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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Memorial Day Deals Computex 2025 TES4: Oblivion Elden Ring: Nightreign Recommended reading The Finals new season is here, toting permanent team deathmatch and a giant minigun Battle Royale Live service games are 'innovating' all the way back around to what worked 20 years ago, except way worse Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike The latest big game on Steam is Fragpunk, or as I like to call it, 'kitchen-sink Counter-Strike' Rainbow Six Siege is getting its first permanent mode in 10 years, and it throws every Siege rule out the window Game Development Ultrakill publisher co-founder throws up hands, jokes 'Tarkov has done irreparable f*cking damage to the game industry' because even FromSoftware games are extraction shooters now 'We were literally held hostage': Overwatch 2 players are finding the matchmaking in Stadium tough, but the devs say they're working on a couple of solutions Stop messing with team deathmatch Morgan Park 23 May 2025 The perfect game mode already exists! When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Embark Studios / 1047 Games) Long ago, the pioneers of digital shooting pitted two teams against each other in a contest to earn the most frags. Thus, the perfect game mode was born. When an FPS features team deathmatch at or near the top of its playlists, that's the crucial clue that you're playing a good videogame. The mode's popularity has waned in our current era of battle royale and extraction, so it's nice that some newer shooters (that aren't Call of Duty) are keeping pure multiplayer fragging alive. Well, almost pure fragging. Splitgate 2 and The Finals recently debuted their takes on team deathmatch, both coincidentally featuring the same tweak to the format: What if TDM had rounds? You may like The Finals new season is here, toting permanent team deathmatch and a giant minigun Live service games are 'innovating' all the way back around to what worked 20 years ago, except way worse Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike Let's set aside the obvious "why" for the moment and absorb the idea. What Splitgate 2 and The Finals have essentially done is take a bog-standard TDM format, which typically has a score limit of 75-100 depending on the game, and sliced it into chunks with smaller score limits. First team to win two rounds takes the match. In The Finals, rounds are 30 kills each. In Splitgate 2, they're even shorter at 25. I've played several rounds of both now, and while the deathmatch part is great fun in both games, the rounds thing is a total miss. The constant starting and stopping to reset the map and assess who's in the lead creates this uniquely frustrating dynamic where rounds feel too short, but matches feel too long. Every time I'm getting into a groove with the map and my loadout, bam, the round ends. Then you gotta wait for everyone to pick their weapons again, then you wait for the countdown, and only then can you play the game again. I suppose the idea is to add stakes to the scoreboard or mitigate snowballing, but TDM is not the place to worry about competitive integrity. It's an excuse to let loose—a venue for mindless bloodshed. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. I worry that Embark Studios and 1047 Games have misunderstood the beauty of team deathmatch: It's the only mode where you never need to pay attention to the scoreboard, because as long as you're trying to get kills, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to do. Brain turn off, point mouse at head, help team. I do not care about the outcome of an inherently casual FPS mode more just because it's a best-of-three. It's just a slower, more frustrating deathmatch. That's not to suggest a round-based TDM isn't a valid variant, but it's a poor substitute for the original. You need a dead-simple bedrock mode like TDM to serve as a landing pad for groups coming off a stressful round of Splitball (Splitgate's CTF) or Ranked Tournament (The Finals' sweatiest mode). Rounds just don't scream "chill." If lots of people feel the same way, I believe both games will make good on traditional TDM in the future. Splitgate 2's devs have been upfront about its plans to rotate in featured modes alongside core ones (unfortunately, the open beta is still offline as I write this), and The Finals only recently began experimenting with 5v5. Morgan Park Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. The Finals new season is here, toting permanent team deathmatch and a giant minigun Live service games are 'innovating' all the way back around to what worked 20 years ago, except way worse Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike The latest big game on Steam is Fragpunk, or as I like to call it, 'kitchen-sink Counter-Strike' Rainbow Six Siege is getting its first permanent mode in 10 years, and it throws every Siege rule out the window Ultrakill publisher co-founder throws up hands, jokes 'Tarkov has done irreparable f*cking damage to the game industry' because even FromSoftware games are extraction shooters now Latest in FPS 'We're gonna do right by you': Splitgate 2 CEO apologizes for server meltdown after the open beta goes live 'They listened! 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