For a five-year period, Escape from Tarkov has been constantly in early access. Battle State Games is continuously updating the game; however, ahead of the profile wipe for update 0.13.0.0, the Streets of Tarkov are themselves about to become a battleground.
Out on the Streets
Specifically, the streets in question are Primorsky Avenue and Klimov Street and consist of the intersection itself along with an abandoned factory, news agency building, hotel, business center, cinema, and car dealership, among other infrastructure.
Expansions to this area are planned for future updates, as the patch notes state that the location will be expanded on in future updates.
Additional settings are also being added to the game for co-op; you can decide on whether or not to have energy and water drainage, set how spawn points work (either all in one place, at the edges, or in teams), change the weather for the session, set the clock (meaning you can play a day mission or a night operation) and set whether or not to have AI-controlled allies.
Shooting range options have also improved, offering moving targets and accuracy training options.
Trinkets and Tools
Beyond adding the first part of the streets themselves, Escape from Tarkov is adding several improvements to the game with its fair share of enhancements, skills, and gear.
New weapons and equipment include the Glock 19X, Steyr AUG A1 and A3 assault rifles, GP-25 “Kostyor” 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher for AK rifles, and the SR-2M “Veresk” SMG.
Also being added are new stimulants, including the homemade Obdolbos 2, the Perfatoran blue blood (which dates to the Soviet era), and the hyperpolarization agent Tramadol.
Repairs have been improved as well. In fact, a standard or rare state can now be attained from repairing your gear, and enhancements are now also possible for your equipment (though this is based on your level for a specific skill, and more specifically at level 10).
This comes in the form of reduced damage, improved weapon accuracy, and a lower chance of malfunctioning weapons. One tradeoff, though, is that further repairs will change the active enhancement for a different trait, so timing of repairs is key to getting the most out of the enhancements.
And speaking of skills, there are now light armor and heavy armor skills as well as reworkings of charisma and intelligence (with the latter focused on how repair points are spent and in what amount, while the former adjusts insurance and Scav Box costs, paid extracts, task replacement, and healing services attributes.
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Our Take
It’s always refreshing to see a game that has been in beta for so long that continues to receive updates, which is a major part of what makes early access so appealing to developers.
Escape from Tarkov is making great use of this by adding content to a game that gamers know from the start is unfinished compared to games that ship under more traditional rules (like with what happened on Switch with the most recent mainline Pokémon games, to name an example or the mess that plagued the release and quality of Duke Nukem Forever in one of the most egregious examples of developer hell spilling over into the finished product).
But incremental updates like this as a game continues to evolve in public development show that the release model – while not always successful – does have its advantages when it works.
In the case of Escape from Tarkov, this incremental approach and periodic server resets are keeping things fresh for current players and newcomers all at once.
The realism and references to actual combat gear (such as the AK rifle series, as in the iconic AK47) and the willingness to add gear and items that expand on this for the purpose of serving the lore (like how a homebrewed stimulant in this update builds on what a corporate entity in the backstory once worked on) serve to provide an authentic experience that captures the prospects of active conflict in terms of what could happen in a case such as that which serves the lore of the game.
Escape from Tarkov continues to expand in this regard and provides a decent and realistic experience for its lore and purpose.
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