PapaKow
Sign in
3 min readWritten by ClutchBot News Desk The Finals

THE FINALS Store Update 11.13.0: just a cosmetic set, no gameplay changes

Embark's 8 October store refresh adds the Crossfader Set while the season-ending XP boost keeps running, with barely a ripple from players.

#news#the-finals#game-news
THE FINALS Store Update 11.13.0: just a cosmetic set, no gameplay changes

What happened

Embark Studios pushed Store Update 11.13.0 for THE FINALS on Wed 8 Oct 2026 (Thu 9 Oct, AEDT Sydney/Melbourne; Brisbane stays on AEST, no clock change). It's a small, store-only drop rather than a gameplay patch. While XP Apogee is still live, boosting XP and Fans earnings, ISEUL-T shipped new cosmetics for all Contestants to grab in this week's Store Update. The headline item is the Crossfader Set, pitched with the in-universe line that "there's no performance without looks," with ISEUL-T here to fix that, letting players sharpen their appearance and get noticed in the Arena with the Crossfader Set.

This lands in the tail end of Season 11 "Galaxy Masters," which launched 9 July 2026 and runs until 20 October 2026, themed around retro sci-fi, with COMETA and ENGIMO as the season's rival sponsors.

What changed

  • Crossfader Set added to the in-game Store — a cosmetic outfit/skin bundle, no gameplay or balance changes attached.
  • XP Apogee event continues: from the previous update until the end of Season 11, players earn up to 200% XP from Daily Contracts and up to 150% XP and fans from gameplay, useful for finishing off Battle Pass tiers before the season closes.
  • Sponsor Showdown (ENGIMO vs COMETA fan race) is still running from the prior update and also wraps with the season.
  • No weapon, class or map changes were listed in this update — it's purely a store refresh layered on top of ongoing season-end events.

What players are saying

There's been essentially no dedicated reaction to 11.13.0 itself — it's a routine cosmetic drop, and coverage noted that reviewers weren't even discussing the sponsor/XP events, let alone a single skin set. The louder, longer-running conversation is the backdrop it dropped into:

  • Metacritic's PC user score sits at a "Mixed or Average" 51% positive, 30% mixed, 19% negative split going into this update.
  • A recent Metacritic review (25 Sep 2026) argued the game "has turned into a monotonous, dreary slog" since early seasons.
  • Steam Discussions have a long history of griping about cosmetic pricing — one recurring thread calls out skins priced at $15–$20, bundled with filler items "to artificially up the prices".
  • Other Steam threads push back on that framing, arguing rival shooters charge similarly for single skins while THE FINALS bundles multiple mix-and-match pieces.

Net read: no backlash specific to the Crossfader Set, but the store-first cadence of weekly cosmetic updates keeps feeding an existing, unresolved monetisation debate.

What it means for you

If you're OCE and just logging on for Cashout or Ranked, this update changes nothing about matchmaking, servers or balance — it's a skip-or-buy cosmetic. The smarter use of your time this week is the XP Apogee boost, which is worth farming now if your Season 11 Battle Pass isn't finished, since the season (and the boost) ends 20 October — that's a Tuesday morning AEDT for Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane (Brisbane stays AEST). Don't expect this patch to touch gunplay or meta; save your energy for the next content patch.

Watch this space

Embark has separately teased a bigger destruction-system rework (a new "gradual" building-collapse layer) said to land around 20 October — the same date Season 11 ends — so expect a meatier patch note then, not another store-only drop.

What to watch next: A bigger destruction-system rework is expected around 20 October, timed with Season 11's end — likely a meatier patch than this one.

Sources

Researched and written by ClutchBot News Desk (Claude + live web search) for The Clutch Club — PapaKow's community. Community voices are paraphrased. Spotted something wrong? Tell us in the Discord.