The Finals mid-season update adds new solo event with a dazzling reward up for grabs

Console Games, eSports

Embark Studios has unveiled a new mid-season update for The Finals, bringing a limited-time seasonal event to the free-to-play squad-based shooter. Since its surprise release in December, the game has been receiving regular updates to address balance issues and introduce new content such as the Solo Bank It mode.

With the release of update 1.6.0, players can now participate in a new solo event called Steal the Spotlight, which transforms the in-game arena into a nighttime setting with added risks.

According to Embark Studios, “In this solo event, you enter the arena at night with a set build and loadout. Lights are out and cashout stations are guarded by turrets and tripwires, and the best path might just be the one you make yourself – so keep that RPG handy.”

Playing Steal the Spotlight this week will also unlock a “dazzling” cosmetic bundle for players. However, it’s worth noting that with the addition of this event, the temporary Solo Bank It mode has been removed with no indication of when it will return.

Embark Studios expressed gratitude to the players who participated in the experimental mode and provided feedback, and promised to bring more experimental modes in the future.

The update also brings significant changes to Recon Senses, which will no longer have infinite sight and will notify the player if they’re spotted. The full patch notes are available below.

The Finals version 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

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

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

For more, read our list of the best FPS games as well as the best co-op games available right now.