The survival genre has become rather over saturated in recent years. Ever since the success of DayZ, many developers have been trying to recapture that magic. And most of them fail spectacularly. But occasionally a developer will strike gold and release a title that perfectly highlights what FPS players want from a survival game.
And that game is Escape from Tarkov. Created by Battlestate games, it went into closed beta in 2017. Anyone who pre-orders the game will get instant access to the beta. The game receives regular updates and the developers have said they are on track to release within the next few years.
But why should you care about Escape from Tarkov? What does the game have to offer? Well this guide serves to highlight what makes Escape from Tarkov one of the best survival games to be created in recent years.
The Tarkov Basics
From a gameplay perspective the game seems fairly simple. Like any FPS game you need to take out your enemies before they get you. The survival aspects of the game is what makes it more complex and tactical.
The game is unique in that it borrows elements from the MMO genre. Each match, called Raids, is a battle of survival. Players need to survive and loot from the environment and their opponents. Eventually the extraction points will become active and you can escape. Escaping is the primary goal of a raid.
The mmo elements in Escape from Tarkov come in the form of a persistent inventory. All the loot you escape with stays in your profile inventory. And it can then be brought into other raids to give you an advantage over your competition. But be warned. If you die, you lose your loot potentially forever.
Recovering and Trading Loot
Dying doesn’t have to mean you lose all your loot. There are ways of circumventing this. The first is playing with other players. If you die your team mates can loot your items and trade them back to you, providing they escape.
Or you can make use of the insurance system. By buying insurance for your items before you go into a raid you have a chance to get them back if you die. Providing that another player doesn’t loot your corpse.
Escape from Tarkov does have a currency system. You need this currency to buy insurance or to buy items in raids from the black market stalls. One of the best ways to earn money is to sell your loot to the flea market or directly to other players. It’s always wise to check the flea market before you go into a raid to see if you can find any useful equipment.
Practice Makes Perfect
Escape from Tarkov does offer players the ability to play private matches against AI opponents. This is a great way to practice and to learn the ins and outs of the various game mechanics and systems. It’s also one of the few game modes where you can use escape from tarkov cheats. Using the flying cheat is a great way to learn the various maps.
If you’re playing as part of a team then it is highly recommended you do regular practice to ensure you are working as a unit. Surviving in Escape from Tarkov isn’t easy. But your chances are greatly improved if you can rely on your team to have your back.
The Gunplay
Another reason practice is so important is the gunplay. Escape from Tarkov has received a lot of praise for its hyper-realistic gunplay. The developers even went as far as to record the sounds of all the various weapons being fired in a warehouse to produce authentic sound.
Because the gunplay is so real it can be quite jarring when you first start playing. In most normal FPS games the recoil and reload speeds aren’t as real, meaning switching between weapons isn’t an issue. But in Escape from Tarkov there are noticeable differences between the various guns.
Since you won’t always have access to your favorite weapon, or enough ammo to use it, you need to become proficient in use with a number of different guns. So while you are practicing it’s important to keep this in mind.
Facing Defeat
Escape from Tarkov is tense. The atmosphere of each map is designed to create a sense of unease. The large open spaces are contrasted by the occasional cramped office block or vacant warehouse. Danger could be lurking around every corner. Each time you run across an open space you are putting your life at risk.
And no matter how well you think you’re doing. Or how many FPS games you have played in your life. You will eventually die in Escape from Tarkov. You might run out of ammo during an intense firefight. You might walk onto a hidden landmine. Or you might get sniped from across the map.
Death is part of the game’s appeal. The consistent loot mechanic only works because you are constantly faced with the threat of losing everything. It makes you really think about your actions. Running into a raid with no plan is a surefire way to get yourself killed. Escape from Tarkov demands a more tactical, methodical approach. And that is why players love it so much.
