Escape from Tarkov - hardcore shooter for genre connoisseurs

Escape from Tarkov is the "ugly duckling" of the Russian game industry. At the alpha-version stage, the shooter was received rather coolly, but a few years later it was called the benchmark for the balance between complexity and fun. The creation of the studio Battlestate Games knows no equal in the nuances of battle simulation. That is why there are videos on YouTube, where military experts like American Marines are seriously discussing the realism of EFT, comparing the virtual battles with real ones. And although the game is still in beta test, its popularity continues to grow. It's time to find out what the action game offers right now and what emotions it gives to thousands of gamers around the world.

Do you know the meme based on the TV series Rick and Morty: "Come on, in and out, a 20-minute adventure"? This joke also reflects the essence of Escape from Tarkov. The main activity in the game - raids: first you need to equip your character, choose the map where you want to fight, try to survive on the battlefield and then leave the location through one of the special exit points. It sounds simple in words, but in practice it is extremely difficult. To leave Tarkov alive, you must not only know how to shoot, but also know the map well, wisely equip and sensibly assess the situation - most deaths here are due to the fact that the players are not acting competently and take on themselves more than they can handle. But first things first.

The game is set in the fictional universe of Russia 2028. According to the local backstory, in the cities of Norvinsk and Tarkov in the northwest of the country, the authorities have created a free economic zone under the control of the United Nations and Russia. For a while it seemed a success, but corruption ruined it. The mayor of Tarkov had given too much property in exchange for bribes to the British corporation TerraGroup, which specialized in technology for agriculture. And when the investigating committee began to investigate the actions of the dishonest businessmen, they resorted to the help of a private military company (PMC) United Security, aka USEC. Inflaming the atmosphere has led to the fact that foreign hired guns started a skirmish with a squad of riot police, and then the TerraGroup's office, which was stormed by the Russian security forces, was blown up. The situation became threatening. UN peacekeepers, as well as fighters of the Russian PMC Battle Encounter Assault Regiment - BEAR, entered the Norwinian zone.

To avoid a large-scale war, Russia presented BEAR as an independent grouping, rather than part of its armed forces. Nevertheless, the task of the Bears was to collect evidence against TerraGroup for the investigating committee. To this end, the fighters blocked the exits of Tarkov, while the city itself was effectively transformed into a battlefield. All civilians were evacuated from here, houses, offices, and factories were abandoned, and gangs of marauders (called savages in the game and dikus in gamers' slang) took to the streets. To top it all off, a mysterious explosion knocked out all electronic devices: Tarkov was plunged into darkness, so that the operatives of the two PMCs were left without communication with their headquarters.

It is worth immediately noting that the universe of Russia 2028 is distinguished by well-thought-out entourage and the conflicts occurring in it. It is based not only made Escape from Tarkov, but also wrote books and even filmed a series of "Raid" under the guidance of the game's author Nikita Buyanov and director Anton Rosenberg. Today all the video footage is collected into a full-length film and posted on the official channel of the Battlestate Games studio. This is a kind of advertising: if you like this kind of cinema, you will also like the shootings in the interactive shooter. But keep in mind that there is a place for bloody scenes and strong language.

To join the game, a newcomer must register an account on the Escape from Tarkov website and buy a digital copy in any convenient way, after which it will become available for downloading to your computer. There are different versions of the thriller, from Standard Edition to Edge of Darkness - they all differ in price and a set of starting items, but some special advantages do not give. After installing, you should decide on the side of the conflict by creating a character from the USEC or BEAR faction. This, again, is purely aesthetic, because in battle all mercenaries are equal. Unless, of course, you count the phrases they utter: "USEC" commands in English, and "Bears" swear in foul language. Also depends on the choice of PMC depends on the initial set of equipment and weapons. Do you like NATO guns? Then take a United Security fighter. However, over time, you still lose something, and something you find - and the arsenal becomes more diverse.

So, your first raid: you have to get in and out, all in about 20 minutes. Did not get to the evacuation point in time - death. Ambushed - death. Forgot to eat and drink in time - death. Accidentally strayed over the edge of the map - death. You took a bullet, but you don't have any medical supplies with you, you're dead. Jumped, miscalculating the height - death. Dying in the game can be a lot of ways, but these situations have one thing in common: after death the character loses everything that he was carrying with him, except the contents of the small pouch. And things cost a lot of money. Therefore, every time you enter the battlefield is full of compromises. You have to decide what to take with you and what to leave in the cache - your storage of items. Sometimes you can leave with one gun and come back with a rich catch, but it also happens that you equip a soldier in full gear and lose him in the first minutes of the raid.

