Final Sentence Asks Gamers How Fast They Can Type at Gunpoint
- Final Sentence turns typing into a deadly battle royale where every typo could mean death.
- Made by Lithuanian studio Button Mash, the viral demo is gaining traction during Steam’s Next Fest.
- Players have been busy offering feedback, which the devs have been busy implementing as soon as they can.
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Typo Deathmatch
Every so often a game will come out of nowhere that combines two game genres that shouldn’t work, and yet do. Final Sentence is a forthcoming typing game that’s also positioned as a battle royale, and is already taking off on social media thanks to a popular demo available during Steam’s Next Fest.
Final Sentence puts players in the disheveled suit of a nameless office worker who finds themselves trapped in a huge hangar, along with up to 100 other people. Everyone has a typewriter in front of them, and an armed guard. Players have to type faster, and with greater accuracy, than everyone else – too slow or too many mistakes leads to a bullet in the head.
“Ready to test your speed and acuracy under pressure? Just remember: every typo could be your last. Watch those fingers,” Button Mash, the studio behind the game, posted alongside the demo. “And if you spot a typo in this post… please don’t shoot. We’re just setting the mood.”
Type Well or Die
Final Sentence can handle from 40 to 100 players at once, all competing against each other to avoid a fatal bullet. Private lobbies can also be set up so players can type against four or eight friends. The game currently supports seven languages, including US English and Spanish.
Typing-related video games are surprisingly common, from oddball entries like David Lynch Teaches Typing to classics like Typing of the Dead, and even recent games like last year’s Cryptmaster. However, very few actually teach or improve typing, but rather use it as a gameplay mechanic.
Final Sentence doesn’t exactly teach typing, but it does track player progress – every round ends with a report, including the words per minute (WPM) and accuracy. The typical WPM is 40, with 60 and above considered excellent, so players can try to improve upon their previous record as much as they like. However, the accuracy aspect is trickier to improve as the game routinely tests players with nonsense they have to copy.
Players have been busy sharing feedback in the game’s Discord channel, with most enjoying it so far but calling attention to the lack of a true battle royale mode; rather than a typical last man standing mode common to popular battle royales like Fortnite and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, this game is more akin to a race. If one player completes their typing challenge, they win and everyone else loses.
However, some feedback has already been implemented, including the ability to spectate a match. If players make too many mistakes during a round they can be eliminated before one overall player causes the round to end, although all this really lets gamers do is look around and see a bunch of stoic guards and dead office workers, which is certainly a vibe.
The End. Full Stop. Period.
Final Sentence was initially revealed under the title The End and was set for release in June this year, although this has now shifted to later this year. It’s published by Podon (Static Dread, Train Valley Origins) and developed by Button Mash, a Lithuanian studio comprised of just three devs, but ones with 10 years experience in the industry.
Eneba reached out to lead dev Minsky on Discord for more info on Button Mash, and he told us: “There are three of us: one developer from Germany, one artist from Georgia, and me the all-hands guy from Lithuania. Originally, we’re all from Belarus, but we relocated to different countries in 2020. We hadn’t worked together before Final Sentence (apart from a short time on one unreleased project).”
“My last released game was Basement. Alex, our developer, previously worked on Gollum and Goldlike Burgers. Slava, our artist, was one of the key figures behind Blood of Heroes.” Minsky also highlighted main inspirations for the grim survival aspect of Final Sentence: Squid Game and Buckshot Roulette.
As for how long the team have been working on Final Sentence, Minsky said: “The whole project actually started in April 2023 during a game jam. We spent about a week on it back then and then put it on hold until late 2024, when we were accepted into the GameTech LT accelerator.”
GameTech is a start-up in Lithuania that helps out game studios, with successful applicants invited to Vilnius to take part in a three-month mentorship program (as well as receiving funding). Technically, any studio can apply as long as they’re legally registered in the country.
Final Sentence is Button Mash’s debut title and already doing well on Steam: the demo has already peaked at 1,847 players in just two days, with over 900 players currently typing for their lives. Minsky told Eneba that the team was “really busy with fixing everything” as at the time of writing players were reporting random fatal crashes. Given how quickly the team has worked to fix other issues, this is likely to be resolved soon.
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