If they're not with you, they're not friendly There's a jankiness to the game that's almost charming, but the environments are often stunning, even when you move away from dense woodland and explore the storage rooms of a gloomy off-brand IKEA. Killing an enemy player and finding out that he has a nicely customised weapon, chunky piece of armour or even just a mag full of bullets – the good bullets.Ĭrouch-waddling through a patch of quiet woodland, Escape From Tarkov can seem almost peaceful. It's often impossible to know whether taking it slowly or charging in a straight line to your current objective is the best option, and this tension is the reason I can't put the game down.Įscape from Tarkov thrills me so much because it is a world where economic power comes from the barrel of a gun, where you can take an experienced player by surprise and then make off to an extraction point with all of his stuff, either to flog it to one of the game's merchants, or use it yourself. The game's lethality, and the constantly ramping stress when you find something that you want and really want to get out with, is the best reason to play. This can be easier said than done when it's not uncommon to be taken out with a single headshot at 200+ metres without ever seeing your assailant, and even if you win a fight, injuries to your stomach could cause a quick death without food, while a missing leg will slow you to a sluggish crawl as you try to escape (as you can imagine). Playing with friends, there's always a perceptible bitterness when you're the one that finds high-tier items like a graphics card, golden lion or rolex, and the game suddenly becomes less about finishing the stated goal of the run - often murdering NPC Scavs or picking up/putting down an item somewhere on the map - and more about getting you and your precious cargo off of the map so you can sell it. 'Pineapple Juice is 50k now and I didn't realise till I drank some :(' is another. 'I've just upgraded my toilet to max level' is a text I have received in the last week. This meta-game merry-go-round, initially appearing to be little more than a sideshow from the smash and grab looting of the first few runs, soon becomes the primary aspect of the game. However, it does add a frisson of excitement when you find a can of fuel on an enemy player, knowing that it's going for 700,000 Roubles instead of the usual 150,000, because the pretend currency in the real world is making the even more pretend currency in the pretend world sell for megabucks. Read More: When is the next Escape from Tarkov wipe?īitcoin - in the real world - is a barely concealed pyramid scheme that's destroying the planet.The best trick Escape From Tarkov has up its sleeve is the way that it contextualises the loot and shoot gameplay, so you care about every CPU, water filter or even USB charger you find along the way. Still, once you've graduated with your degree of not dying instantly from Tarkov's bloody syllabus, it's actually quite an enjoyable romp. Tarkov is probably the most 'hardcore' shooter currently in development, with all the positives and negatives that come associated with that. In addition, your armour will degrade, in line with the caliber of bullet you're shot with and the ballistic profiles of the particular round: the same gun could fire different rounds that either ping harmlessly off your armour or blow a hole in it and kill you near-instantly. On top of this, you have to manage a fairly robust medical system that simulates fractures, pain and the effects of starvation and dehydration. Die, and you lose everything you bring in with you. There's nothing quite like Escape From Tarkovįor the uninitiated, Escape From Tarkov is a survival game that takes the rules of battle royale and supersizes them - you choose what you take into each 'raid', before trying to complete quests, loot valuable items and kill enemy players and NPCs.

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