One of the scariest games ever isn’t even a horror game!

Escape from Tarkov released in 2016, and it rapidly became extremely popular thanks to its unique gameplay, mechanics and incredibly tense atmosphere. It invented a whole new genre of game that still struggle to compare to the original. In this article, I want to talk about what makes this game so special and why you should give it a try!

One of the main mechanics of Tarkov is the ability to purchase the gear you’re going into game, and if you don’t come back with it, you lose it forever. That’s why it’s very prudent to buy Escape from Tarkov rubles in order to buy all your gear back so you can go back out into the fray!

The origin of the extraction shooter

First and foremost when talking about Escape from Tarkov should be mentioning the genre it created. Extraction shooters are a kind of game where the main focus is going into a map, looting different kind of valuables, and trying to escape before dying. At the risk of losing everything you have because other players and NPCs are roaming the map. Exploring more will probably yield more valuable loot but could also be what gets you killed. Since Escape from Tarkov released, many games have tried to replicate its formula to varying degrees of success, but none have fully replicated it.

Immersive and realistic

The game has almost no HUD elements. You get to see a silhouette of your character and shows where you are hurt and a life bar with a stamina bar beneath it. You don’t get to see how much ammo your weapon has in it or how much you have in your backpack. If you want to check it, you have to manually open your backpack to check your ammo and pull out the mag from your gun to see how much ammo you have. There’s no minimap or quest markers. You’re thrown into a harsh, war-torn region of Russia with nothing but your wits and whatever gear you brought with you and the things you scavenge.

Every weapon behaves like its real-life counterpart, down to the physics of bullets, recoil, and attachments. You have to manually load magazines, check ammo, and heal specific body parts. If your leg gets shot, you might limp until you use a splint or a medkit if you even remembered to bring one!

Another very impressive part of the game is the audio design. You can tell exactly where someone is by the sound they make. The sounds of gunfire are scary and loud, the sound of a bullet hitting an armor piece or your flesh, or if the bullet misses and hits a tin wall behind you. It’s all clearly communicated to you through audio.

High intensity gameplay

The game has the aforementioned rubles, which you use in the fully fledged market system in the game to purchase weapons and gear that you use to venture to one of the game’s maps. You have to try to find a balance between good and cheap gear because if you make a mistake and get eliminated by an enemy player you will lose everything and have to rebuy everything from scratch. But if you are careful, successfully loot places and even eliminated enemies and escape you get to keep everything in your inventory. This makes each game become incredibly thrilling as the stakes become much higher. These high stakes add adrenaline to even the slowest moments. Hearing footsteps nearby, seeing a weird silhouette far away that you can’t tell if it’s a person or not, or simply finding a rare piece of loot becomes a heart-pounding event. The emotional payoff of surviving with a full backpack is unmatched in most games.

Deep customization system and Items

If you like personalizing your guns and character gear in games, then this game has you covered. You can strip every gun for each of their parts and then put them in another gun, grated they’re compatible with each other. From barrels and stocks to grips and scopes, everything can be customized. But you don’t have to worry about just bringing a good bulletproof vest and guns to the map, you have to think bigger scale than that. Helmets, backpacks, meds, and even food and water are part of your loadout. Escape from Tarkov has many maps and they all vary in size. If you’re in a small map like Factory, you don’t really need to worry about food and water. But in the bigger maps, that also usually yield better loot, like Woods or Customs, you do need to think about bringing supplies to stay hydrated and fed. You can also find these items in the map itself or from eliminated players, but it’s not advisable to depend on it. All of this while thinking about balancing weight, utility, and cost. All of this sounds very complicated because it is, but this level of complexity is precisely what opens the door to a customizable gaming experience that no other game can provide.

Scav VS PMC

There are two factions in Escape from Tarkov. PMC and Scav, Scav are those NPC characters you can come across, distinguishable by the fact that they scream at you in Russian and Most move pretty robotically. PMC stands for “Private Military Company” and this is your main character. The one you buy equipment for. However, you can play as both. If you don’t feel like purchasing equipment and just want to do a run, you can play as a Scav. While you’re one of these characters, the NPCs won’t hurt you unless you shoot them first, in which case it becomes open season. But you should still be wary of players! Playing a Scav is great to learn the game’s mechanics with no pressure to lose a very valuable item. I recommend you look up a guide to make the most of your Scav expeditions!

If you manage to extract everything, your Scav had will be put into the PMC inventory. However, if you get eliminated you will lose everything, and in either case you will have a 20 minute cooldown until you can play as a Scav again.

Beta

With everything that I told you thus far about the game, you should still keep in mind that it’s very much still in its beta. This means new content and fixes and mechanics are rolling out pretty often. The devs make sure to listen to their community and implement some changes when they see it fit. These developers have a very fixed vision of what they want their game to be, so you don’t have to worry about a loud minority of people being able to sway them into changes you’re not excited about. The moment you start this game, you can tell they have a vision and Very excited to see it come to fruition.

In conclusion

So, is Escape from Tarkov for you? If you are looking for a game with extremely detailed mechanics, an emphasis on realism and adrenaline pumping encounters like very few games achieve then this game is the right one for you. Tarkov will surely impress you with their inventory management mechanics and weapon handling. This game has a pretty steep learning curve which means that it will probably not fit players looking for a casual experience but give it a chance. Experience the thrill of escaping Tarkov!