It’s Nineteen Seventies. The disco is glowing, the group is roaring, and essentially the most spectacular televised competitors on the planet is about to start.
Welcome to Final Flag, a zany shooter recreation from Evening Road Video games, an indie recreation studio cofounded by Mac and Dan Reynolds (the brothers behind the music band Think about Dragons — Dan is the lead singer and Mac is the supervisor). It’s a recreation the place fame, fortune, and your flag are all up for grabs. And, sure, there will likely be Think about Dragons music.
Two groups. Two hidden flags. One shot at immortality. I performed the sport and I appreciated the considering that went into the choices the crew made concerning the design. The sport has been within the works for a few years, and it’s clearly a labor of affection. It’s not simply a few music artists making an attempt their arms at gaming. This can be a lot extra bold than that.
Within the recreation, you could have 5 human gamers combating towards 5 opposing people. It’s a must to stash your flag on the map. You then exit and discover the enemy’s flag. You run it again to your base after which need to defend your base for a hard and fast period of time. For those who outlast the defenders as they attempt to cease you, you then win the match.
“It originated from Dan and I being within the Boy Scouts and taking part in seize the flag within the woods at evening, and having that sort of quintessential childhood expertise, and fascinated by all of the sort of CTF recreation modes over time,” stated Mac Reynolds, CEO of Evening Road Video games, in an interview with GamesBeat. “We realized there was a core lacking part. In these video games, which was hiding and discovering the flag. And so we needed to make a pure Seize the Flag the place you could have that flexibility and freedom to make each recreation completely different by hiding a flag wherever you need ,” Mac Reynolds stated. “You might wish to conceal it in a spot that’s dangerous however maybe simpler to defend. It adjustments the playfield each time you play.”
As the sport’s description goes, it sounds lots just like the humor of The Finals. The outline says, “The world is watching, so don’t overlook to do it with fashion. This isn’t struggle. That is showbiz.”
I’ve talked to Mac Reynolds, founding father of the studio and supervisor of Think about Dragons, concerning the recreation for months. I additionally performed the sport and loved it in its pre-alpha mode. Final Flag is a 5v5 crew shooter constructed to deliver seize the flag (CTF) to heart stage. It’s quick, it’s enjoyable, and delivers 20 minutes or much less of continuous chaos, clutch comebacks, and buzzer-beating performs, Mac Reynolds stated.
It’s not a quiet and stealthy recreation like lots of capture-the-flag video games are. As I famous, that is zany.
“You don’t get eradicated. You get vacuum-tubed off the set and reappear within the inexperienced room, able to FWOOMP your self again to a radar tower you management—or straight to your base, the sport description says.
I performed on an Xbox controller, however a few of the capabilities weren’t completed but. The console controls will debut after they’re prepared, stated Mac Reynolds.
“Once I was in third grade, my ‘what do you wish to be while you develop up’ reply was ‘run a online game studio.’ Oddly particular, however I assume I actually meant it,” stated Mac Reynolds. “Dan and I grew up taking part in seize the flag within the woods at evening with flashlights, associates, and many adrenaline. Final Flag is our try to honor the purity and magic of that conceal and search expertise—dropped at life by the unbelievable crew of builders we’re fortunate sufficient to face beside.”
Set in a funk-blasted Nineteen Seventies-inspired universe, Final Flag transforms gamers into Contestants on the world’s most-watched recreation present—hosted by the mysterious media mogul Victor Fex.
When the cameras begin rolling, gamers leap into an outside enviornment to cover their crew’s flag, then scramble to disclose the enemy’s location by controlling radar towers and scouring the map’s multitude of hidden nooks and crannies.
Seize the Flag is the principle occasion
Seize the flag. Haul it dwelling. Defend it for one minute to win it. Whether or not you’re celebrating your victory or vibing to the sleek sounds of defeat, you may at all times select to run it again.
Constructed from the bottom up for Seize the Flag. Each mechanic—from sneaky flag placement to radar tower intel—is designed to create strategic rigidity, dramatic reversals, and last-second heroics.
There are 10 contestants and 10 massive personalities that remind me of a few of the characters of Apex Legends. From Masako, the heavy metallic archer who screams as loud as she strikes, to Parker, the speedy scout and his trusty cybernetic falcon, each contestant brings a definite vibe, playstyle, and dramatic aptitude.
Whether or not you’re stealing flags as Soo-Jin, the stealthy grasp thief, or locking enemies down with Julius Reeves’ Jail Cell—you may dig it—this crew was constructed to steal the present.
