What is Escape from Tarkov?
by Nightmare Actual
Well according to Battlestate Games (The developer of Escape from Tarkov) they describe EFT as a hardcore story driven MMO/FPS with RPG and survival elements. As you play the game you get loaded into “raids” much like most MMOs out there today, as you progress through the raids you can accumulate experience to level up skills, to use in game. Once you finish all raids you unlock the totality of the map of Tarkov, which the level of detail in this freaking game is surpassed by no one, I will get into that, later on.
The game will not include an offline single player campaign, although, the raids do include PVP and PVE elements. That being said, in EFT you will not ONLY have to look out for other players but you will also have to look out for NPC’s that are out to destroy anyone who is not part of that specific faction which is the “Scavs” The Scavs are the antagonists of this game, this faction’s sole purpose is to take what you have and impede your progress throughout the raid. The game also includes 2 other factions in the fallen state of Tarkov: USEC and BEAR.
As the infrastructure of Tarkov started to fall, illegal activities started to rise. The city of Tarkov was evacuated after its order, became chaos. Leaving behind the two private military contractors mentioned above or the local scavengers with nefarious intentions itchy trigger fingers and no allegiance. The map of the game while not as big as other titles like Arma, DayZ, Rust, or The Division has, in my opinion, two huge factors that make those others maps somewhat obsolete.
One being the fact that there’s a lot of levels to the gameplay making the exploration more substantial in EFT, because your sole purpose is to figure out “What happened in Tarkov?” and there might be a piece of evidence locked inside a room in a building you are searching in, but since it’s locked you have the mission to find the key which could be ANYWHERE, really.
The other aspect of EFT I give high praises to is the huge psychological aspect to it.
When you load into the game just standing and listening to the tone of your surroundings gives you the chills. You can actually feel the desolate nature of what’s going on in the city. That is something a lot of shooter games do not have, the immersion in other titles is not as profound as it feels in EFT.
The game also has weight beyond the environment and is going to include an economic system that will feature: AI traders, Player Traders, Flea Market, and Auctions.
The AI Traders are your standard NPC in the home menu for the game before you go into the raids, these vendors are activated once certain areas are discovered and they will have their own schedules and discounts depending on your loyalty to that vendor. Interestingly they can get sick, run out of money or even die. You will have to build a relationship with the vendors based on how you interact with them. Players can down the line can become vendors themselves and affect the in game economy that the AI vendors have. Your inventory is made available to other players on your discretion, so for example, if you’re in a clan/community you will be able to give discounts to your fellow community members, similar to how leveling your loyalty with the AI vendors.
There is also a Flea Market, which is essentially player only level trading you can put an item up for sale on a 24-hour time frame, and last but not least the Auctions where you can hold one yourself or bid on other items. It’s simple stuff, you offer a price if no one goes over it, you get the item.
Let’s talk about why the game is considered hardcore. Escape from Tarkov is hardcore in the sense of the realism it brings on all fronts: health, combat, inventory management, character interactions, graphics, sounds etc. For instance, your character can and will be influenced by wounds, infections, dehydrations, hunger, radiation, heat, hypothermia. That means you will have to use the correct medication for the respective negative status effect.
A big part of this is weapon management where you will have to use properly kept guns and ammo, so if you buy a gun that has a low upkeep, it will give you problems in the field causing misfires, overheats, weapon jams, so on and so forth.
Another aspect that makes this game hardcore is that when you die, you will LOSE all your gear. Okay don’t panic, I just mean the gear you took into the raid with you, however, if you are with a group and you somehow die, you won’t be able to get back into the raid but they will, however, be able to pick up your gear to give to you later on.
I believe that pretty much covers all the bullet points to the game right now. I have been a player of EFT for 10 months now. While I have experienced a lot of the aspects of the game as they become available, and while the current build is pretty basic it includes a lot of the things we have talked about in early stages and new content is being added consistently.
If you want to learn more about Escape from Tarkhov, check out the game’s website HERE!
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