As a disclaimer, I completed Escape From Tarkov on the game's PvE mode on the Unheard Steam Edition of the game, which significantly reduces the difficulty by removing the player vs. player aspect and speeds up progression with extra gear, money, and stash space. However, I was able to reach the final act of the main quest on another PvE character that only had the standard edition of the game. Despite the obviously aggresive monetization of the game though, I consider Escape From Tarkov to be one of the few games that deserve to be called a generational title. It's no wonder why so many games seek to replicate the success of Escape From Tarkov by creating their own extraction shooter, yet they always fall short because they never truly grasp what makes Tarkov's subgenre-defining structure work.
There is a one extremely clear goal that every player strives for when playing this game: to escape from Tarkov. It's the name of the entire game. This is something that takes blood, sweat, tears, and, most importantly, time. Unless you already know everything in advance and play very optimally, it will likely take you at least a month before you even have a chance of escaping. In the meantime though, you're going to be completing other things to get to that point. You're completing tasks, gathering materials, exploring tarkov, building weapons, selling and bartering, developing your hideout, killing, hiding, and dying all so you can get a ticket out. By the time you reach the end, the difference from when you first started the game is so substantial that it's staggering, but it was something you built over time. Having a clear goal and ending to your journey is one thing most extraction shooters to come out after Tarkov don't really have. You're shooting and looting in Marathon to what end? Why exactly are you going on an expedition in Arc Raiders; is it even that rewarding in feeling? Extraction shooters need to have a clear purpose that requires effort from their players or else the progression feels meaningless.
The depth found in Escape From Tarkov's mechanics is unparalleled by any other shooter in existence. There is so much going on that it can feel overwhelming trying to take everything in. You have survival mechanics like food and water and body temperature, weapon durability with jamming, a complex health system with individual limbs and all sorts of status effects like bleeding and fractures, skills to level up with direct and indirect impacts on gameplay, absurdly deep weapon modification, different types of ammunition with detailed ballistics, soft armor and ballistic plates with their own materials and ratings, advanced weapon manipulation, backpacks with different layouts and sizes, the list goes on and on. Yet it's not impossible to understand it all because all these systems blend and interact with each other so naturally. You have to live in the world of Tarkov to strive in it, and you'll gain experience as you do. This depth is what's missing from other extraction shooters. You have pretty arbitrary weapon ratings in Arc Raiders where certain guns of the same model are objectively better than another. In the case of Marathon, you have these different characters and weapon mods, but they're applied to an extremely familiar combat pace where you're not really learning anything.
It's not to say that Escape From Tarkov is a perfect game. Anyone that's ever played it would laugh at you for even bringing up that notion. The game is plagued with technical issues with varying performance and server issues. Many tasks in this game are very obtuse or really grindy, especially if you're new to the game and don't have a good grasp on the game yet; hell you can even lock yourself out of the best ending in the game if you're not careful when completing a side questline. Enemy AI can be extremely punishing or extremely stupid, especially in the game's endgame areas. The maps themselves can also be poorly designed, with the Lighthouse map in particular being a real pain in the ass because half of the map is a metaphorical bomb waiting to explode. It can also feel like you're being punished for playing the game with mandatory wait times that can last days for certain items such as hideout installations or crafts. As mentioned previously, the monetization of this game can be a turnoff for many. Still though, there's an extremely deep game to be found within the mess of wires and mousetraps.
Aesthetically, Tarkov is one of my favorites in the realm of Unreal Engine 5 Realistic Tactical Milsim FPS #56054s. The woodland outskirts of Russia are very nice to look at, and the more urban areas are greatly detailed, even if it comes at the cost of performance sometimes. Despite how bad the Lighthouse map is to play in, it is weirdly nostalgic for me with its oceanside highway and the squwaking of seagulls. All the gear and comsetics in the game are well-modeled and grounded, especially so given just how much there is. The game's world outside of its visuals is also remarkable. I love both BEAR and USEC PMCs and their motivations relating to TerraGroup, the main antagonist faction of the game. I would highly recommend watching the companion Raid series that's available for viewing on Battlestate Games' Youtube Channel, which itself is one of the coolest military action movies I've ever seen. This is also the only game where I actually like how multicam black looks and doesn't immediately want to make me vomit. Tarkov's world is one that sits just outside our reality, which makes it feel all the more real.
If there's one thing that I'll say about Escape From Tarkov it's that it's one of the only shooters that made me feel really genuine emotion. I don't think there's ever been a game that's made me feel so stressed during its action, nor a game so frustrated and excited for when I have to wait for something. By the time I reached the end of my escape, relief was only one of many feelings. There was a sadness knowing the toll that this journey took on me, but there was joy, knowing everything I did finally paid off.
