The Finals Season 10 is here, and it's got a medieval theme—well, technically it’s fantasy! This season is packed with new content: a new map, a new weapon, a new gadget, a new specialization, and a bunch of tweaks and changes. Let's dig into the content heap, shall we?
Let's start with the new weapon, special, and gadget, all of which are going to the Medium class. Added to the medium’s arsenal is the Chimera XP, a crossbow that features a quick fire rate, tight accuracy, very little recoil, and a strong hipfire game. It’s a demon at midrange, plinking enemies down rather quickly. At roughly 20 meters, it kills Lights in 2 headshots, 1 bodyshot; Mediums in 4 headshots; and Heavies in 5 headshots, 1 bodyshot.
Now let's move on to the new special for Medium, the Shockwave. As the name implies, the Shockwave sends out a small projectile that detonates on impact, pushing enemies and equipment away, or giving the user a small boost to their jump. I think it might do damage as well, but it might be coincidental that enemies were taking damage while I was hitting them with the Shockwave. It really fits perfectly into the Medium’s jack-of-all-trades kit. While the concept is simple, the possibilities are broad. Is someone taking the cashout or arming the objective? Blast ‘em. Are there mines standing between you and where you want to go? Blast ‘em. Is an enemy simply moving from point A to point B? Blast ‘em. It’s satisfying to blast away your problems, and while it might not have as much pure utility as the Demateralizer, Healing Beam, or Turret, it’s more dynamic and certainly feels fun to use.
Then there’s the new gadget, the hover pad. It’s a platform that hovers in the air. It’s fine.
The new map, Starlight Hollow, is good. The map has two compatible modes, Point Break and Deathmatch, and for the first three weeks of the season there will be a dedicated Point Break queue. Starlight Hollow has both day and night presets. The GamingTrend team played Starlight Hollow exclusively on Point Break (night preset) for three or four rounds. Attackers will find themselves pushing through three sets of medieval villages with the objectives rather close to each other in separate buildings. Defenders have strong, elevated positions, as well as direct line of sight on the objectives and the attacker spawn area, but the chaos and dark atmosphere of the forested map give attackers plenty of opportunities to sneak in from unexpected angles and quickly arm. It definitely felt different from Point Break’s gameplay tempo on other maps. The villages the objectives are stationed in feel a little samey, though, which is a bit disappointing considering the season’s fantasy theme. Sure, the massive fantasy castle in the backdrop is cool, but breaching said castle to arm an objective would have been cooler.
The Finals Season 10 comes with a lot of buffs, nerfs, and changes. For example, the aforementioned Point Break mode now gives attackers more lives per objective destroyed rather than per sector cleared, thus rewarding objective play and keeping the match going. For weapons changes; the AKM and Minigun now have more ammo, the FCAR’s fire rate got buffed, the PIKE has “smoother” recoil, the M26 now has tighter pellet dispersion, and the SH1900 has traded some damage for better accuracy. As for specializations and gadgets: the lockbolt and sonar now have shorter cooldown, the data reshaper can reshape dome shields, and you can sprint and place gadgets at the same time. The ping system has been updated as well, making it more responsive and easier to give callouts.
There are also some changes to ranked play as well, with ranked tournaments being fairer. Disconnecting players can now avoid penalties if they reconnect and their team wins the game. In addition, restrictions have been added for groups, placing limits on how far apart teammates can be in skill level.
This season also brings a few tools for players new and experienced alike to improve and track their progress. Embark has added The Finals Academy, which explains how The Finals works with its plethora of unique mechanics. New players can get a feel for team and objective play, two vital elements of the game that seem to be the biggest barrier to entry for new players in my opinion. Players can also expect to see gameplay tips during loading screens, as well as MVP and personal summaries at the ends of matches, the latter of which details personal bests.
With a new season comes a new battle pass, and this time around it’s telling a story with its pages. There seems to be an underlying motif of aethereal green flames. Among the Ultimate cosmetics in the pass, there are 5 Mythics and 7 Legendaries (plus 1 Epic and Legendary on the bonus pages). Keep in mind those are just the Ultimates, there’s bound to be plenty more of each rarity type scattered throughout the pass, with 118 rewards in total.
