Escape from Tarkov’s Nikita Talks About ‘Lowering The Entry Barrier’ To The Game

It’s no big secret that Escape from Tarkov represents one of the most challenging ecosystems in the modern gaming space. It has been going for almost a decade, having emerged eons ago as a hardcore extraction shooter, one of the first ever made. It pioneered the genre, but it has always had an aura of being super unwelcoming for new players.

In this day and age, player retention, and more importantly, attracting new players, is pivotal to a game’s success. That’s why Battlestate Games has been working to make Escape from Tarkov much more attractive for newcomers. In a new post on social media, Nikita Buyanov, the head of the studio, explained why they’re making Tarkov ‘easier’ in a few ways.

Why is Escape from Tarkov Getting Easier?

Escape from Tarkov was always heralded as this hardcore, tough-as-nails game that only the best of the best could succeed at. It had one of the steepest learning curves in gaming, and it was not kind to new players at all. As the years have passed, Battlestate Games has recognized the crux of that concept and has been working to improve accessibility.

For instance, the team added a new UI element that points users to quest items, and soon, they’ll be adding a GPS function that directs new players to their ‘extraction points’, allowing them to learn maps much faster and not rely on third-party tools.

In a post on social media, during a Battlestate Q&A, Nikita Buyanov explained why they’re making these changes:

There are elements in the game that are complicated for the sake of it. They don’t add complexity or depth to the gameplay – they’re simply difficult to understand or get the hang of. These are the elements we’re tackling.

We’re seeing a large number of new players – on Steam, for example – who aren’t used to playing games like this. We’re lowering the entry barrier slightly, at least at the start of the game, so that these players can settle in, find their feet and gradually join the rest of the community in hardcore environment.

Last year, Escape from Tarkov was released on Steam, leaving Battlestate’s proprietary launcher for the first time in almost a decade and welcoming an entirely new audience of gamers. It was a considerably successful move, and even now, it boasts one of the highest concurrent player counts in the extraction shooter space on Steam.

It’s effectively trumping titles like ARC Raiders and Marathon effortlessly, proving that it has what it takes to weather the ups and downs of the genre and the wider gaming market.

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Escape from Tarkov remains a very tough game, fundamentally. You can go through an entire match, loot yourself silly, score a few quest completions, and then have it all come crashing down because of a single wayward bullet through the head. It’s wildly unpredictable; every game is a gamble, and you never know what challenge is sitting around the corner.

When you pair that notion with the fact that there’s no UI, no in-game guidance beyond a few text-based tips, and the tutorial lasts all of about six or seven minutes, you’ve still got something that’s pretty unwelcoming.

Have you ever played Escape from Tarkov? Let us know how you found the challenge on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

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