Escape From Tarkov has, by most measures, managed to stabilize its community and meta since the last time I talked about it. The big tripwire update is neat, too, but ??I just can't bring myself to play it anymore. Instead, I spend my tim??e in SPT, and it's a hoot.

Now, obviously, I'm a bit weird when it comes to my gaming preferences. I actively play Helldivers 2 on my own, deliberately. And, really, I've never been shy about the fact that I adore what the SPT team has done with Escape From Tarkov. By now, though, I'm absolutely all-in on Single-Player Tarkov with virtually no interest in actually getting my PMC eviscerated by a cheater on the official servers. Some are probably going to wonder why on Earth wouldn't I just jump into Escape From Tarkov'??s official PvE mode, and the answer is actually very simp?le: mods.

The fact that SPT (now simplified from the mod's previous SPT-AKI moniker) is a fair few build and ?content updates behind official has stopped worrying me. The FOMO of using the aforementioned tripwires, bipods, and the revered Desert Eagle gets pretty inconsequential when you have access to SPT's ridiculously varied glut of player-made content, you see.

To be fair, SPT has always had mods. A community has been brewing in the background of this project for a very long t??ime now, and some modders are still simply updating their years-old custom content to keep it relev?ant in 2024 and beyond.

From my personal experience, however, it wasn't until SPT's 3.8 build (one before the current 3.9ish) that SPT's modding scene really took off. We now have significant near-weekly community content drops from some creator groups. Usually, they include entirely new guns, such as IWI Carmel, which ??I don't believe I've seen in any other med??ia just yet.

For the nostalgia hounds, however, I'd recommend both variants of the classic Remington ACR carbine, as they allow you to set up custom builds with different generational variants of the weapon. For those who want to modernize their ACR kit, the Modern Warfare 3 version of the fictional MCW platform has also been developed for SPT. Yes, those are thre??e different versio?ns of the same weapon, more or less, except each is slightly different in some meaningful ways. Perfect for a gun nerd.

New guns are just the tip of the iceberg for SPT, naturally. I've previously discussed the addition of Pokemon cards to the game as a?n optional high-value collectible. Well, now there are Yu-Gi-Oh cards available, too. If you want to add even more zesty variety to your SPT experience, you could install the More Energy Drinks and WTT - Corner Store mods as well, each adding a kind of ridiculous number of real-world food 'n' stuff. I've installed an incredible number of mods to my build of SPT by now, and there have been no problems wit??h crashing or anything like that. The initial loading, granted, is a bit longer, but I can live with it.

Just to circle back to SPT being a few content updates behind Escape From Tarkov live, a dedicated modder has back-ported all of Update 15's new guns, clothing, armor, and attachments into SPT 3??.9 already. Kind of ridiculous, isn't it?

The sheer breadth and variety of community-made mods for SPT are astonishing. Escape From Tarkov is the much-needed baseline for SPT, and BSG's work is hugely valued. The thing is th??at I just cannot see myself returning to the stock Tarkov experience, and I'm sure I??'m not the only one.

This is where it gets interesting, sort of. Battlestate Games has, as of very recently, stated that "[they] will add MOD support for PvE mode after release of the game." I've got absolutely no idea how that might work, but I expect this will be a hugely neutered feature that won't be able to compare to the stuff that SPT modders have ?been putting out.

It's still good news, of course, and a potential sign that BSG might properly upgrade the off??icial PvE game mode down the line.

As it curr??ently stands, though? SPT has far superior AI, a greater variety of content, and essentially weekly content drops that you can but don't have to interact with. All of it is driven by the community, all thanks to mods. I just don't see the official PvE mode being ope??n enough to meaningfully integrate all of these upgrades.

And so I'm more than happy to stick a few builds behind Tarkov proper just to be able to access the SPT community's content goodness. In fact, I'm way more excited about new mod drops nowadays than I am about Escape From Tarkov's major content updates. It's n?ot so?mething I expected to happen just a few years back, but here we are.

The post I’m more excited about Single-Player Tarkov mod’s player-made content that the official updates appeared first on Destructoid.

Escape From Tarkov's hotly anticipated patch 0.15 is now out, and the official patch notes are available as well if you are inclined to check them out. We've got a concrete list of all new guns ?and gun-related features listed in the notes, for one, so it's an interesting read.