Preparing for the raid takes place in the "Stuff" menu tab. On the right is the stash with all available items, from guns and ammo to money, which is displayed as stacks of bills. On the left is the mercenary figure. You can equip him with a helmet or simple headgear, tactical headphones and goggles, wear a mask and blindfold, and a bulletproof vest. There are four weapon slots: main and auxiliary barrels, pistol and knife. In the last slot often put an axe - melee encounters are rare, but it's still harder to stab someone than to cut them down. In addition, you can wear an unloader to carry cartridges, magazines, and grenades, and put something small in your pockets and holster, and in the window "Backpack" you can put the same backpack or bag to carry the loot. That is, theoretically, nothing prevents you from charging before the raid to the fullest. But in practice, the most successful and experienced players walk in full gear. If you lose a character in battle time after time, you simply won't have any equipment left.

Gathering is followed by choosing a map. There are six different locations available to the beginner from the start: Forest, Customs, Junction, Factory, Reserve, and Shore. And if you manage to find special keys and partners, you can swoop into the Laboratory. Tarkov itself, oddly enough, in Escape from Tarkov is not yet - the developers promise to add the streets of the city later. But even the existing places are enough, because you have to explore every one of them down to the last fence and stump. Because the usual elements of interface like labels, target designators, azimuthal scale and topographical schemes are simply absent in the shooter. You may get a compass, but it is useless if you don't know where everything is. The device will not show you the very hole in the fence, through which you must leave the map and take the collected goods. So it turns out that familiarity with each location - a separate epic.

One map, such as Forest or Junction, is enough for several weeks of intense action. During this time you will remember all the exit points, the locations of valuable prey and wild - enemies controlled by artificial intelligence, as well as learn something about the tactical properties of the location. For example, in the same Forest, sniper weapons are more useful than in the already mentioned Junction.

Constantly risk the main character is not necessary - once every 20 minutes you can go on a raid for the wild. Bandit equipment is randomly generated at the start and is left to you if you manage to escape from Tarkov, so there is always a chance to get a free helmet, unloader, body armor or a decent gun. Playing as a marauder offers other bonuses: first, the other wilds don't shoot at him, unless, of course, you shoot at one of them out of fear, and second, the map is cast in the second half of the match, up to 10 minutes before the end. In practice, this gives room for action without live PMCs, but with a lot of dead ones. All that remains is to collect trophies from the breathless bodies and leave in the English way.

In the natural habitat of the wild will not poke a wild man an eye, but for an operative USEC or BEAR vagabonds pose a serious problem. If the bandit is not controlled by a living person, it is a computer character - a dummy in essence. Only dangerous: he uses shelters, maneuvers, treats himself, notices you from afar, and shoots accurately. Especially dangerous when the marauders walk in groups of three or four fighters. They can give just the appearance in sight, and exclamation, usually obscene, at the sight of PMCs. Also the sound of footsteps, but to control these moments we must take headphones on a sortie. On the other hand, the massacre of a dicus seldom brings rich loot. The exception is the bosses, whose killing is akin to the exploits of Hercules - they are the strongest opponents in Escape from Tarkov.

Coming back from a raid with the loot is a big event for a novice player. After the heroic deeds there comes a break: you can heal your character if he was wounded, stop by the merchants for ammo and other supplies that you could not get in the battle, and also place the trophies in the hiding place. Since the number of cells here is limited and the amount of loot is constantly increasing, storing things becomes even more of a challenge. The course goes with stuffed backpacks, nested in other backpacks, sorting by size and type - gamers call this process "tetris". Some items make sense to sell to traders or at the flea market, where users hang out. Other items are needed to complete quests and equip the shelter - your personal base of two dozen rooms with the potential to improve each.

