Recently, aka yesterday I finally bought a game that has been on my radar for a long time, Escape From Tarkov, you have probably heard rumblings of it as well from a friend or seen game play trailers, so i took the plunge and bought it and i'm completely impressed with it, for an Early Access game it's amazingly polished for what it is, there are some things that need to be added and adapted but for the most part this is a game that Early Access was made for.

So ration your ammo, and prepare to die over and over again as we review, Escape From Tarkov.

Setting

The setting of Escape from Tarkov, henceforth know as EFT, Is a military survival game that pits you against the PvE and PvP aspects of an abandoned city in the wake of a war, at the moment during Beta the maps are broken up into level but eventually they're going to be mixing it all together into a massive scale city for you to run amok in, to give you a bit of an example the finished product will look something like The Division and original Rust combined together except littered with small towns, outposts and buildings, at the moment there are 4 maps available that are pretty huge in their own right, they're essentially Battlefield maps in their scope.

The abandoned Russian city and its outskirts are home to two PMC groups, USEC and BEAR while also being home to Scavengers(SCAVS) players will load into these area's and fight against each other to acquire better loot while also evading each other and the NPC's to make it to an extraction point which can be extremely hard, like i said these are battlefield size maps and where you spawn may be 10-20 minutes of sprinting while evading other players and npcs just to extract at certain eras.

The setting of the game isn't all that important, what really is is the game play and how it is affected by the settings remember this is ESCAPE from tarkov, as soon as you load in you're trying to get out with as much loot as possible and the destroyed towns and buildings hide many obstacles but also provide much support just keep in mind you never know where someone is until you sneak up on them or they take you out.

Game Play

This is real survival on a brutal scale, the game play of EFT is a you die, game over, you start the game with a few items that you can take in to the world depending on how you kit yourself out in the character screen, this ranges from type of armor, backpacks,weapons,ammo,supplies and health items but there's a catch, sure you can go in with a fully upgraded assault rifle, the best armor and the best carrying capacity but if you die, that's it, the loot stays in the game and you can not get it back ever.

EFT is built around the loot and trade system with NPC traders, you'll work on your character to achieve the best level of gear you can with the resources you have and while some weapons are amazing and give you a giant edge on the competition, a well placed pistol shot to your head will signal the end of that as I visited on a player yesterday.

I joined in to a server with only a knife, after 15 minutes of scavenging i finally acquired a shotgun with 4 bullets, so that's all I had, 4 bullets and a shotgun, while making my way to the extraction zone i happened across an extremely geared player also slowly moving towards the extraction zone, slowly creeping my way up to him one slug in the back of the head netted me an entire kit, a tactical vest a huge backpack, two great rifles and a bunch of other items, that's the nature of EFT.

The actual gameplay however is rather fluid for being an Early Access title, it could benefit from some terrain smoothing and less "jumpy" controls but overall it's very responsive and fluid for what you're going to be doing, the game is broken up into multiple parts such as gun play, looting and extraction, so lets break those down below.

Gun play

The Devs over at Battle State Games have done an amazing job at making the guns and everything involved superior to most games, every gun has been hand crafted in design and looks and feels amazing remember this is a partial simulation game so the guns handle like in real life, no shotguns sniping people off buildings at 50 meters, the guns tie in very well with the entire game as you'll have to use military strategy to accomplish your objective, someone with an M4A1 and an ACOG scope can very comfortably sit back and take shots at someone, while someone with a pistol will need to get into prime position to take out a player.

Now keep in mind this is Early Access and the devs have said that more things will be added soon to enhance the gun play but even at this stage it feels finished and they have handled their development with care to create this experience, it's incredibly satisfying picking someone with an AKM in the middle of a gunfight or breaching a door and gunning someone down with a shotgun, the thing to keep in mind is this is an attempt to keep it as realistic as possible so you won't see people doing wacky stuff like you do in other FPS games.

Looting and Trading

This is almost as important as the game itself, looting is the main source of gear in EFT and will be complimented by trading with NPC's outside of the game, there is loot everywhere in the game and you'll find very quickly you'll be picking and choosing what to keep and what to leave, the loot runs the gambit of high end weapons right down to vendor trash like screws and cigarettes it's up to you to secure these items as you make your way to the extraction zones and decide what you really want to bring back with you.