Escape From Tarkov's patch 0.15 has been a long time coming, featuring a rework of the game's very first map, a new Karma system for keeping track of the players' in-game "honor," a boss that spawns depending on the players' Karma, the ability to travel from one location to the next using loading zones, and - of course - the tripwires themselves. Tripwires alone would'?ve been a meta-defining feature, but they're coming out as part of a fairly substantial content update that is impressive in every sense of the word. Be sure to check out the trailer below.

Escape From Tarkov: Patch 0.15 patch notes are now out

Escape From Tarkov's up?date 0.15 patch notes are available on the offici??al game forum, but if you're only interested in a short and to-t??he-p??oint overview of what's what, I've got you covered:

• Factory rework (featuring new areas, redesigned old areas, adjusted spawns, and more)
• Partisan hunter-type boss, which stalks players, sets up traps, etc.
• Hidden parameter: Karma
• Traveling from one in-game level to another
• Tripwire installation kit item, allowing you to turn any grenade into a tripwire
• Bipods and weapon-mounting
• Gear Rack for the Hideout
• Cultist Circle for the Hideout
• Improved PvE AI behavior via the new enemy reaction system
• IWI UZI SMG (three variants)
• SR-3M assault rifle
• Magnum Research Desert Eagle (five variants)
• US Ordnance M60 light machine gun (three variants)
• Updated various weapon models (AS weapon family, PP weapon family)
• Various new weapon attachments
• Smooth scope zoom functionality
• New grenades, armor, and other assorted loot

This is?, once again, just a broad overview of the most important improvements and additions of update 0.15. For those who are into the nitty-gritty of the new build, I highly recommend checking out the full patch notes using the link above.

As for myself, though? I'm still collecting all those Pokémon cards back in SPT-AKI. It's going to take a fair few months before the single-player Tarkov mod reaches parity with Battlestate Games' official update, so don't expect to see any real movement on that front anytime soon. Yet, a back-porting of guns to the current version of SPT-AKI is bound to happen in relatively short order, so it's not a total wash. Gotta wonder, though: are the modded bots going to be able to put down tripwires? If so... we're in trouble. Here's hoping Sulfur is on the horizon, at least!

The post Escape From Tarkov’s tripwire update patchnotes are out, referencing weapon mounting, bipods, Deagle, Uzi, and more appeared first on Destructoid.

Escape from Tarkov is set to receive a wipe when Patch 0.15.0.0 rolls out. The upcoming patch will be released on August 20, Think of a wipe in Escape from Tarkov as a complete reboot, where players lose all progress and loot ?that they have managed since the previous wipe.

While the wipe was expected by fans, there’s a new feature coming to Escape from Tarkov which has fans worried. A new trailer for Patch 0.15.0.0 was released on August 14, which teased everything new that’s coming to Escape from Tarkov.

Among t?hose upcoming features, was the ability to set up grenade trip mines. These trip mines can be placed anywhere, allowing players to set?? up traps, lure people in, and wait for the eventual bang.

While grenade trip mines are not something people have not heard of, their inclusion in Escape from Tarkov does raise eyebrows. Players are worried that they are now in for some of the most annoying and frustrating moments while playing the game. This is due to the gameplay of Escape from Tarkov where players lose all their equipped items when ?they die.

There's no fucking way you're allowing people to set grenade tripwires.

The toxicity and rage-quitting is about to be beyond understandable. 😂Can't wait for Spawn camping to be augmented with "Let's set up 26 tripwires and rake in the loot!"

— Fate Of Nines - Vtuber - Ear Wiggle Arc (@Fate_Of_Nines) August 14, 2024

I am really not look??ing forward to trip mines. Sounds unfun and frustrating to be on receiving en??d...

— Simoon (@Simon9784) August 14, 2024

Some players are also worried that the addition of grenade tripwires will lead to an increase in toxicity and rage-quit?s. “The toxicity and rage-quitting is about to be beyond understandable�? commented a player under the official tra??iler post.

There’s mixed feelings about the upcomi??ng grenade tripwires, with some players looking forward to making use of the new strategy. Here are some of the best reactions:

I'm wiring up all the fucking bushes pic.twitter.com/hCMNhGMg4U

— Mʸᵏʳᵒ (@ItsMykro) August 14, 2024

Im going hunting with the trip wires boys

— Timmy (@SkiiMaskTimmy) August 14, 2024

Well, it remains to be seen how the introduction of tripwires will really turn out, but one thing is for sure, you really need to be on your toes at every corner more than ever now in Escape from Tarkov.

