The Finals launches the mid-season update 1.6.0 which adds a ton of improvements and bug fixes as well as a brand new event called Steal the Spotlight. Season 1 is now at the halfway mark and through the first month and a half since The Finals officially launched during The Game Awards 2023, the live service game has seen plenty of ups and downs. Initially, The Finals broke plenty of player records for Embark Studios, bugs and other issues have cropped up at various times to impact matches.

However, Embark Studios has continued to keep the game updated both with fixes, weapon balancing, as well as content. During Season 1, The Finals saw its first limited time game mode called Solo Bank It, which put a twist on the traditional game mode by pitting 12 solo players against one another instead of working together in teams. It seems these limited time game modes, which aim to mix up the standard ways to play, will be a core feature going forward as Embark Studios has released its next gameplay twist alongside the latest update for The Finals.

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The Finals Update Nerfs Popular Weapons and Makes Big Change to Matchmaking

Embark Studios latest update for The Finals nerfs popular gear options as well as making big improvements to matchmaking and crossplay.

Through a new post, Embark Studios has revealed that Update 1.6.0 is now available for all players of The Finals. For many, the biggest piece of this update is that Solo Bank It is being replaced by a brand new game mode called Steal the Spotlight. The mode takes The Finals Season 1 Las Vegas map and turns off the lights, and added tripwires as well as turrets to guard the cashout machines. Solo players will have premade loadouts so they'll need to be creative to not only beat the traps, but other players attempting to win. Better yet, this game mode offers cosmetic rewards, which Embark refers to as a "dazzling cosmetic bundle."

Alongside Steal the Spotlight, Update 1.6.0 features a wealth of balance changes to each of the three maps as well as gadgets like the Vanishing Bomb, Dome Shield, and Zipline. After becoming a highly popular addition to loadouts, Recon Senses have also been adjusted so that they no longer have infinite sight as the range has a hard cap, and players that are detected by it are now notified. Embark Studios has also done a massive bug sweep with this update, fixing issues across nearly every aspect of the game, as well as further improvements to the game's UI, VFX, and other settings. Finally, the update has added 10 additional levels to The Finals' career rank rewards, giving players more stuff to earn as they play.

Fresh content could be a big boost, as recent reports indicated that the player base for The Finals has steadily dropped since it seemingly peaked in December. While player numbers aren't available on console, fans noticed that the Steam version has seen nearly an 80% drop from over 242, 000 players to just over 51,000. While Embark continues to keep the game updated, there is concern from the community regarding the longevity of The Finals, especially as newer anticipated games start to become available as 2024 continues on.

The FInals Update 1.6.0 Patch Notes

Balance Changes

• Gadgets
  • Dome Shield
    • Dome Shields will now use squad colors if the ‘Use Enemy Squad Colors’ setting is enabled

  • Vanishing Bomb
    • Increased the invisibility interrupt grace period for teammates from 0.65s to 0.8s (+)
    • Increased the invisibility interrupt grace period for the player from 0s to 0.35s (+)
    • Increased the duration of Vanishing Bomb invisibility on teammates from 5s to 6s (+)

  • Zipline
    • Improved placement validation for ziplines, making them easier to deploy

• Maps
  • Las Vegas
    • General
      • Added some cover to the side of kitchen trolleys to make them easier to use
      • Replaced the zipline between Eastwood and Decora with a jump pad
      • Moved various cover pieces to avoid gaps in cover
      • Moved various chairs to make traversal easier
      • Removed Turrets & Tripwires map variant in Quick Cash, Bank It, Tournament, and Ranked Tournament modes while we fix various bugs and re-evaluate the gameplay design

    • Argon Casino
      • Removed some of the monitors in the casino so some doors are easier to see
      • Added an extra door to make traversal easier
      • Updated some Vault spawn locations and added cover to some of them

    • Eastwood Casino
      • Updated exit points on various ziplines to make it easier to access rooftops
      • Added decals to some windows to make the glass more visible
      • Rearranged the aircon units to create more cover on the roof
      • Adjusted the position of some cashout locations

    • Glamora Casino
      • Removed some chairs so it's easier to jump in and out of cashier booths
      • Removed some chairs and railings in the theatre to make traversal easier
      • Various other small fixes and balance tweaks

• Specializations
  • Mesh Shield
    • The Mesh Shield will now use squad colors if the ‘Use Enemy Squad Colors’ setting is enabled

