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.
Tier One A: The "1064 Aethusa" puzzle
Overview
Level Two: The Promise was originally teased on October 2nd with a fragment of a QR code and a loading page that the QR directed to; however, it didn't go live until October 4th when the TFEE_Level2 site was updated.
Clues
On Oct 6, 2022 Dusty posted a new image titled, Oriri ex cinere, which depicted a man in iron working gear holding a revolver in a garage which is on fire. A couple minutes later Dusty posted another version of it. Comparing the two versions of it revealed a hidden Griffin, the Pisa Griffin specifically. The Pisa Griffin was placed at the Pisa Cathedral, which started construction in 1063, or 1064 in the Pisan calendar.
On Oct 7, 2022 Dusty posted another image titled, TakeCover, which depicted the Cathedral in the map Monaco, getting obliterated by a meteor shower. The day afterwards a slightly larger version was posted to the Press Google Drive, presumably to make it easier to find the clues hidden within:
- The greek letters Αἵ θου σα were found, these translate out to Aethusa
- Aethusa flowers were present in the image.
- The trident referencing Poseden’s daughter, Aethousa.
On Oct 11, 2022 Rob posted a new image titled, friend_you_need_02, which depicted Nama Tama dressed as Galielo looking at an asteroid with a telescope. This led us to 1064 Aethusa, an asteroid in the inner asteroid belt. Putting 1064 into the T1A page unlocked a new image.
Summary
The first clue, the Pisa Griffin, pointed to the year 1064, which would be important to seeing the asteriod was relevant to the search.
The second clue(s) all were about Aethousa and meteors, letting us know that Aethusa and Meteors might be relevant to the search.
The third clue was the telescope looking at a asteriod, which lead us to 1064.
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!