Themed Maps Set the Stage for Epic Motion
Every colourful out of doors map was constructed to encourage exploration, thrilling crew fights, and gives loads of out-of-the-way hiding spots for concealing the flag. However it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in Final Flag . . . there could also be greater than meets the attention.
The sport has an unique soundtrack by Dan Reynolds and Mates. It has fuzzy guitars, analog synths, and legit Nineteen Seventies studio magic, crafted with actual classic gear by Dan, Grammy-nominated producer/author JT Daly (Benson Boone, Ok.Flay, Bully), and Evening Road Video games’ personal soundsmith Dave Lowmiller (Name of Obligation: Fashionable Warfare, Battlefield, Useless House).
The sport is casually aggressive. No strain. This isn’t a sweaty tactical shooter. It’s tight, quick, and enjoyable gameplay that’s straightforward to leap into and onerous to place down. Every part is included at launch, with one reasonably priced value. All of the enjoyable. Zero pay-to-win.
Final Flag is launching in 2026 on Home windows PC through Steam and the Epic Video games Retailer. Console platforms are within the works. Enroll now at LastFlag.com for a shot at turning into the subsequent contestant within the alpha playtest launching later this yr.
Evening Road Video games is an impartial recreation studio co-founded by Mac Reynolds (supervisor of Think about Dragons) and his brother Dan (the lead singer), targeted on constructing multiplayer video games crafted with coronary heart. Evening Road’s gifted crew of builders from all over the world are working collectively on Final Flag—a fun-first third-person shooter that goals to ship the last word seize the flag expertise.
The fundamentals
I downloaded the sport from Steam and fired it up. I joined the devs and playtesters in a Seize the Flag map. The massive image is, discover the enemy flag, deliver it to your property base, and defend it to win.
Within the preliminary a part of the sport, each groups take time to cover their flags. When the sport begins, you can begin taking up radar towers on the map. If you achieve this, it eliminates an space the place the flag is likely to be and helps you zero in on the situation. Preventing for these radar towers jogged my memory of Domination mode in Name of Obligation, the place groups get in pitched battles over the situation takeovers.
“There’s lots of methods you may contribute to your crew,” Mac Reynolds stated. “You may conceal the flag. You may defend it. You may be on the lookout for the enemy flag, assaulting the bottom. There’s a payload escort, the place you assist take the flag again to your property base.
You may maintain the F1 key while you’re taking part in at any cut-off date, if you wish to get a peek at what your talents are and what the upgrades do. Selecting your character is essential. You may play with an assault rifle, an extended scout rifle, or long-range archer bow-and-arrow. A teleport gun can transport an enemy to a different a part of the map.
You may swap characters for those who like, even throughout a match. There are humorous characters or weapons like proximity mines and electrified bullets.
The weapons engineer additionally has this capability the place you may teleport any individual or factor. For those who see an enemy working round you may mark it in your sniper to shoot. The matches final round quarter-hour. The crew has been playtesting for some time, and it needs gamers to join alpha testing.
Mac Reynolds guarantees that music will likely be a part of the Final Flag expertise, the place music helps you’re feeling immersed.
“We attempt to take that philosophy from the music into all the opposite sounds. We actually need each sound you hear to be a chance for a second of pleasure, a second of happiness,” Mac Reynolds stated.
So far as time to kill, an assault rifle does lots of harm, however the time to kill is longer in comparison with one thing like Name of Obligation. The fights can last more and it is very important hunt in packs. You also needs to use ultimates and different particular weapons to show the tide in a firefight. As soon as somebody grabs the flag, the strain goes proper up and gamers scramble to cease the flag from getting again to the enemy’s base.
“We attempt to make it so completely different heroes thrive elsewhere. So for those who study to make use of the weapon in the precise conditions, you’ll thrive ,” Mac Reynolds stated. “So if I’m the bounty hunter, I’ve bought to get in shut quarters.”
When you wish to get to know the contestants, Mac Reynolds stated, “We’re very cautious to not add too many mechanics, too many issues that may make the sport slightly bit overwhelming or make it onerous to, come again.”
He added, “This recreation has much more fight, numerous capturing, respawning, coming again, all that Name of Obligation angle. However then any person takes the flag, and now there’s an enormous rigidity spike as you’re making an attempt to chase the individual with the flag, making an attempt to get them down. Oh, you downed them. You’ve returned the flag. And now sort of the strain sort of resets.”