Each location in Escape from Tarkov offers a unique gaming experience. This means that the way you prepare for a raid also depends on the map. The size of the battlefield, the types of loot, the layout of buildings, the points of appearance, and the number of wilds all vary, and sometimes drastically. Therefore, it is not surprising that the gamer chooses a couple or three maps and spends most of his time there. Only one thing brings all the levels together - their design is inspired by images of the former Soviet Union, with industrial ruin, garage cooperatives, concrete fences "in the square", broken "Ladas" under the windows of khrushchevkih. You find here a can of condensed milk with a blue and white ornament, Alenka chocolate or Emelya breadcrumbs, and you realize that you are home. But this is just a pleasant background, and other nuances are important for victories. Let's talk about them in more detail.

• The plant is the former TerraGroup chemical plant. A huge enclosed space of several sections with six exit points, corridors, bridges and tunnels in the basement. The two main features of the map - poor lighting and lack of places for long-range attacks. The first circumstance makes you strain your eyesight, and the second makes sniper weapons useless. Most battles are fought at close range, so the factory is useful maximum armor. The axe will not gather dust, because there are fights in cramped corridors. Boss of the location is named Tagilla - he walks around without an entourage and uses the original tactic: after wounding the PMC with a machine gun, run up to the victim and finish him off with the hammer. After killing Tagilla, you can pick up his gun, hammer, welding mask and unloader-plitnik of class 6 protection.
• Customs is the area next to the factory. This is a very large area of terrain with a customs terminal, fuel oil storages, checkpoints, gas stations, garages, cabins, a couple of dormitories and an abandoned construction site. Except for the firefights in the buildings, there is a real space for fans to sit in ambush and look at the enemy through the optics. Given the size of the location, there are more than 20 exit points, but it must be remembered that in each individual match and when playing for different factions, only a few can be active. For example, the "Russian Armed Forces roadblock" exit is useful for PMC fighters if there is a searchlight over it. Objects rich in loot are a gas station, a terminal, the so-called Fortress (a fort with a bunker on a hill) and the dormitories. The latter are two buildings with many rooms - it is always dangerous here because of the looters and ambushes. The boss of the Customs House is called Reshala. He is not very threatening on his own, but his entourage is ready to throw grenades and shoot anyone who comes too close. The main trophy from Reshala is a golden TT pistol.

In short, these are the six main locations, each of which can be explored alone or in a group. There is also, of course, the Laboratory - an underground TerraGroup complex. Only here there is nothing to do without partners, a set of keys to the rooms and serious experience under your belt. After all, any important action in this dungeon includes a warning system, after which a group of fighters under the control of artificial intelligence arrives on the level - it is somewhat more difficult to fight with them than with the usual wild. In addition, exit points require additional actions to activate: then it is necessary to apply power to the door, then press the button or the switch in another room - it is not easy to get away from here, so it is better to prepare the escape with a team.

An important feature of any map - the presence of locked rooms, where the loot lies. And the more valuable hidden inside, the harder to get the key - it is either rare or expensive, or guarded by a strong enemy. For example, if you are lucky, the blue key card from the Laboratory can be found at the Factory or on the Coast, and if not, you will have to fight with Grouse on the Reserve and the Navigator in the Forest - they are much more likely to have this item. Collection of keys from the caches of this or that location can allow you to get a lot of values. However, do not forget about the risk of losing everything after your character's death, so the rarest keys should be kept in the pouch.

The interaction with the guns in Escape from Tarkov is worked out better than in any other shooter. First of all, you can't complain about aesthetics: all the weapons look great, and the animations with them are accurately created by the movements of professional shooters. Even the ammo check is designed the same way as in reality. There is no ammo counter here, and when a character disconnects the magazine to inspect it, the game writes that it is full, empty, or contains about half of the required supply. When discharging or loading a clip, the cartridges are removed and added one at a time - for some barrels, such as the SKS and Mosin rifle, you can take the ammunition in bulk and manually load it into the chamber as it is consumed. If there is no room in the unloader, the empty magazine will be thrown to the ground when you change magazines. There are many such nuances in the work of Battlestate Games, and they are all beautifully done. No simplifications typical of the genre.

