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Initially, The Finals Developers Had No Intention Of Creating A Shooter Game

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Creating One of the Most Unconventional Shooters Revolved Around Giving ‘Control in the Hands of the Player

The Finals from Embark Studios has made a big impression for a new free-to-play shooter. During its first week, it attracted over 225,000 players on Steam alone, and it has retained a sizable number of players in the weeks since. It’s a fast-paced and complex shooter that’s all about ripping down maps to become the number one, but it was almost passed over by the development team.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, just prior to the revelation of The Finals’ secret release at The Game Awards 2023, creative director Gustav Tilleby discussed the early phases of Embark Studios’ debut game and how they initially believed making another shooter would be a “boring” concept. However, having a team of ex-Battlefield programmers create a new style of multiplayer shooter that uses environmental damage turns out to be a fairly solid game.

“To begin with, we [initially] weren’t going to make a shooter. I don’t think that was really something that was spoken out loud; it was something everybody assumed, like, ‘no, we shouldn’t do that,’ Because we did it before,” while reflecting on Embark Studios’ debut game, stated the creative director.

The Finals is first and foremost  a shooter.

“We actually had game jams and stuff pretty regularly from work early on, where everybody pitched ideas and stuff. I pitched some ideas, including the ‘boring idea one’ and the ‘boring idea two,’ and those were both shooters,” said Tilleby. “I call them that because I didn’t think anyone would be interested in making them anyway. So, we just talked about that and said, ‘Maybe we should give it a go.’ A few of us sat down and said that if we’re going to do it, it needs to be unique; it needs to be something that no one else is doing. So that was the starting point for the whole pitching process.”

The Finals is thrilling to play because it combines fast-paced team battles with massive environmental destruction. As you and your team tear through the battlefield, blowing holes in walls, leveling buildings, and destroying bridges that enemies prefer to utilize, the level you begin on will not be the same level where the match ends.

The impact of the Battlefield series and its focus on environmental damage is very obvious throughout The Finals, with the core developers having worked on most recent Battlefield games at EA Dice – and this provides the game such a hook for its multiplayer battles. It feels like a game created for the Twitch streaming age, with its high-energy style and simple pick-up-and-play action. So far, it has maintained consistent streaming figures.

However, it took some time for the creators at Embark Studios to establish the foundation of the game. As Tilleby stated in the interview, the game needed to place a strong emphasis on player agency and providing them with the tools to overcome the odds on their own terms.

 “Personally, I love systemic games, where you put the control in the hands of the player, and they can figure out how to solve whatever problems they need to solve. How does that [aspect] create these unique player stories that are yours because you did them, right? I think that’s powerful,” said the creative director. “It’s providing players with a sandbox where they can be creative, experiment, and develop their own ways to play. So that was like the guiding star, which led to a long period of prototyping, play testing, and trying to figure out how to make that formula work in practice.”

So far, the creators at Embark Studios have decided to play it safe with The Finals, even refusing to follow the traditional developer roadmap, stating that they only want to “make promises we can keep.” The developers are keeping cheaters off the servers and working on fresh material for forthcoming seasons, and so far, it appears that The Finals will maintain its momentum.