The post Escape from Tarkov Beta 0.15.0 Patch trai??ler teases introduction of grenade tripwires and players are already dreading it appeared first on Destructoid.

As hardcore as it may be, Escape From Tarkov's economy is fairly geeky as well, relying on cheeky figurines and other rare gizmos. If you'd like to lean into that more heavily, you can do so in the unofficial single-player mod SPT-AKI, where collectible Pokemon c??ards are a must-have.

It should come as no surprise at all that the folks enjoying SPT-AKI have access to some truly weird features that would never make their way into Tarkov proper. It's all thanks to modders such as Krackasourus, who've dedicated a non-insignificant amount of time to making wacky, yet intriguing mods for the hardcore tactical shooter. Krackasourus's input on the matter comes through their Collectables: Pokemon Cards mod, which? adds a whopping 156 trading cards featuring all of the original pocket monsters in all their glory.

Collect Pokemon cards in SPT-AKI thanks to Krackasourus

It gets better, too: Krackasourus hasn't just thrown over a hundred limited-edition Pokemon cards into Tarkov's burgeoning economy. They've also added three custom Pokemon-themed card binders to hold these cards, and three different card boosters "for that nice new cards smell," as Krackasourus puts it. Further, their secondary Collectables: Card case mod adds a whole new display section to the? base Hall of Fame room of the hideout.

Krackasourus' mods add a whole new layer to Escape From Tarkov's loot lineup, where the new Pokemon cards are rare and coveted valuables that make it even more important to scour through every single loot drop location in a given raid. It's great stuff, and if you're anything like m?e, you'll enjoy col??lecting all the classic Pokemon cards in an active virtual warzone. That's just how it goes sometimes, right?

For those who aren't that keen on Pokemon themselves, but do wish to collect something novel in the same vein, there's Krackasourus' Collectables: Anime Girls mod featuring 75 cards with unique holofoil designs for a part??icularly rare treat. It, too, comes with a slew of binders and boosters to keep things interesting even when you're keen deep into collecting, so you also get to organize all these cards, to?? boot.

Do note, of course, that SPT-AKI has recently been updated to build version 3.9. If you're still using the older 3.8 build of the mod, you may wish to archive it and move on to the newer, more polished, and more feature-rich version when you have the chance to do ??so. Krackasou?rus' mods are all already up-to-date for build 3.9, and sticking with the older version precludes you from getting the latest mod hotfixes, which is worth keeping in mind.

The post Someone’s added collectible Pokemon cards to Escape From Tarkov single-player mod appeared first on Destructoid.

It wasn't that long ago that Escape From Tarkov dealt with a humongous cheating problem that may or may not have been dealt with. Yet, here goes a new problem: the $250 non-DLC that allows players to enjoy co-op ??PvE. For the ??single-player mod SPT-AKI, though, this is good news.

Notably, as the developer B?attlestate Games is struggling to make a?mends with its community, a substantial number of people have decided to give the third-party offline SPT-AKI mod a chance, instead. So many of them, in fact, that the SPT-AKI website crumbled under the influx of visitors and didn't go back up until the development team set up an emergency download page for the mod. "You killed our site," says the announcement," so now you get a basic-ass page." It works remarkably well, though, and even provides valuable links to some of the community's favorite mods and tweaks for SPT-AKI, such as the surprisingly life-like SAIN bot rework.

Single-player Tarkov mod SPT-AKI is so popular now that the developer had to simplify its website

As Battlestate Games is in a tough situation following the Unheard edition fiasco, those who are eager to play Tarkov offline chose to turn the other way. Specifically, the way that doesn't cost them hundreds of dollars just to play without other players getting in their way. The number of playe??rs doing that, specifically, is so substantial that SPT-AKI's website went up in flames until the stripped-down emergency version could be pushed live.

The thing about SPT-AKI is that, up until Escape From Tarkov's $250 Unheard edition and its PvE co-op mode, it wasn't a competitor to Tarkov proper in any meaningful way. In fact, SPT-AKI specifically cannot be played in multiplayer in any way, shape, or form, and the mod checks if the player has the official version of Tarkov installed on their PC before?? being able to play.

