Level Two: 'THE PROMISE' - A History Of Solving The Easter Egg
Overview
In early September 2022, after the Gamescom teaser trailer for THE FINALS was released (late August 2022), a series of related cryptic Easter egg clues started to be presented through concept art released via THE FINALS Twitter account. Several additional clues to help the community solve the puzzles were also posted exclusively on THE FINALS Discord. The initial Easter eggs (which, following it being solved, became known as Level 1 or 'The Geocache Easter Egg') indirectly prompted members of the community to add specific words to THE FINALS website URL, as a suffix, which was a way of providing answers to the puzzle to see if they were correct. From Level 2 of the Easter Eggs ('The Promise') onwards, prospective answers were input as passwords via a specific password page created by the Embark Studios art team, led by Embark's Chief Content Officer and Co-founder, Rob Runesson.
Level Two Unlocking
On October 2nd, 2022. Rob posted an image of half of a QR code and a messageː HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0O (This has been edited for brevity, the full message had ̃400 zeroes). It was noticed later that evening there was a 0 on the 18th position of the phrase. A few minutes later a new web address was found https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee_level2 (This address was made inactive and leads to a 404 error, the updated address is https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2). On the site was a gif of Nama Tama saying that Level Two - THE PROMISE was loading. After midnight it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/gooooooooooooooooo contained a quarter of the QR code, although not needed now it was another clue to get to the TFEE Level2 Site.
On October 4th it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2 was active, with 9 tiers all locked. (It is worth noting that at some point the Level 2 Page got changed so Tier 2ABC and T2DEF share the same line instead of seperated like all the other tiers.)
Tier 1A: The "1064 Aethusa" puzzle
Overview
This tier debuted on October 6th, 2022 and was solved on October 11th, 2022; 7 days later. The overarching theme was 1064 and Meteors.
Oriri Ex Cinere
Overview
Uploaded on October 6th, 2022 by Dusty. It contains a image of a man with a welding helmet, combat gear, and holding a reolver standing in a parking garage that is completely lit alight. Dusty proceeds to upload a nearly identical version of the image 3 minutes later. Oriri Ex Cinere means Rise From The Ashes in latin. There was a hidden image if you overlapped the two versions of the image.
Clues
> Pisa Griffin
Overlapping the two images results in a Griffin being revealed, more specifically, the Pisa Griffin. The Pisa Griffin was placed on the Pisa Cathedral, which started construction in 1064 AD.
Concept_TakeCover
Overview
Uploaded on October 7th, 2022 by Dusty. it contains an image of the Cathedral in Monaco and it's surroundings being hit by a meteor shower. (On the 8th a larger version was uploaded to the Press Kit.) There was a couple of hidden images and symbols contained within.
Clues
> αίθουσα
In the image αίθουσα was hidden within. Translated it could be Aethusa, the daughter of Poseidon.
> Posedon Trident
The image contained a Trident, which with the above clue made it clear it was most likely a reference to Poseidon.
>Meteors
Meteors being front and center for the image raised the question if it was tied to the hunt, or just part of the concept art. The next image answered this.
friend_you_need_02
Overview
Uploaded on October 11th, 2022 by Rob. It contains Nama Tama, dressed as Galileo holding a telescope. The telescope was observing a shooting star, or asteriod. In the exif data there was a messageː Apparently… ...you need another little friend... ._.
Clues
> 1064 Aethusa
It was noticed earlier that 1064 Aethusa was a comet, but did not seem to relevant yet. With this new image it seemed like it might be more relevant.
Solving
On October 11th, 2022. Hunter Serpenger found the correct password for the tier, 1064. A new image awaited the hunters past the password page. In total this level took 7 days to complete.
Credits
Solver - Serpenger
Documentation - Flex4d ,Ralliden, RockhoundBlack
Various Contributions - Buunuu, Darnoux, DashGames, Duh, Fishxw, Giriko, OrpheusHEI, SPEAR, Swa, Tragic
Further Reading:
RockhoundBlack's Video: THE FINALS: A Fistful Of Easter Eggs + New Concept Art!