Secondly, the design of the cannons is thoroughly thought out: they can be disassembled into dozens of parts and equipped with any cannons, which exist in real life. You can make a unique gun from individual parts or use a ready-made drawing, if, of course, you have the necessary components at hand. At the same time not all parts are equally matched: some simply will not fit into the mechanism, and others require adapters. Given such detail, assembling and improving weapons in the game is no less complicated than exploring a particular map. There are several varieties of firearms in Escape from Tarkov:

Now for the surprise: the enemy in Escape from Tarkov is not killed by the weapon, but by the bullet. You can tinker with your gun as much as you want, changing its noise, accuracy, ergonomics, aiming range, weight, dispersion and recoil. But even the coolest gun will be bad on the battlefield if you use cheap ammo. The choice of the latter in the game is huge. For example, for NATO Emka 5.56x45 caliber alone there are steel-tipped shell bullets, bullets with copper core, tracer bullets with and without lead, armor-piercing regular and SSA, training bullets with composite core, hunting bullets, special hunting bullets, open lead bullets with copper base. Each of them has its own ballistic properties: one does not ricochet, another flies farther, the third has subsonic muzzle velocity, the fourth pierces armor of certain classes. The same goes for the other calibers, so before the raid it's important not only to choose a weapon, but also to get the right consumables from the cache. Or buy - if you have enough game currency, of course.

The second most important item of equipment after the gun and ammo is protection. Here, as with weapons, the choices are all over the place. Vests and helmets, depending on their strength, are divided into six classes. And even the design plays a role: the strongest helmet without a visor won't stop a bullet flying straight into your face, and the bulletproof vest doesn't always cover the neck, shoulders and groin. A bib with an armor plate can withstand a shot from a rifle, but is useless against a shot to the arm or leg. You should also take into account the weight and ergonomics of the protection: wrapped in armor, like a medieval knight, your character will be inactive and therefore vulnerable to the accurate shooter.

The key item of equipment is medicine. The assortment in the game is like in a drugstore: there are anesthetics, coagulants, stimulants, different bandaging and field surgery kits, and even ... balm "Zvezdochka" to help relieve pain. As in real life, when animating its use, the character opens the metal box on the second try - humor everyone understands. Although it is impossible to foresee all situations in advance, it is still necessary to take a minimum supply of medicines. Usually you can use the first aid kit, which takes one or two slots in the inventory. It will help to stop slight bleeding, cope with shock and bandage the wound. But for serious injuries such as fractures, severe bleeding and loss of limbs you need surgical kits. Keep in mind that medical resources run out as you use them, so you can't run with the same first aid kit forever.

The rest of your equipment is of secondary importance. It's up to you to decide whether to take an off-load, a backpack, food supplies and tactical gadgets with you. The most valuable things are better to hide in the bag, aka secure container - nothing is lost from here, even after the death of a character. If the item does not fit into the safe deposit boxes, it can be insured before the raid, paying a certain amount in game currency. Insurance gives you a chance to recover the loss after death. But the more expensive the property, the more likely it will be taken from the killed soldier - and then no insurance will not save. Finally, remember that not all items are compatible with each other. For example, an armored unloader cannot be worn with a bulletproof vest, and some helmets do not allow the use of a headset. The most protected models, such as the Altyn, are good at holding a punch, but they muffle most sounds, so you have to navigate by eyeball in combat.

No matter how many shooters you've played before, Escape from Tarkov will make you forget the previous experience. Here you learn to behave carefully, choose your ammunition, think through the raid in advance, not relying on chance and good luck. At the same time the character gets smarter: for any action he gets experience and new levels, and develops a number of skills, including endurance, strength, health, metabolism, treatment efficiency and weapon reloading speed. In fact, there are many such characteristics, but not all of them work properly, given the beta's status. Nevertheless, development is important: it not only allows you to control the situation on the battlefield, but also gives bonuses outside the battles - trade deals, for example, become more profitable for the boosted heroes.

Where do you aim when you meet the enemy in a game like Call of Duty? Head and heart. "Escape from Tarkov" is arranged rather complicated to revise the usual reflexes. First, you have to evaluate the enemy's defenses here: sometimes it's more advantageous to shoot off a limb than to shoot a class 6 armor vest or try to penetrate a helmet with a visor. Secondly, the advanced damage system affects tactics. Each body part has its own health points and each injury has its own type of treatment. For example, you can still patch your arm, but you can't patch your head. Mild bleeding can be stopped with bandages, but severe bleeding requires a tourniquet, and there is always a risk of rebleeding. Puncturing the stomach makes you thirstier, moving around takes into account broken bones, concussion and complete failure of a limb when its health points drop to zero. Such cleverness would be the envy of any interactive action movie, because it's a way to make gunfights smarter than in most military-themed games.