Battlestate Games has never been too keen on the existence of third-party mods for Tarkov, though one of the things the team promised following the recent community outburst is ?that the official build of the game would support mods after its 1.0 build came out.

The latest update on the matter, actually, is that Bat??tlestate Games will?? leave SPT-AKI alone for the time being, though it's worth keeping in mind that Unheard edition's PvE mode overlaps with SPT in some ways, on top of being less feature-rich than it. Further, as the Unheard edition's co-op mode is still hosted on Battlestate's servers, whatever mods Tarkov gets after 1.0 comes out will have to be far simpler than anything the SPT-AKI community h?as been putting out as of late.

As someone who's spent way more time in SPT-AKI than in Tarkov proper, I certainly understand the predicament and the desire not to deal with toxicity present in the live build of the game. For those who just enjoy the gameplay loop, the in-depth gunplay, and the ability to change things around, add community content into the mix, and fiddle around with the game files, Tarkov and SPT-AKI hardly even existed i??n th??e same niche until very recently. As for what happens next, we just don't know yet, but the proverbial cat is now certainly out of the bag.

The post As Escape From Tarko??v reels from its $250 edition backlash, th??e single-player mod SPT-AKI enjoys its time in the sun appeared first on Destructoid.

Earlier this week, Battlestate Games released a trailer for The Unheard Edition, which caused an uproar within Escape from Tarkov’s passionate community. That's because Unheared Edition, which is already being branded as ‘pay-to-win�?content, breaks a former promise to fans about Tarkov's DLC p?ractices.

Now, Battlestate Games is working to set things right with the commun??ity. However, the damage may have already been done.

Battlestate Games has its own definition of DLCs

The previous Edge of Darkness Edition release came with the promise that all future DLC would be included. But after introducing The Unheard Edition, Edge of Darkness Edition was delisted, along with the removal of any mention of free access to ??future?? DLCs.

The biggest problem is that Edge of Darkness was meant to include a long-awaited PvE mode. That mode has since been announced as an exclusive mode for owners of The Unheard Edition. According to Battlestate Games�?lead developer, Nikita Buyanov, the hi?ghly anticipated PvE g??ame mode that players waited years for isn’t considered a DLC to them.

"First of all, PvE gamemode this is not DLC," Nikita??? said in a post shared to the Escape from Tarkov Reddit. "DLC in our understanding? is the major additions to the ga?me, including various functionality and content that are released after the official release of the game as a themed DLC pack (Scav Life DLC for example, which will add a lot of new mechanics and content for Scav gameplay and leveling)."

Players will reportedly receive a discount when upgrading to The Unheard Edition, along with a few in-game items and features that pale in comparison to the PvE game mode, but it doesn't address the chief concern from fans. Promises were made over seven years ago when the most generous supporters paid $150 for Edge of Darkness Edition which itself was seen as controversial at the time since Escape from Tarkov’s vision was extremely a??mbit??ious from the beginning. 

Tarkov fans aren't buying calls to be "True Believers"

For the Edge of Darkness supporters who wasted no time to upgrade to The Unheard Edition before the discount was applied, an additional cop??y of the game will be sent to them as compensation. r/EscapefromTarkov mod, Zavodskoy, was one of the first to question the reasoning for not issuing a partial refund.

"But selling third party game copies is against your TOS? That isn't compensation, if they've bought Unheard of then they don't need a second copy of the game? Why can't they have a partial refund?" Zavodoskoy asked in a comment.

Many of Escape from Tarkov’s beloved streamers have joined the community in airing out their grievances on streams, in videos, and across social media. In response to a leaked interview with Nikita Buyanov that was confirmed real by Battlestate Games Community Manager u/appl3z0r, top Tarkov streamer, Lvndmark, expressed his frustrations with Nikita’s attitude towards the ??community’s issues and his comment on seeing who the ‘true believers�?are.  

While tension between the Tarkov community and Battlestate Games isn’t rare, controversy in the past has mostly been about balancing and in-game mechanics. The community itself usually takes different stances on changes or suggestions for the game and rarely stands united. Longtime players and streamers w??ho are considere?d pillars of the community are speaking out and mentioning that they’ll be looking to expand their content in other games due to their disappointment in Battlestate Games�?actions. 

