Level 1 - The Commence

Level 1 - The Commence
Start	September 5, 2022
End	September 16, 2022
Solution(s)	reachthefinals.com/geocache
Next	Level 2

Level 1 - The Commence was the first and introductory level of THE FINALS Easter Egg Hunt. It started on September 5, 2022 and ended on September 16, 2022, leading into Level 2 - The Promise. The primary theme of the level was geocaching.

History

On September 5, 2022 Embark Studios posted the image "THE_FINALS_Concept_002_Slash" along with the captionː "New concept art..ǃ.ǃǃǃǃ". Converting the punctuation from binary, assuming the periods are 0s and the exclamation marks are 1s, revealed the "/" character. Upon further examination of the image, binary strings were discovered in the upper right and lower right quadrants. These strings converted to "DEVON" in the upper right, and "CROSSING" in the lower right. With these two pieces of information in hand, it was discovered that going to reachthefinals.com/devoncrossing led to a page with a large red X on it.

On September 8, a new image was posted to the #game-announcements channel in the official THE FINALS Discord server named "THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Statues_001_1920x1080". It depicted small figurines, or Revive Statues, of the Light, Medium, and Heavy Builds. Examining the image revealed a series of numbers: "49 53, 54 52, 48 50, 49 53". When these were cross referenced with an ASCII table they gave the date "1564/02/15". This is Galileo Galilei's birthdate, but as of then its relevance was not confirmed.

On September 9, the image "THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_HappyStatues_002" was posted. This time it was small Nama Tama figures of the Light, Medium, and Heavy Builds. Once again examining the image led to another set of numbers: "56 54 48 49". When referenced with an ASCII table they gave "8601", referencing ISO-8601, a standard code for date formatting, thus confirming the previous reference to Galileo's birthdate. Going to reachthefinals.com/galileo led to a page with the same red X on it.

On September 13, the image "THE_FINALS_Concept_BarrelsBarrelsBarrels_1920x1080" was posted to Embark Studios' Twitter with the caption "If it isn't more concept art? 🔍🕵️‍♀️". It depicted a Shinobi vaulting over a character in military gear with a few barrels behind them. Closer examination of the image revealed two potential cluesː On one of the barrels was the string "002f" which is Unicode for the "/" (slash) character, and the character in military gear was carrying a can of "OSPUZE OG Beans" on his back; although, the meaning of the can was not discovered until later.

On September 14, Dusty sent the following message in the #easter-eggs Discord channel:

“Hey all you Shell-lock Holmes's! Looking for clues can be hard work and sometimes you see things that aren't there.....for example, today is not the day of the gameplay reveal. But nice try! While you wait for the real drop, there are more clues to uncover. Best efforts are needed soon!”

Dusty

"Shell-lock Holmes" referenced Sherlock Holmes, and the third Sherlock Holmes novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle was The Hound of the Baskervilles, which takes place mostly in Dartmoor, Devon.

On September 15, a new image named "friend_you_need" was posted in the #easter-eggs Discord channel. The image depicted Nama Tama holding a can of "OSPUZE OG BEANS." A can of beans, titled OCB ("Original Can of Beans"), was the first item put in a geocache by Dave Ulmer, the inventor of geocaching. Going to reachthefinals.com/ocb would reveal the third and final page featuring the large red X, although this wasn't discovered until just after Level 1 was solved.

On September 16, hunters identified William Crossing of Devon as a potential lead from the "devoncrossing" URL. William Crossing is credited as popularizing the hobby of letterboxing in Devon, England in the 19th century, which was a precursor to the similar hobby of geocaching. Dusty confirmed this lead as correct or relevant by replying and reacting to it with a red X emoji.

Solving

Later on September 16, 2022, hunter Duh found the solution to Level 1: reachthefinals.com/geocache. The page contained an image of Nama Tama saying "Level 1 Completed! You Are Awesome.!" In total, this level took 11 days to complete.

Solution Breakdown

There were three main themes and clues during Level 1 that each led to a URL featuring a red X. Each of these related to geocaching in some way.

• William Crossing is credited as popularizing the hobby of letterboxing in Devon, a precursor to the similar hobby of geocaching that involves clues, compasses, and maps.
• Galileo is the name of a European Satellite System. GPS devices are used for geocaching and they require satellites to function.
• O.C.B stands for "Original Can of Beans." A can of beans was the first item placed in the original stash by the inventor of geocaching.

Gallery

• 
  THE_FINALS_Concept_002_Slash
• 
  THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Statues_001_1920x1080
• 
  THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_HappyStatues_002
• 
  THE_FINALS_Concept_BarrelsBarrelsBarrels_1920x1080
• 
  friend_you_need
• 
  The Level 1 completion image

Credits

• Solver - Duh
• Documentation - Giriko, Flex4d, RockhoundBlack
• Various Contributions - ATAEGGYU, Darnoux, Dwarf, Madalin, Mike Eggmantraut, Oli, Sparky, Swa

Further Reading

• RockhoundBlack's video: THE FINALS: The 'Geocache' Easter Egg!
• Flex4d's document