  • Recon Senses
    • Added a range limit to Recon Senses set to 30m. Players outside of this range will not be detected
    • Players detected by Recon Senses will now see ‘Detected’ warning text on their HUD Dev Note: Recon Senses have become much more common in the meta than we intended and can cause confusion for some newer players. The reduction in range and the warning given to detected players will bring the ability’s power back in line with other Specializations

Content And Bug Fixes

• Animation
  • Fixed some small issues with the LH1 reload and Goo Gun inspect animations
  • Updated reload animations when aiming down sights to add slightly more movement to them

• Audio
  • Updated footstep audio and mix for the player, teammates, and enemies
    • Dev note: It should now be clearer for players to tell friendly players apart from enemies and their own footsteps

  • Fixed an issue where the spawn sound effect could be cut off when respawning
  • Updated various VO lines
  • Various VO bug fixes

• Career Rank
  • Added 10 more levels to the Career Rank along with additional rewards. Max rank is now 50.

• Characters
  • Fixed an issue where characters could have their legs bent backward on some screens

• Controller
  • Added Gyro aiming options for PS5 DualSense and PS4 DualShock controllers
  • Fixed an issue with aim assistance sensitivity reduction that caused almost no sensitivity reduction to be applied to targets closer to the player than 20m
  • Reduced input latency on PS5

• Emotes
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the player emoting while crouched

• Gadgets
  • Defibrillators
    • Fixed an issue where player statues could not be targeted for revives when lying in foliage
    • Fixed an issue where player statues could not be targeted for revives when carried

  • Fixed various issues with placement distances on deployable Gadgets
  • Fixed an issue where turret parts could collide with each other, causing strange behavior when placed on barrels

• Game Modes
  • General
    • Added ‘Steal the Spotlight’ event mode
    • Added the ability for players to customize their contestant Loadout for all Weapons, Gadgets, and Specializations during the match lobby at the start of each match in all game modes

  • Ranked Tournament
    • Lowered the number of rounds required to play Ranked Tournament from 60 to 45 (-) Dev note: With the improvements we’ve made to fair play and banning, the threshold required to enter Ranked Tournaments doesn’t need to be quite so high.

  • Solo Bank It
    • Disabled the experimental Solo Bank It mode

• Maps
  • Monaco
    • Made night and night storm weather conditions slightly less dark on Monaco for OLEDs
    • Tweaked LOD settings on some trees in Monaco to reduce popping on low settings

• Movement
  • Fixed an issue where players could become stuck in encroached spaces
  • Fixed an issue where players would fail wall jumps if they pressed and held jump too early in a vault sequence
  • Fixed an issue where the player would cancel a slide if aiming down sights was triggered from toggled crouch

• Security
  • Made various improvements to security and cheat detection

• Settings
  • Increased default FOV from 71 to 81 (new installations only)

• UI
  • Added Career Rank screen where players can see rewards earned by gaining rank
  • Added new tournament overview screen to tournament modes
  • Added additional item tutorial videos for the following items:
    • APS Turret
    • Gas Grenade
    • Glitch Grenade
    • Glitch Trap
    • Goo Gun
    • Motion Sensor
    • Pyro Grenade
    • Smoke Grenade
    • Sonar Grenade
    • Thermal Vision

  • Added new Event Contracts to the Contracts screen
  • Updated the size of ranked icons
  • Fixed wrapping issues on Contracts during the end-of-round sequence
  • Decreased duration of Vault objective markers on round start
  • Made various improvements to contextual ping accuracy, making them more accurate
  • Various bug fixes to the UI

• VFX
  • Added new impact effects when friendly players shoot each other, instead of the coin effects, as this could cause confusion for players
  • Updated collision on coin death effects to reduce the number of coins that can fall through floors
  • Various polish improvements to coin death effects
  • Optimization pass on the gas canister explosion effects

• Weapons
  • Increased the size of various grenade projectiles, to make them easier to see in combat
  • Fixed some issues where AoE damage could be wrongly invalidated, causing no damage to be done
  • Fixed an exploit where melee weapons could be swung faster than intended
  • Fixed an issue that prevented C4 and Mines from being picked up when placed on a throwable object that had been picked up

The Finals

Framed as a game show, The Finals is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter that also supports melee combat. Embark's FPS emphasizes destruction along with teamwork.

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

December 8, 2023

Developer(s)

Embark Studios

Genre(s)

FPS

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Violence

See at Playstation Store