The Finals the breakout free-to-play, first person shooter from Embark Studios has been enjoying a veritable run among the giants of the genre. They have recently announced season 5 of The Finals on their patch notes section, detailing the release date which is December 12th and what’s to come in it.
Of Course There’s A New Map
When The Finals started off from its beta stage to 1.0 there were 3 maps from different cities of the world such as Monaco, Seoul and Las Vegas while Skyway stadium is a completely custom map. For season 5 the new city we get to see Embark’s rendition of is in Mexico.
The map features the awe inspiring Peña de Bernal, one of the tallest mountains in the world as the backdrop to Embark Studio’s rendition of the town near it which is called San Sebastian Bernal. The map features narrow cobbled streets that open up wide along with multiple buildings with vantage points for those who enjoy sniping.
At the same time the buildings are extremely closely packed similar to Monaco allowing players to traverse the map by going along the roofs and not needing to touch the ground at all. It will be exciting to see how the map will change in regards to Powershift or how it will long at night.
New Weapons And Gadgets
In season 4, the Heavy class had gotten much love with the dual .50 caliber pistols which can almost instantly delete any Medium or Light class that comes across it. The love is still continuing as this time the Heavy class will receive an assault rifle called the ShAK-50 which fires two bullets per shot and under the right hands can hold down a multitude of passageways with ease.
The Heavy class is also receiving another gadget called the Lockbolt Launcher that can be used to anchor down up to 3 people in a certain area, they will still be able to move but it seems that they can only move around a short distance for a limited duration.
The Light class has received an interesting gadget that may seem not all that useful but if used in the right moment can help deny steals or cashboxes. It is functionally similar to how the Light class uses a C4, we can place the gadget where we want and then activate whenever. When it does get activated it starts to pull all surrounding objects in, including players.
The Mediums can rejoice as they have also received an quirky gun to say the least, it is a 3 barrel shotgun called the Cerberus 12GA, while the damage isn’t as high as the Model 1887 shotgun it is still enough to handle encounters with multiple classes of enemies with ease. The gun can also inflict some fire damage although it is not yet clear how much burn gets applied.
New Sponsors And Clubs
Other than introducing guns and gadgets for the players, season 5 also introduces a social system similar to Call of Duty’s Clan system, unimaginably named “Clubs”, players can join clubs, allowing them to connect with more players and compete but players belonging to the same club can play together to earn bonus XP.
Clubs also can help players stay informed about the latest activities that the majority of players are playing in or they can join the club chat to plan out activities themselves. This is a great feature to add as it’ll incentivize players to band together and increase social interaction.
The patch notes also revealed the sponsors we will be getting to choose from this time around which are Iseul-T a returning sponsor, Vaiya who were introduced at the start of season 3 along with the final sponsor, Dissun. Just like with season 4’s sponsor system, we will surely get exclusive skins and clothes specific to the sponsor that we’ll have to choose from the start of the new season.
A Bright Future Is Ahead
It seems they are keen to welcome even more players as the game will soon be available on Playstation 4 also, allowing those who still own the aging system to join in The Finals also. There will also be limited timed events for the holiday season which will also feature exclusive rewards for those who can complete the objectives.
Embark Studios have shown other companies how to maintain and keep the player interested in a free to play, multiplayer title through consistent updates and content drops. With each season players have gotten new weapons, skins and gamemodes to try out and master, leading to a greater number of players per season and greater retention.
This season is sure to be enjoyable for all types of players whether they are completely new to the game or have been playing since season 1. With the changes in tactical gameplay that will be introduced it is surely going to ask the players to adjust their gameplay accordingly to keep it interesting and enjoyable for everyone.
