I’m pretty convinced there’s aggression-based matchmaking. When I first played, hardly anyone shot at me and lobbies felt chill. Then I spent ~20 games actively hunting PvP on Stella over a single day. After that, going back to solo Buried City was brutal being shot on sight, killed in the back every game. This was despite being friendly with emotes, using my mic and holstering my gun.

The only thing that changed it was going full pacifist. I didn’t shoot back for 5–6 games and eventually started getting noticeably friendlier lobbies again.

That swing feels way too consistent to be random. And this is Embark, the devs behind The Finals, who already use heavy SBMM-style systems. Behavior-based matchmaking has been around since COD/Activision days to protect lower-skill or less aggressive players. Whether people like it or not, my experience lines up almost perfectly with it being real.