Escape From Tarkov is a first person shooter with a few hundred thousand players. It is still in beta but has grown a strong loyal following, especially amongst hardcore gamers.

I have been playing about a year, and was initially prompted to buy it following a conversation in an Airsoft gun shop. I liked the sound of the level of complexity and the challenge, replayability, realism, and high skill ceiling. I now believe it stands up as one of the best games of its kind in those areas.

In terms of competency, autonomy, and relatedness, the game delivers a very balanced experience. The designers encourage a feeling of growing competency through the skill progression and high skill ceiling. This game is hard, and every little success feels like a win. A loss and a win are very weighty; you can lose a lot of progress from dying (unlike COD or R6Seige). This means the stakes are high and you need to concentrate. This forces players into a flow state, which we will cover below.

A feeling of autonomy in the game comes from the variety of tactics you can use and all the choices you can make that directly affect whether you win or lose.

The strong culture around EFT, and the fairly narrowly-defined player base, give a powerful feeling of community. The option to go in a squad or not gives players a choice of how they engage the feeling of relatedness.

As mentioned, this is a game in which the flow state is maintained throughout raids, with breaks out of raid for kitting up, modding guns, trading, etc. This gives a chance to mentally prepare for a game, which also increases engagement and competency. The flow zone is given largely by the intensity of the raids, the complexity of the maps, and variety due to different objectives.

Interestingly, there isn't a skill-based matchmaking system. Players have to accept a lot of losses in the first few hundred hours. This means the game really does appeal to a particular audience and a lot of players are put off; there is real pride within the community for those who have stuck it out.

There is a joke within the community that playing Tarkov is not meant to be fun, but despite this it does achieve success in the 8 pleasures:

Sensation: The aesthetics are grim and grimy, light is particularly realistic, and this gives for a strange kind of beauty. Players have to rely on sound to determine threats so there is no music apart from in the menus.

Fantasy: The immersion of the game is outstanding, really helped by the intensity of the flow. The authenticity of play helps this.

Narrative: There are some external bits of lore, but the game narrative is simple and doesn't detract from the intense gameplay.

Challenge: The game is extremely hardcore and provides tons of challenge and proper punishments if you fail.

Fellowship: There is an extremely strong sense of community in the game as most players play often and engage with the community a lot on forums and YouTube. There is a cult of personality around Nikita, the main game developer, who is a controversial figure. He engages with the community through podcasts etc, and always elicits discussion.

Discovery: It is exciting to discover the maps and various gameplay styles the game offers. Most players get to know the maps intimately.

Expression: This is via the player's individual style of play, which develops as they play more.

Submission: You have to give yourself completely to EFT in order to be able to enjoy or indeed play at all. This game is hard, grim, often disappointing, and that's what makes it so loveable.

Anna At Getafix

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