They say that love is like a chemical explosion – something The Finals developer Embark Studios is looking to eradicate from the hit FPS once and for all with fresh nerfs to its pesky nukes in update 1.8.0. Aside from the PS5 and Xbox game’s brand new love-fuelled event, this is easily the best thing we could’ve wished for this Valentine’s Day.
“This update introduces some changes for ‘nukes and snukes’,” the patch notes read. “Red canisters will now have the physics to make overloaded cans drop faster and take less predictable pathways. We’ve also removed the accidental double explosion and stacking damage from barrels with attachments.”
This is amazing news for anyone who’s had to put up with the constant onslaught of heavy explosives leaving them bankrupt – both in-game and in terms of mental. What should be one of the best FPS games has been less shooting, and more kabooming over the past month, much to our frustration.
Conversely, seeing nukes gutted does leave a sour taste. The creativity of nukes is something that should be championed, as with any player-led discovery that organically affects how the game is played. Unfortunately, it seems that these were an evil that needed to be defeated as their use case increased dramatically throughout the playerbase.
Fortunately, Embark has brought in a new event to soothe the broken hearts of nuke enjoyers everywhere. In return for completing event-exclusive contracts, six Valentine’s Day-themed rewards can be earned. These range from a zip-up cat hoodie (this writer’s personal favorite), to a hearty headband bopper, to a cracked egg gun buddy that will love you despite your flaws. Act fast, though, as the event ends on February 21.
Aside from the nuke nerf and Valentine’s swag, there are several other bug fixes and improvements being made in this update, including “reduced input latency on Xbox Series X|S”, which is great news for Xbox players. To see the full suite of changes, you can read the official patch notes here.
For more of the latest PS5 and Xbox news, check out this iconic Tomb Raider bug that’s persisted through to the new remasters. While you’re here, take a look at this cryptic Sea of Thieves post that hints at the rumored PS5 version.