All Tarkov players will get PvE -- someday

In what looks to be a final attempt at quelling the community's anger, Nikita did release a short apology, naming adjustments that would be made to the Edge of Darkness and Unheard Editions.

With Edge of Darkness players finally getting PvE mode access for free (after Tarkov's official release), one of the most critical concerns of the community has been addressed. But has too much damage already been done? Based on the players' responses to the Reddit post, it's going to take a long time before Battlestate Games can ear??n back the trust of its once-loyal player base.

According to Nikita, the cost of additional servers to accommodate all of the Edge of Darkness supporters was th??e primary reason for not? granting access to PvE. But, worryingly, there's no date given for when that access will be granted or those servers upgraded; just a vague "as soon as possible."

With the release of Gray Zone Warfare on the horizo??n, the extraction-shooter genre is becoming increasingly competitive. Battlestate Games will have an uphill battle to make amends with its supporters; ??otherwise, there won’t be a vision left to believe in. 

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Whatever good faith Battlestate Games has built over Escape From Tarkov's 6-year stint in beta is running low, as a pricey new version of the extraction shooter is causing an uproar in Tarkov's community.

A newly announced version of the game, "The Unheard Edition," is available for purchase right now for a ludicrous $250 plus tax. What's more, the new content in this edition is not included if you purchased the previously available $120 Edge of Darkness edition of the game, which promised "free access to all subsequent DLCs (Season pass)."

If you own Edge of Darkness and want the ?new content, most notable of which is the new persistent PvE mo??de, you'll need to shell out a whopping $100 to upgrade. The community is, justifiably, in flames.

A deluge of spam hit the Escape From Tarkov Discord earlier today which reads as follows:

To add to the sting, The Unheard Edition has clear pay-to-win elements, including pre-leveled player skills, larger player carrying capacity, increased Fence reputation, and economy bonuses like reduced costs to in-raid cash services. While it could be argued that the Gamma case from the Edge of Darkness edition was als?o pay-to-win, outright bonuses to player stats and the fact that AI enemies (Scavs) won't attack players from outside 60 meters (thanks to the increased Fence reputation??) is an undeniable advantage.

The largest chunk of new content, however, is the persistent PvE mode. Persistent PvE has been a much-requested feature for the game, and appeals to players who don't want to sweat against other players, some of whom may be cheating, or who want to practice on their own. This PvE mode features co-op, but also runs on the Battlestate servers, with some players reporting wait times upwards of 6 to 12 minutes for a single player session.

This is all to say nothing of the existing single player Tarkov mod, known as SPTarkov, which has quietly grown in popularity as more players grow weary of the state of the game. This unsanctioned mod runs independently of the official game, but does require a purchased copy in order to function. Time will tell if The Unheard Edition of Escape From Tarkov will embolden Battlestate Games to take any action, as many players of the mod also bal?king at the $250 price tag re?quired to try the "official" version.

The post Es???cape From Tarkov community in flames as persistent PvE is locked behind new $250 edition appeared first on Destructoid.

Ever since one Escape From Tarkov player publicly revealed their findings that up to 60% of Tarkov matches might play host to cheaters, the community has taken a more negative stance towards the developer, Battlestate Games. Now, Battlestate Games has announced that its more focused and hectic Escape From Tarkov: Arena title will be coming out som?etime in December 2023, and the players are hig??hly suspicious of this claim.

The news broke when Forbes covered a recent interview with the Battlestate Games CEO, Nikita Buyanov, stating that "Early December is a good period of time that we want to release [Arena]." This soon made its way onto the r/pcgaming subreddit, where Tarkov players flocked to share their takes on what's actually bound to happen with Arena.

What to make of Escape From Tarkov: Arena?

"For anyone uninitiated," said Reddit user bauN7, "Battle State Games has been late on every single timeline they've ever given for Tarkov. Literally every. Single. One." Aside from the matters of release date windows, the players are also cynical about the value that Arena may or may not be adding to Tarkov as a whole.

The situation is similarly dire on the official Tarkov subreddit, where players are admittedly being more technical in their critique at least. TheJigglyfat highlighted a situation in which Tarkov's emblematic desync issues caused massive differences betw?een what two different players were seeing, which means that the match was effectively decided?? by lag live on stream.

It's not a great look, then, but the community's jadedness isn't necessarily a sign that BSG will have trouble managing Arena as well. In the end, if push comes to shove, at least the single-player offline version of Tarkov seems to be prospering well enough.