Any skirmish, whether it is an encounter with the wild under the control of the computer or the characters of other players, turns into a fight not only of guns, but also of minds. Everything is important: who noticed who first, whether you are well equipped for the fight, whether you chose the right place to attack, whether there is room to retreat, whether the enemy's actions are easy to "read". Play a role and seemingly insignificant nuances. Usually in the genre who hit first, he has the advantage, but here your accuracy can reassure the enemy if he realizes that you use low quality ammunition. Or here's another situation: you and your opponent are both badly wounded after a duel, and it's a matter of seconds. And while your enemy, huddled in the corner, is unpacking his surgery, you swiftly attack and finish him off, and then have time to stitch up your character - such victories bring pleasure. However, it's just as frustrating to be killed by little things like thirst and hunger.

As you have already guessed, the movement in the game is as important as the shooting skill. During the raid you have to choose when to run, where to squat and where to lie on the belly and not move. Sprinting consumes stamina, to replenish which you need to breathe in a secluded place. That is, you must plan your run, marking the shelters in advance and calculating your strength. It seems to be nothing difficult, but here the greed comes to the fore: the more you are carrying, the less you will manage to run, if at all - your packed up backpack together with heavy armor and a couple of rifles will make your character a clumsy sloth. Every now and then, depending on the circumstances, Escape from Tarkov forces you to give up some of your loot for the sake of mobility and at least some chance to carry everything else.

You can find a lot on the battlefield, but not everything. Most items, especially consumables, must be bought or traded from merchants. There are eight of these characters in the game: the Ensign, the Therapist, Merchant, Skier, Peacekeeper, Mechanic, Hoarder and Huntsman, and each of them has their own assortment. To pay some of them you need virtual rubles, others need dollars and euros, and the third will give you the thing you need only on barter. It looks like this: returning from another raid, you sell some of the loot and immediately replenish the basic resources. For example, you turn to the Prapor for ammunition for Soviet guns, and to the Therapist - for drugs, which just ran out. At one point, starting at level 15, the Barakholka also becomes available - a real player's market where you can find everything from nuts and bolts to unique rifles.

In addition, the institution of reputation works: the better your relationship with the merchant, the more favorable his prices and a wider range. Increase this parameter helps to perform tasks. Don't expect an elaborate plot and Hollywood staging - usually it all comes down to the fact that you have to kill someone, steal something or place a mark somewhere in the location. There are elementary missions such as shooting five wild with any weapon, and improve the gun on the workbench, which does not even have to go anywhere. But there are also extremely difficult: to kill 20 PMC from a distance of at least 100 meters, to eliminate 12 mercenaries with grenades, to find an object that is so cleverly hidden in the corner under the bed, that without hints you can not see it. Of course, for the sake of such tasks the players conspire and take turns killing each other in the way that is specified in the contract. However, for the solution of difficult tasks give a solid reward, and at the same time with the growth of loyalty of traders active gamer replenishes his cache.

Without merchants do not do and arrangement of personal shelter. To get here, just click on the tab at the bottom left of the main menu. Opens up a view of the bunker: here is the front door and workbench, here you can build a bitcoin farm to get game currency, and there - put a box where the wild hired for moonshine will put random items. All compartments are useful, and to increase bonuses they must be equipped with resources. Goes with everything you can bring from the raid: light bulbs, wires, cans, relays, spark plugs, computer parts, chemicals, and other junk. Could not find the right components? Trade will help solve the problem. The game is always worth a candle. For example, a well-equipped kitchen will save you from the frantic search for food on the locations, the library will accelerate growth in levels, and recreation area will make your character stronger and tougher.

Escape from Tarkov is an ambiguous work. On the one hand, the shooter requires careful study of all its aspects and does not forgive mistakes. No light modes, all the way to the hardcore. The slightest mistake - and equipment, collected with great difficulty, goes to someone else's cache. This can be very frustrating - the "young fighter school" can not withstand not all gamers. On the other hand, here is the best firefighting simulation in the genre, which is especially nice, considering the Russian developers. The weight and behavior of the weapons are well felt, the damage system is unmatched, and the animation of most actions, from filling up the ammunition magazine to eating the stew, adds to the liveliness. The game will definitely appeal to everyone who is not indifferent to the military theme and weapons.