Nearly a decade later, and og extraction shooter, Escape from Tarkov still isn’t worth getting in 2025.
Escape from Tarkov is not necessarily new. It’s been a thing somewhat since July 2017, almost a decade ago. It started as a closed beta, but around a year later, the game had gotten more attention. If you type the game’s name on YouTube, you’ll see more knowledgeable content creators who have played the game. Moreover, you’ll see that some of these videos or shorts are reaching dozens, if not hundreds, of thousands of views.
You should know that Escape from Tarkov is the original extraction FPS. Now, we should address the elephant in the room. You may or may not know, but Escape from Tarkov has gotten a bad reputation. And a lot of it has to do with the large number of cheaters it had. But more notably, it was involved in Gold Farming, aka real-money trading.
For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s when someone uses an MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) to sell in-game currency in exchange for actual money. One of the most common ways they’ve done this is by simply doing quick raids. Whereas some people have unlocked barters and then sold those barters. Gold Farming is also linked to credit/debit card fraud and theft.
This, of course, violated the game’s terms of agreement. However, around 2020, Battlestate Games seemed to have addressed this somewhat by advising players to proceed with extreme caution, avoiding the “constant distribution of items in raids to other players”. This is a warning I definitely took to heart while playing.
Escape from Tarkov walked so that games like Hunt: Showdown and Gray Zone Warfare can run. Moreover, this game is due to release exactly 1 day after one of the most anticipated, yet controversial, games, Black Ops 7. So, you can pretty much say this is still in beta. Just because this is the case doesn’t mean it didn’t have patches here and there to make the game more playable, aesthetically better-looking, and more. If you’d like to try it for yourself, you can preorder the game right now.
Now, obviously, it’s nowhere near going to compete with Black Ops 7. However, after finally releasing after almost a decade, is Escape from Tarkov worth getting and using as an alternative when taking a break from much bigger games? Is this game still worth playing in 2025 and beyond? Well, that’s what I’m here for. After reading my thoughts, you’ll be able to decide for yourself.
It didn’t take very long to install the game and its update, which is a bonus. But, you’ll need to register on the game’s official website and download the game’s launcher to be able to play first. It wasn’t a long process. As long as you’re okay with giving your email address and so on, you’ll go. Escape from Tarkov as of now, and since day 1 has been only available on PC.
Escape from Tarkov’s setting is in the fictional Norvinsk place of Northwest Russia. A devastating war occurs between the two private military units, United Security (USEC) and the Battle Encounter Assault Regiment (BEAR). The gameplay is supposed to be ultra-realistic and hardcore FPS. As of now, it has three game modes: online PMC raids, Scav (Scavenger) raids, and an offline mode that’s only available for a limited time.
Whether you’re playing alone or with friends, you’re given extraction points on other sides of each map, and you’ll have to fight against other real-life and NPC players to reach that point for survival. When a player dies, they’ll lose everything they had taken to the raid. Plus, their health becomes staggeringly low, and you have the option to restore their health before entering another match.
After playing a scav raid, there’s a cooldown period, and you’ll have to wait until the mode is ready to play again. But if you’re not in a raid, to earn in-game money, you can sell loot to traders. Also, sometimes you’ll be tasked with a quest by these readers to improve their trader loyalty, as well as unlock other quests and items. Some of the rewards you obtain are reduced cooldown time for Scav mode, being able to craft items, and more.
I’m not a big fan of extraction/looter shooters, but I figured to give this game a go, try it out for myself, and see how it plays. Unfortunately, I have to tell you it isn’t very good. As I got into my 1st game, I immediately noticed the difference in visuals from now to when it was like 4/5 years ago. Although the improvements aren’t significant, it’s still noticeable, which is what motivated me to continue playing for as long as I did.
However, the movement is still very slow and tedious. And partly because of that, I didn’t bother laying any more than around five games. That doesn’t mean those of you who prefer extraction shooters shouldn’t give this a shot. After selecting a faction, you get to customise your character with a very limited number of character presets.
But the gear you have from the character menu isn’t limited. Escape from Tarkov lets you equip a ton of gear, ranging from an earpiece to body armour to a backpack, almost as if you’re preparing for survival—hint hint. Also in the character menu, you can look over and deal with your health, skills, map, tasks, achievements, and prestige.
Despite still being in the beta phase, and with the main menu clearly stating that the beta version isn’t of final quality, I still don’t think Escape from Tarkov should be absolved of heavy criticism. Another reason I’m not too keen on playing after a few games is that this game doesn’t have native controller support and is technically only for mouse-and-keyboard players.
However, you might be able to play with a controller if you use Steam’s Big Picture Mode and configure your own inputs, or use third-party software, or more. However, on the same token, it’s apparently said that you’re drastically more at an advantage by using a mouse and keyboard for your overall experience. And because of this, I don’t expect controller support to ever come to the game.
Sorry, controller players, but if you’re thinking of getting Escape from Tarkov, you may need to look elsewhere. Another problem I faced is how unbelievably slow the matchmaking is. It takes forever to get into a game. At a certain point, I waited like 5-10 minutes before even getting into a match. And when I’m finally in a match, it takes even longer to spot an enemy. This doesn’t help when each match allows a maximum of 14 players and each map is very large. On top of that, the gunplay is weak.
Escape from Tarkov has almost nothing that is fundamentally immersive or exciting. Hardcore extraction shooter fans might get a kick out of this, but for those who are new to the genre and want to try something different, they might be put off by this game.