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Escape From Tarkov is one of the most complex first-person shooters on the market right now, and it has successfully been holding onto this title for years now. This complexity appeals to many players: from its excessively detailed weapon modification systems to its janky but engaging combat loop, Tarkov delivers the sort of experience that virtually no other FPS has delivered. They've certainly tried, mind. Th??e game's appealing complexity, however, goes hand-in-hand with its always-online progression systems, where you're always engaging with other players. This, of course, means you're always at the risk of losing everything you're carrying, which is bound to put many people off.

The game's many issues did come to a head with the massive Tarkov cheating scandal from earlier in 2023. The developer, Battlestate Games, issued some updates on that front, but the fact of the matter still is that the innately cutthroat economy of the game may be preventing newcomers from jumping into the fray. But, what if you could take other players out of the equation? As some might already know, there's a group of dedicated modders working to fashion Escape From Tarkov into a full-fledged single-player s??urvival FPS, and it just so happens that they're doing a phenomenal job of it.

Tarkov's single-player mod works great, in fact

Specifically, this article is dedicated wholly to SPT-AKI, the most comprehensive of several different Tarkov modding projects. Aside from its sheer longevity, having first come out back in late 2020, SPT-AKI is also importan??t becau??se it's got a big community of modders working on it, and because it's making absolutely no attempts at producing a co-op version of the game to boot.

In other words, SPT-AKI will never have a multiplayer component to it, as the devs are working to keep it separate from Tarkov proper: "EFT is a multiplayer game. SPT is a singleplayer modification to this game. No overlap," says an announcement from the devs. "The Singleplayer Tarkov Project (SPT) has and will never provide an EFT experi??ence with multiplayer capabilities [separate from BSG]. We develop an ??offline singleplayer experience that requires a legal copy to play, and won't and will never be otherwise."

Indeed, it is not possible to play SPT-AKI without owning a legal copy of Escape From Tarkov, and the installation of the offline mod includes setting up a totally separate file base that does not impinge on the base game. Following a shor??t and fairly foolproof installation process, you're good to go!

Is Escape From Tarkov worth playing offline?

The obvious question poses itself: is an extraction shooter such as Escape From Tarkov even worth playing if you take real human players out of the equation? In most cases, the answer would be a resounding no, but Tarkov's gameplay loop is far too engaging?? to suffer the same fate. Moreover, SPT-AKI's modders have discovered ways of compensating for the base game's sometimes shodd??y AI.

Indeed, AI extensions for SPT-AKI include (but are not limi?ted to):

• allowing bots to ex?plor??e and patrol across entire in-game levels
• allowing bots to complete their own quests
• allowing bots to freely loot items they find
• fully reworking the bo??ts' combat logic to perform more like real-world players

In other words, SPT-AKI's bots can behave almost exactly like human players, to the point where they may end up actively pursuing you across maps. Heck, some modders have even allowed them to use their VOIP functionality to spew memes, making the whole experience that much more authentic. Aside from all the cheating that may or may not be present in mainline Tarkov, that is.

Modding the modded Tarkov

One of SPT-AKI's biggest strengths - aside from allowing you to play offline proper - is that it serves as a modding platform for a wealth of fan-made content. Much of it is very transformative, in fact, to the point that it turns the game into even m?ore of a combat sim than it already is.

Certainly, one could simply use SPT-AKI to throw more guns, armor, and cosmetics into Tarkov, but mods such as Fontaine's Combat Stance Overhaul add additional layers to an already impressively deep combat system. CSO, specifically, allows you to switch between different weapon handling systems on the fly: something that's only recently made its way into Call of Duty.

While you could very well just turn off Escape From Tarkov's equipment loss penalty, wouldn't it be more interesting to be able to granularly slide weapon attachments precisely where you want them to be? SPT-AKI is, therefore, precisely as game-breaking or game-c??hanging as you want it to be.

Tarkov for people that don't like Tarkov

It should, perhaps, come as no real surprise that the SPT-AKI dev team is affiliated with the STALKER: Anomaly devs, as per its disclaimer page. Anomaly is a hugely comprehensive modpack for the legendary survival FPS that amps up its complexity to a ridiculous level. It is, in a sense, very similar to Escape From Tarkov itself.

