Why you should not pre-order Escape from Tarkov

I love games and gaming and I was having a look around the web for new and also future game releases. I stumbled upon Escape from Tarkov from the russion studio Battlestate Games. My eyes glared because the official trailer was really great and I was curious as well and now I will tell you why you should not pre-order this game.

Here you can have a look at the official trailer from Battlestate Games Youtube Channel

What is Escape from Tarkov about

The game is stating that it will be a hardcore first person shooter, action-RPG with MMO elements. And the game will do anything to make your in-game life hard. And I will tell you later how it is accomplishing its mission.

At first we will have a small look at the gameplay
The game starts and you are on a dashboard like screen. You have your stash, the map where you can start a raid and the merchants.
The merchants provide you with equip. You can buy and sell stuff. The sole specialty is that they can gain your trust and will offer you better stuff.
After buying your equip you prepare your character for the raid. You can equip weapons and armor and modify everything to a large extend. For example you can choose your scope and clip. Do not forget bandages, food and water. You will need it.
Start your raid and you are in a harsh world where 2 alliances fight each other for the last resources. NPC enemies worsen your situation as well. There are no rules aside from staying alive! You can loot enemies and will gain experience which you can use to power up your skills.

The setting is placed in Norvinsk. This seems to portray a Russian (or so) region. War brought the region to a halt. Civilians are fleeing Tarkov, the main city. The staying survivors are fighting each other in gangs and trying to survive and own the place. You can decide for which side you will fight #USEC or #BEAR.

Why is it a hardcore FPS experience?

• Your character will have health and physical characteristics such as hydration, energy, blood pressure, blood loss, fractures, contusion, intoxication, exhaustion, tremors and other stuff.
• You are fragile. Without proper armor you will be squishy and die really fast. Head-shot means dead-shot.
• You will have no mini-map. You have a normal map without personal location indicator. You have to find your position and make your way on your own.
• There are no name tags or health bars. The UI is really limited.
• Enemies can become friends but friends can become enemies as well. Everything is possible.
• You have to leave the map via extraction points.
• Numerous NPC enemies are waiting for you.
• If you die, you will lose anything. What you brought to the raid. What you found. Everything. You have to plan wisely!
• Weapons have real ballistics.
• Everything will have wear out and weapons will overheat or will be jamming.
• You can interact with the environment. Other as well, tap a switch and the lights are out.

Why you should wait

The game is not really polished right now. A lot is promised and not much is reality now and we are currently in beta. The last status before release. There should be a nearly finished game. The game is not synchronous with the server a lot of time and that reduces the fun, like, a lot. It is unbalanced as well. Sounds are not played and the list destroying the fun continues.

Differences Alpha and closed Beta

There are not so much differences. But there should be a lot of differences. It seems like the closed beta started because they delayed the date for the beta in the past. This seems to be a marketing thing.

Test it before you buy

There will be an open beta test in the future. Use this possibility to have a look if this game suits your needs and is running on your system.

Do not buy upfront

We should stop buying beta or early access games and throwing money at publishers without seeing a final product first.

Dont get me wrong. This game has a lot of great ideas and a lot of potential. We have to keep an eye on it. I, for myself, am hoping that it turns out great. I love the setting and idea and will buy if it is a finished and polished product.

What do you think? Have you tried it or will you?

Stay safe out there!