Escape from Tarkov: Is it still worth buying in 2021

Escape from Tarkov was originally an extremely controversial game that both attracts a huge crowd of people with its gameplay and atmosphere, and repels. However, taking into account the sharply increasing popularity after patch 0.12 and a recent article, in the comments of which users attacked the game, including for insufficient casualness and compared it with games that were not quite similar to it, I considered it necessary to try to write as objectively as possible about the game to help you decide on your own in the future whether the game is worth the purchase or not.

Optimization

Of course, I’ll start with the biggest stumbling block for many players. Spoiler alert: the optimization has been tightened up, but it is still far from ideal.

I’ll start with personal feelings. I play on the old, by today’s standards, bucket: AMD FX-6300 with six cores, Radeon RX550 with 4GB of video memory, 16GB of RAM, and a game installed on the HDD, so there are no stars from the sky, but at medium-low settings, the game runs at a stable 50-60 FPS on all maps, except for the “Reserve“. The “reserve” is new, large, and unoptimized, so it has to be content with 30-40 personnel.

In patch 0.12, the players were brought in a long-awaited base that can be upgraded, and it, in response, will allow you to create items and will give buffs for the character (for example, accelerated healing).

However, there are several nuances with optimization. Firstly, I have no idea how the game can run on the minimum requirements stated by the developer. I’m afraid it just won’t load on any of the maps in the current version.

Secondly, the game is extremely demanding on RAM. Players with 8 gigabytes of operatives will, for example, load on more or less large cards for 5-8 minutes, which, in general, although not critical, will give odds to other players. A video card is also needed for at least 4 gigabytes of video memory. Despite the fact that the developer points out that one gig is enough for the required minimum, a teammate with an old 2-gig GeForce 710 could only boot with a creak on the smallest cards.

Separately, I would like to tell you about the connection, netcode, servers and other delights of connecting cases. In short, the whole thing is in trouble.

Firstly, the biggest problem of EFT today is, perhaps, out of sync with other players. The problem is that after loading the player is not synchronized with the server and therefore all or almost all of the players on his screen standstill, while for other players it is synchronized, moves, and, in principle, is killed without problems. The problem is solved by restarting to the server, or maybe two, or maybe three … This problem is especially acute for solo players since they cannot look at their team, make sure that they are frozen like statues, and re-enter, therefore continue to explore the streets of Tarkov as if nothing had happened at the risk of getting a bullet from the “invisibility”.

Secondly, after one of the last updates, there was a problem with the servers in the game. Recently, they suspiciously often go offline, join servers with high ping or long latency. We solved this problem by disabling server auto-selection and setting all servers suitable for us. I highly recommend doing this in the launcher.

Oh yes, there is one more problem and most likely it should be attributed to this point. While joining a game, the following may happen:

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Gameplay

So, before us is an extremely realistic shooter, the main goal of which is to loot sheds of different levels of coolness. I will divide the gameplay into several parts: raids, trade, hideout and gunporn – and I will try to tell a little about each.

Raids

The first thing a Tarkov player does is most likely go on a raid. The raid begins with preparing the character in the equipment window. The player chooses weapons, equipment, shoves magazines, first-aid kits, provisions and so on in his pockets. In general, he carefully chooses what potentially another player will collect in 10-15 minutes from his cold corpse.

After death, by the way, the player loses absolutely everything, except for what is in the pouch. However, if you insure the items before the raid, then there is a chance that they will return in a day or two, provided that they are not taken by someone else.

In addition, the player can go to the raid for the wild. The player who chooses the wild will be connected to an already ongoing raid, in addition, the wild is given absolutely random equipment, usually of rather low quality, and he does not have a pouch.

Then the player chooses one of seven locations, which differ in size, terrain and quality of loot. In addition, the location “Laboratory” can only be accessed with a fairly expensive disposable key.

After that comes the insurance of the items, the collection of the squad and other optional actions, and then the loading, long as life, begins …

When the landing finally occurs, the player spawns on one of the respawns. His goal is to stuff as much loot as possible into all pockets, preferably more expensive, and escape to one of the available exits.

This task is complicated by other players and wild ones, who can be both under the control of the AI ​​and under the control of the player. Both those and others also want to endure as much good as possible and it is possible that they will want to check your pockets.

I would also like to note the shooting. It’s done amazingly cool. All weapons behave in their own way, sound their own way, each body kit really affects some of the characteristics. The shootouts really keep you on your toes, they sweat your palms and pound your legs nervously (provided that you are on a good server, otherwise your teeth will only squeak viciously).

Also, on the maps “Forest”, “Customs”, “Reserve”, “Interchange” there are bosses who walk with a retinue, good equipment, often unique, a lot of health and hit very painfully.

If you are lucky to survive, then after the evacuation you need to drag the items received in the raid into your inventory and I can promise you that you will suffer with this. At first, the inventory seems bottomless, but these are exactly the first 3-4 successful raids. Inventory management can be helped by containers that are designed for certain types of items, but such containers as the Boeing wing cost.

Trade

The second most important part of the Escape from Tarkov gameplay is trading. At the flea market, you will spend about the same amount of time as in the raids.

There are eight merchants in the game, each with its own assortment and almost each with its own line, albeit banal, but quests. You will earn their respect for trading with them and following their orders. The higher the level of respect of the merchant, the more things they are ready to offer and the less Tarkov money they are willing to take from you, but you should not expect that they will be able to provide you with everything you need.

With the receipt of the fifth character level, the player will have access to the flea market. And, boy oh boy, here you will most likely spend a lot of time. The flea market is a market for players where you can buy and sell almost any item, and with the advent of a player’s personal base in the game, the flea market has become an extremely important part of the game.

On it, you can buy and sell not only weapons and equipment but, for example, bolts. However, it should be borne in mind that despite the fact that previously they, being useless, were sent for sale for a penny, now their prices have increased dramatically, like many other craft items.

In general, raids and trade are probably the foundational games today. The player tries to study the item market and fill his pockets with the most valuable items in raids. On average, if you approach the study of the local market responsibly, then you can easily take out 300-500 thousand roubles for a raid. The main thing is not to grab all the weapons that you see.

Asylum

To upgrade a shelter, you need items, fuel and consumables that can be found in raids or purchased at a flea market. After the upgrade, new functions appear in the shelter.

Gunporn

Escape from Tarkov is a gun lover’s paradise. Any barrel can be changed beyond recognition, while the changes will affect not only the appearance but also how the weapon will feel in the game. You can change everything, from the stock and forend to the muzzle or magazine.
So, for example, having rummaged in my inventory, I modified an old AKMS into a light machine gun, which, however, will be so-so in battle, but it is ideal for demonstrating the possibilities of modifications.

In addition to modifying weapons, there are also varieties of cartridges. For example, quite expensive armor-piercing cartridges will work well against armored opponents, but at the same time they will pierce flesh worse than expansive ones.

Conclusion

Escape from Tarkov has a lot of technical problems, polishes slowly and often in no direction. This is a slow and measured game with one of the highest entry thresholds, especially in the shooter genre, a crooked interface, and a bunch of other annoying nuances, but one thing is for sure: this is a unique game of its kind, which now has nothing to replace.

Not everyone will be interested in playing it, and, in my opinion, if at least one of the above aspects of the game seems boring to you, then you should wait with the purchase, however, everyone who is interested in the description will probably not disappoint the gameplay either.