Embark Studios’ latest season for THE FINALS is now live and lends a retro 80s theme to the proceedings. There’s a new map – SYS$HORIZON – and a new game show event in Retro Invasion 82. Players can also leverage a new Specialization, Dematerializer, which allows for materializing temporary holes, perfect for dropping Cashout Stations.
There’s even a bit of Portal-esque action with gadgets like Gateway, which allows for creating two “gateways” and traveling between them. Data Reshaper allows for converting equipment and objects your opponents hurl into something else (like explosive canisters). Meanwhile, the Reverse Gravity Cube creates an area of effect gravity field to lift almost everything.
New weapons include the FAMAS Burst Rifle for Medium builds, the 93R Burst Pistol for Light builds and the KS-23 Slug Shotgun for Heavies. Check out some of the balance changes below and full details here.
THE FINALS is free to play on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. You can read our review of the launch version here.
Update 2.0.0
Throwables, Explosives & “Nukes”
- Added diminishing returns on damage from ‘nukes’ i.e. throwable objects that carry C4s, Breach Charges, or mines
– For each source of explosive damage, including the throwable and starting with the highest, a damage modifier is applied to each instance in the sequence of 60% / 40% / 30% / 20% - Gas Canisters now immediately start to steer off their direct trajectory (aka “wobble”) when they have attachments
- When picking up throwable objects with explosive gadgets attached (i.e. ‘nukes’ and ‘snukes’), said explosives will become un-armed
– When the player lets go of the carried object, a re-arming timer for the explosives starts
The explosions from C4, Breaching Charges, and all mines that detonate while unprimed now deal 20% of their original damage - Decreased the health value of Propane Gas Tanks from 250 to 120
- Fixed a bug with Fuel Barrels where they sometimes wouldn’t ignite when taking damage, for example from explosions or bullets
– Dev Comment: Nukes were a hot-button issue in Season 1. The previous tuning made nukes exceed the intended time to kill by a large margin. Since our initial changes weren’t substantial enough to alter this tactic, we’ve added more ways to balance nukes moving forward.
Toxic Gas
- Added a delay to the application of damage. Damage will now start to tick 0.5s after the player enters the gas cloud
- Added new functionality that causes damage to ramp up gradually over time, from 30hp/s to 60 hp/s over 2s.
- Increased damage tick interval from 0.1s per tick to 0.3s per tick
– Dev Comment: We’ve always intended for Toxic Gas to act as an area denial tool. However, because of its immediate high damage and quick dispersal, it has been too potent. We’ve made changes to make Toxic Gas better fit the original intention.
Gadgets
C4
- Decreased ammo count from 2 to 1
- Decreased cooldown from 45s to 30s
- Decreased minimum damage at the edge of the explosion from 93 to 75
Defibrillator
- Added functionality that causes revived players to gradually re-materialize into the level over a period of 3s before fully loading back into the arena
- Increased charge-up time from 0.6s to 0.8s
- Increased starting health from a defibrillator revive from 40% to 50%
Dome Shield
- Decreased maximum duration from 20s to 12s
Jump Pad
- Increased cooldown from 25s to 30s
Motion Sensor
- Moved from the Light archetype to the Heavy
RPG
- Fixed an issue that made dispersion almost identical regardless of what state the player was in
- Increased projectile dispersion in all non-aiming states
- Reduced projectile dispersion when aiming down sights
- Increased zoom-in time from 0.2s to 0.4s
- Increased equip time from 0.45s to 0.5s
- Increased unequip time from 0.35s to 0.4s
Sonar Grenade
- Moved from the Medium archetype to the Light
Tracking Dart
- Moved from the Medium archetype to the Light
- Decreased dispersion in most movement states by 50%
- Increased accuracy by decreasing dart dispersion while aiming down sights from 30% to 10%
- Added force feedback for controllers
Vanishing Bomb
- Increased grace period on teammates from 0.75s to 1.25s
- Increased total cloaked duration on teammates from 6s to 7.5s
- Increased total cloaked duration on the user from 5s to 6s
Specializations
Recon Senses
- Removed for assessment
– Dev Note: we’ve concluded that Recon Senses have been detrimental to the game at large, and have decided to put it out of play for now. The specialization may return in some new form down the line, but only after a major rework.
Mesh Shield
- Increased cooldown on a fully depleted shield from 12s to 15s
- Increased starting health after full depletion from 200 to 250
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