Anomaly, too, is a lonely experience by design. It's a game that will, by default, allow its player to persevere only if they eke it out by the skin of their teeth. In concept, STALKER games have always been somewhat similar to Tarkov, but its multiplayer nature has meant that many fans of the former might end up being put off by its gameplay. SPT-AKI side-steps this issue, all the while giving way to Battlestate Games to continue its always-online romp for t?hose who do enjoy it. It's quite lovely, really!

The post Let’s take a look at Escape From Tarkov’s thriving single-player modding scene appeared first on Destructoid.

DMZ's success might be marking the end of an era

Anyone who was within a hundred-mile radius of the video game industry from 2018-2020 was no stranger to battle royale modes. Suddenly titles like Fortnite and PUBG were some of the biggest games in the world, and it seemed like every franchise wanted a piece of the pie. We had Call of Duty enter the mix with Warzone, the character-focused Apex Legends, and we even got a battle royale mode for Tetris. Tetris!

It feels like we're finally growing tired of the mode thes??e days (or at the very least, the release of new battle royale-themed modes have slowed down significantly), and it leaves me wondering, which hot new mode will take over as the trendsetting game type?

After seeing the success of Call of Duty's new DMZ mode, well, that's where I'd put my money. It's only been out for a few weeks, but players have been pretty vocal about how much they enjoy DMZ's twist on a Warzone-like game mode. While the mode was released alongside the refreshed release of the battle royale mode, now called Warzone 2.0, it seems to me that DMZ ?is threatening to overshadow its well-loved? predecessor.

DMZ, which stands for "demilitarized zone," drops players into a large, open map with the goal of reaching exfil points to successfully extract from the game, hopefully with all of the loot they managed to accrue in tow. The map has points of interest and optional objectives that players can complete, as well as both AI and player enemies to contend with. Activision is calling it an "open-world, narrative-focused ext??raction mode." I've yet to see the narrative element reveal itself, although these days people ??often throw the word around in places where I don't think it's warranted. So I guess we'll see.

It all started in Tarkov

Unless there's some other secret extraction-centered game out there that I don't know about, it appears that the still-supported 2017 title Escape from Tarkov pioneered the combination open world/scripted mode that we see today. The game is described as "realistic" and "hardcore," with minimal UI and brutal encounters. While I've not played Tarkov myself, the sense I get is that it was a niche, unforgiving type of game that players really had to dig into to enjoy (along the lines of something like Rust), the core mechanics of which Call of Duty modified to make their own?? version more mainstream-f??riendly.

As I was reading more about Tarkov to learn a bit more about where this new game type came from, a few quotes really stuck out to me. In 2020, PC Gamer's Steven Messner called it "a daunting and savage evolution of battle royale" and "a new vein of potential for online shooters." Messner was ahead of the curve, methinks, because after seeing how fans have taken to Call of Duty's take on an extraction mode, I get the feeling it'll be the new wave that sweeps over ?the online multiplayer ?genre.

Everyone wants a free-to-play mode, because let's face it: they make a buttload of money. With the battle royale craze now settling to a simmer, anyone who's going to want to play one will stick to the big-name titles that have established staying power, like Fortnite, Warzone, and Apex Legends. Trends are trends, whether they're in fashion, cinema, or slang, and anything that becomes popular is bound to grow tiresome and overplayed eventually. That doesn't mean battle royale should or?? will go away forever, but the hype machine of the public eye will inevitably move on to newer, shinier toys.

BR's reign may be coming to an end

If a new IP were looking to break into the multiplayer space, however, or at least add a new game mode to draw in new players, all they'd have to do is put their own spin on extraction and voila, they're riding the trends yet again. I was never much of a battle royale person myself, but I do remember wondering back in 2018 as I stared down the giant Battle Bus on top of the Fortnite booth at E3 what the next game type would be to take over the industry with the same ferocity �?and whether I would be pulled along with the current when it fina??lly came along.

Escape from Tarkov actually released in closed beta in 2017, the exact same year as PUBG and Fortnite's battle royale mode. It may have been eclipsed by the all-powerful BR mode, but it's only a matter of time before everyone and their mother is releasing an extraction game type. I'm looking forward to seeing how other releases will continue to iterate on the genre's tentpole mechanics, and whether DMZ will be able to hold onto the extr??act??ion mode throne.

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