Escape from Tarkov is a nasty hardcore shooter without mercy. This typically attracts shooter nerds and extremely seasoned streamers. However, since the end of 2019, the shooter has been conquering the streaming platform Twitch around the turn of the year, and MeinMMO is trying to explain the phenomenon.
This is the situation:
- Escape from Tarkov focuses on hardcore PvP action and explains very little to its players. At the beginning, every bullet you take can mean death, and almost everything you have stays where it is.
- The shooter has been in development for over 5 years and remains a relatively small title on Twitch for most of the year.
- However, for the third consecutive year, Tarkov experiences a boom around the turn of the year, conquering Twitch and making its most engaged streamer the number 1 on the streaming platform. We are asking ourselves: Why?
1. Reason – A Unique Approach So Far
Escape from Tarkov can be compared to a good, versatile tool. You are glad to have found it and can do things you are proud of. But you have to write your own story.
No one comes along and proposes a project or gives you a manual. Only your own drive moves you forward.
Tarkov does have a background story and tells a story on its maps and missions. But a main story with self-sacrificing characters and a tearful happy ending? Forget it.
The shooter throws you onto a map, gives you a target location, and if you die on the way … you lose everything from your inventory.
You only receive rudimentary information about what is happening around you:
- There is no display of how many bullets are left in your magazine.
- If you start a co-op game with friends, they have no special marking. They look like enemies.
- No one in the game tells you where the target location is that you need to reach in the match.
- Every shot can be deadly or injure you so badly that you cannot move far.
Aside from reaching the target location, looting is in the foreground. Weapons, money, keys, armor, crafting materials – especially at the start, you fill your inventory with stuff, and experienced players are pleased to find your fresh corpse with full pockets.
Playing passively, taking aggressive action, good communication, stealth maneuvers – every situation demands an individual solution and should be planned in advance. Additionally, there is the danger that your opponents might be trying the same.
Since you can lose everything at any time, a special kind of mental stress arises – the “Gear Fear.” Starting with your starting inventory in the shooter, the first hours in the game are characterized by ongoing stress.
If you complete the mission and also take a valuable haul back to your hideout, the game rewards you, and the feeling of completing the mission is unparalleled.
In the further course of the game, collection and gameplay missions for the in-game traders become important, as well as the expansion of your hideout. Additionally, you explore other maps with tougher opponents – including NPCs and real players with high-end equipment.
If you’re looking for a few tips to get started in the hardcore shooter, check it out here:
2. Reason – Major Equipment Wipe in December
Escape from Tarkov relies on a wipe system that regularly resets players’ progress. Collected gear, completed missions, saved rubles – everything disappears, and only the starting inventory with some weapons, a bit of gear, and money remains.
In 2021, there were 2 wipes – one at the end of June and another on December 12.
At first glance, it sounds paradoxical. It’s so hard to keep your stuff together, and then it’s good when everything is gone? Yes, that’s exactly how it is.
Starting fresh with Tarkov is also something special – for regular players and new/returning players.
For returnees and beginners, “Gear Fear” kicks in. Tarkov is exciting, exhausting, absolutely unfair … and yet so attractive, fun, and rewarding.
For veterans who go through another wipe cycle, there’s a lot of fresh meat and usually new content.
Established PMCs (the player characters in Tarkov) rampage shortly after a wipe across the maps and snack every beginner who takes longer than 10 seconds to loot a corpse.
The time around wipes is often the most exciting of the entire Tarkov year. Also, because gameplay before wipes is somewhat dulled with special offers or events.
The beginner map after a wipe is the map “Customs.” A detailed guide including beginner routes can be found here:
3. Reason – Twitch Drops and Strong Emotions
Many popular streamers are expressive personalities. They openly show their feelings in front of thousands of viewers, and we get excited, rejoice over a victory, but also smile at an epic fail.
Tarkov teases out these emotions from its players. Streamers curse the game, celebrate every extraction, and due to the high difficulty and ongoing pressure in the match, watching is rarely boring.
In addition, there are Twitch Drops, where you can secure special items from December 29 to January 8, 2022. You can run Tarkov for up to 20 hours a day and receive up to 7 items daily.
In the latest Twitch Drops, every streamer can also participate and benefit from the developer gifts.
4. Reason – 25% Off on All Editions
Escape from Tarkov has been on sale since the end of December, and the discount is currently still ongoing (January 4, 2022).
You get the different game versions for 25% off, and the cheapest variant starts at €26.24 (via escapefromtarkov.com).
The versions differ in terms of starting equipment. The more expensive the package, the better you are already equipped for a start, having weapons, equipment, and a bit of money.
The starting inventory, by the way, returns after every wipe. However, you can also reset your account without a wipe and re-enter with your starting inventory at any time.
5. Reason – The Major Shooters Struggle with Issues
At the end of 2021, there is also another important reason for Tarkov’s strength – the weakness of 2 other major shooters.
Battlefield and Call of Duty are among the largest players on the shooter market, and both franchises are not doing well at the end of 2021:
- Before Christmas, CoD Warzone and Vanguard are a “shattered heap of bugs”
- Slap in the face for EA: Battlefield 5 currently has more players on Steam than the new Battlefield 2042
CoD: Vanguard and Warzone are currently plagued by many bugs, and the release of Battlefield 2042 did not go as smoothly as hoped for many players.
Since the hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov has already been able to establish a significant recognition, its boom was particularly strong this year due to the weaknesses of the competition.
Tarkov is a fascinating phenomenon that, by the way, is still theoretically in its beta phase. For the third consecutive year, the quirky shooter celebrates great successes around the turn of the year and emerges from this phase stronger each time.
Even the major shooters have already been impressed by the small title: With “Hazard Zone,” Battlefield 2042 has brought a mode that strongly resembles Tarkov, and CoD 2022 could, according to initial leaks, also bring a similar game mode.
It will be exciting to see where the journey for the interesting shooter goes. Until then, let’s continue cursing while losing a few inventories – due to gunfire from unclear directions.
Feel free to share your experiences with Escape from Tarkov and what you think is the reason for the hardcore shooter achieving such popularity year after year.
If you are looking for more games with a unique approach, we recommend the following list: 7 unique MMOs and multiplayer games that have no real alternatives
