Finals Week challenges groups of students to pass a gauntlet of school tests without studying a single textbook page. Developed by DESTINYbit and published by Pretty Soon, the game is built entirely around co-op stealth and academic misbehavior. Players must steal test answers, pass forbidden items across the room, and keep noise levels low to survive until graduation.
Because the game uses a shared-fate scoring system, success depends on team coordination. Every exam requires the entire group to meet a minimum grade threshold, such as a D or C- depending on the subject. If one player accumulates too many violations or causes the class average to tank, the whole group fails together.
Exam Rules and Classroom Detection
Surviving an exam session requires understanding the boundaries enforced by the teacher. Before each exam begins, students must sign the attendance roster sheet and take their seats before the countdown expires. Failing to pick a desk in time forces the game to randomize player seating, which disrupts coordinated sightlines.
The teacher actively patrols the rows of desks, tracks suspicious audio, and punishes unauthorized movements. Official classroom rules prohibit the following actions:
- Leaving your assigned seat without permission
- talking, communicate with other students
- Throwing physical items across desks
- Consulting unauthorized reference books or notes
The teacher monitors classroom noise directly through player microphones. Speaking too loudly or running open mic setups without proper threshold tuning spikes the teacher's suspicion meter, turning the alert gauge red and inviting an immediate reprimand.
Cheating Arsenal: Walkie-Talkies, Binoculars, and Drawing
Passing exams requires sharing data across distant desks without getting caught in the teacher's line of sight. Players can gather answer keys from hidden sources, peer at diligent NPC classmates, or harvest solutions scattered throughout the room.
| Equipment / Action | Primary Classroom Function | Sourced Details |
|---|---|---|
| Walkie-Talkies | Two-way audio transmission across long desk rows | Allows direct vocal communication without speaking aloud to the room |
| Cellphones | Electronic data sharing | Transmits answers digitally between teammates |
| Binoculars | Distant reconnaissance | Used to find and share answers with teammates |
| Physical Textbooks | Subject-specific answers (e.g., Zoology, Marine Biology) | Can be stashed in lockers, pocketed, or thrown across desks |
| Blowgun Pen | Teacher suppression | Shoots tranquilizer darts to temporarily put the teacher to sleep |
| Freeform Drawing | Notes, Morse code, or doodles | Works on paper sheets, walls, desks, and other players' faces |
| Paper Balls | Portable message delivery | Unraveled to read written answers or crumpled to throw across aisles |
Freeform drawing allows players to sketch diagrams or write specific answers on loose paper sheets before rolling them into throwable paper balls. If paper is scarce, players can write directly on classroom surfaces, desks, or the faces of fellow students to communicate question numbers.
Restraints and the Cone of Shame
Getting caught cheating carries immediate physical penalties rather than instant mission failure. The teacher wields deadly accuracy with chalk erasers, hurling them directly at students who stand up or throw unauthorized items in plain view.
Accumulating write-ups or triggering alerts results in physical classroom punishments:
- The Cone of Shame: A repurposed dog accessory used as a classroom restraint for misbehaving students.
- Physical Restraints: Restraints designed to make cheating significantly harder.
- Desk Confiscations: The teacher seizes exposed textbooks, floating notes, or cheat sheets left resting on open desk surfaces.
Students can crouch behind pillars, duck beneath library desks, or wait until the teacher's patrol path faces away to slip past line-of-sight cones.
School Hall Hub and Character Accessories
Between exam sessions, players retreat to the school hallway to unwind and prepare for the next academic subject. The hallway serves as a full interactive hub where squads can test mechanics and loosen up between tense rounds.
Available hallway activities include:
- Playing basketball
- Throwing baseballs
- Decorating school statues with custom graffiti
- Accessing lockers to stage books and tools for upcoming tests
Passing exams awards cosmetic unlocks that persist across sessions. Students can visit customization mirrors in the locker rooms to adjust skin tones, equip glasses, select wild hairstyles, and unlock new outfit sets to show off who carried the class to graduation.
Announcement Trailer and PC Hardware Requirements
The official announcement trailer debuted on August 24, 2026, showcasing the game's 90s classroom aesthetic and frantic multiplayer cheating sequences. DESTINYbit and Pretty Soon scheduled the official Steam launch for October 29, 2026.
The game runs on standard PC hardware, though a working microphone is recommended for full communication and stealth mechanics.
| Hardware Component | Minimum Requirement | Recommended Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 11 (64-bit) |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3820 or equivalent | AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT or equivalent |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card | Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or equivalent | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or equivalent |
| DirectX Version | Version 11 | Version 12 |
| Storage Space | 2 GB available space | 2 GB available space |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you play Finals Week as a solo player?
Yes, the official Steam features list includes single-player alongside multi-player and online co-op modes. Solo players must manage answer gathering, textbook retrieval, and teacher avoidance without teammate assistance.
What happens if one player gets caught cheating?
The class operates on a shared-fate system where everyone passes together or fails together. Getting caught triggers write-ups, flying erasers, and restraints like the Cone of Shame, raising the risk of class failure if the minimum required grade is not achieved before time expires.
Does talking over voice chat alert the teacher?
Yes, the teacher's AI tracks ambient vocal volume through player microphones. Speaking loudly while the teacher is patrolling nearby turns the suspicion meter red, making push-to-talk settings or careful volume calibration necessary.
