us,” the team from Embark said during the presentation.
Season one of THE FINALS went live along with the game itself on Dec. 7 and is themed around Las Vegas. From slot machines to UFOs and Las Vegas brides, everything you can think of when mentioning Las Vegas is there. The big addition to the game is the new Las Vegas map that “offers large interconnected interiors and encourages tight team play and makes the destruction more dynamic,” according to the developers, it also has a few not-so hidden surprises at the cashouts.
Along with the new map, there’s a new gadget available for the Light build—the Vanishing Bomb. With it, you and your teammates can pull off some Assassin’s Creed style disappearances during the game and recover from an unfavorable fight. To get into the mood of Las Vegas, there’s a 96-tier battle pass with lots of rewards, from ballerina skins to emotes, sprays, and newly introduced weapon animations.
Throughout season one the game will also host several events, that’ll “challenge [players] with new ways to play THE FINALS and they will come with additional content outside of the battle pass like new skins.” More details on these events will come later as we play and make our way through the season.
