Escape from Tarkov

The progression of Escape From Tarkov is an intimidating branch that has sprung up in the battle royale genre. Most other titles like Fortnite Battle Royale, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Apex Legends have a lot to offer, but are seen as casual experiences. Escape From Tarkov takes every aspect of battle royales and creates a highly detailed, fleshed out system that lasts more than one match at a time. Instead of being a 100-player free-for-all or squad-based arena, the goal is to drop into the map, gather loot, and reach your exfiltration point somewhere else on the map. Prompting rapid decision making coupled with trying to outlast several other teams attempting to escape, the layout of Tarkov is not for the faint of heart and can have serious impacts on its players.

Reach the Extraction Point

The one objective to achieve in this game is to exit the map and survive. Its not really that easy, but the that’s the main idea of each raid. Simply reaching the exfil point, however, will net you a low amount of experience, money, and gear.

In order to improve your progression throughout each raid, you’ll need to be on your toes and scavenge as much as possible from the barren wastes of each map. This can include anything from valuable tactical gear to different brands of cigarettes used to barter with NPC sellers on the map. Additionally, a good chunk of these items will be needed to complete various quests as you level up after each raid – you’ll always get a bit of experience even if you’re unsuccessful.

Unlike other BR titles, you will be able to keep your loot upon each successful run and ultimately sell less useful gear for some decent profit. The profit can help improve your odds in future games without the risk of losing money. However, better gear will aide your performance in each game. Therefore, it becomes a game about delicately balancing how risk and reward with each run. I became extremely fond of this system over time. It’s a bit grueling at first – losing your loot after a decent amount of time stockpiling can hurt – but it truly helped me become more tactical in my decision making.

Pick Your Battles, Manage Your Inventory

Since Tarkov is a game built on realism, each system in the game is refined and has a somewhat complex learning curve attached to it. Healing isn’t as simple as applying a first aid kit. Organizing inventory doesn’t just mean dropping items to pick up others. Getting into a firefight is not something that can be brushed off. For players not fond of survival elements in RPGs (Fallout, The Outer Worlds, etc.), this will likely be a game killer. Managing inventory is like playing a game in itself as you try to cram in every last valuable item without sacrificing necessities. Healing is not a simple med application – limbs can be injured at different rates and have different impacts.

Finally, running into another squad at the wrong time can set you back greatly. The balancing is fair, aside from general spikes in lag and a few noticeable connection issues, but the game is difficult to say the least. I had a lot of fun familiarizing myself with different strategies for each raid – sometimes you just get unlucky.

Pros:

• Fleshed out RPG systems (healing, firefights, inventory)
• Generous thought put into several mechanics
• Gameplay is balanced well between old and new players

Cons:

• Connection issues can plague network
• Difficulty not scaled for every type of player