Traders will also give you side quests to unlock even better weapons and materials to use and these are often pretty brutal, the first quest to bring back 3 shotguns from the Customs map doesn't seem like much but when you take into account everything that goes into EFT and realizing you have to find 3 shotguns without dying but also make your way past players and npcs to an extraction makes it a nightmare.

This is pretty much the overall tone for EFT it's a brutal, punishing experience with an extremely high risk Vs reward system and every aspect of the game is like this, you may get lucky sometimes and the first crate you loot in has a high powered rifle and you'll decide "okay that's more than enough" and run to an extraction zone, only to get gunned down in your haste and like i said before, death is final whatever you die with stays there for the other player to loot.

It is brutal.

The game is brutal, its punishing and extremely anxiety inducing, every thing in this game is meant to kill you unless you're either flawless in your approach or have enough handy to survive for example, in games like PubG or Rust and the like getting into a fire fight and surviving with one health is considered a clutch move, in EFT you may as well of died, the realism of this game is what makes it so hard for example, if you get shot in the leg and you're unlucky enough for it to enter where a bone is, your bone is gonna break your character is going to feel extreme pain and you're going to bleed out.

There are numerous ways to fix this but it all depends on your load out pre game and what you find, for the example iv'e given you you will need a bandage,painkillers and a splint just to stop the status effects, then you will need to use a medkit or something along those lines to regenerate a bit of health to keep you going and sometimes that might not even be enough if you're too damaged, thankfully the mechanics are relatively realistic in that regard in that you won't die from pain or a fracture during the map but you will die very quickly if the blood loss is in a sensitive area.

Couple all of these things together and that's just an average match in EFT it is brutal and unforgiving in every instance but stupidly rewarding and giving you an amazing sense of achievement when you do succeed.

Graphics.

EFT is a pretty amazing looking game, it's aesthetics are what you expect from an abandoned russian city that has undergone a war you'll find destroyed ruins, military outposts and the like littered around but the actual texturing is nothing short of amazing for how big the game is, currently the game sits at 4.5GB download that unfurls into nearly 10GB but the graphics look like they're from a current gen game that usually numbers in the 30-40GB margin.

The graphics are also a piece of the EFT puzzle as the drab landscapes and visuals can hide enemy players who are using camouflage or the natural surroundings to hide, remember it is a military simulation game so if you hide in a bush, you hide a bush and if you're in a dark room in the corner unless someone has a flash light you're gonna be pretty hard to notice, like i said everything in this game wants to punish you and it does to it extremely well.

Downside.

I say Downside because there aren't really any downside(s) in the game, it's an early access title that has done remarkably well in it's development cycle to give players a smooth experience and keep it bug free with every release so what exactly is the downside? well it's the price, $45 for an Early Access title is kind of a rip off and while there is a lot of content there, i still feel like i'm paying for a fully released game, but this again is the nature of Early Access and given the level of detail in everything i know that when it is released it's probably going to be worth more than $45.

But at the same time it's just a principles thing, paying $45 for an EA title basically goes everything i believe however at the same time i'd say it's worth your money if you know what you're getting in to.

Critical Review.

EFT is a punishing brutal experience that keeps you on your toes at all times and is expertly balanced with the amazing sense of accomplishment when you succeed, the game handles extremely well and all aspects of the game are enjoyable and keep you interested there are numerous things to do and running with a squad is even more fun but really it's the sense of progression you get from leveling your character and upgrading and modding weapons and seeing just how far you've come from the start of the game to where you are now.

It's a huge step going from a pistol with one magazine to having a fully kitted Assault rifle, tactical vest and helmet but still running the risk of that one errant player gunning you down when you aren't paying attention, for this reason i would highly recommend this game to players who love progression and merciless game play that you can keep getting better and better at.

EFT really is the best military survival sim out there and it's only going to get better.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, if you have enjoyed this feel free to up-vote or resteem, alternatively leave a comment or question below and i'll get back to you as soon as possible, thanks!