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[Anton Sugar]

Gotta preorder to get access:

Escape from Tarkov is on a new stage of development - Closed Beta Testing.

CBT access will be provided to all owners of early access packages. The admission of players will be conducted in waves, but as soon as reasonably possible. Within a week, every package owner shall receive an invitation email. Players who have purchased early access packages earlier than others will be allowed into testing first. New users will be able to join other beta testers immediately after the end of the last wave.

With start of the new phase, the game receives a significant number of updates:

the first part of the largest of game locations - Shoreline,
reworked balance of existing locations and new spots to explore,
more useful items, medicines and equipment,
advanced arsenal of weapons and weapon modifications,
balanced economy and insurance system,
as well as general chat to search for info or raid companions.

Closed Beta Trailer

There is no non-disclosure agreement set forth for the closed beta testing. All users shall now have the right to make, store and share screenshots and videos, broadcast their gameplay and post game materials online.

Learn more about the project testing plans and the estimated completion time frame, and also pre-order the game on the official website of the project.

Dear friends! We'd like to share with you some additional info about the upcoming Escape from Tarkov Closed Beta Testing. The existing pre-order packages won't be changed - the only point to be removed is the access to the Alpha Testing.

Access to the CBT will be administered gradually, in waves, taking into consideration the pre-order date, i.e. those who have pre-ordered EfT earlier will be granted access first. However, the wait won't be long for anybody - we intend to complete admission in a week. Those who already have access to the alpha stage will continue playing without any wave interruption. The wave is for those who are gaining their first access to the closed beta testing.

Those who will be pre-ordering Escape from Tarkov after that won't have to wait, they will be let into CBT right after purchase.

New Shoreline map:

Some new player guides:

Closed Beta Guide Escape From Tarkov
5 Tips for Beginners in Escape from Tarkov
NOOB Start Guide (Escape from Tarkov)

My thoughts/impressions from Alpha:

• Insane attention to detail and realism (for better or worse). Looting is a little slow, you can break limbs and they can become unusable, night time is PITCH BLACK, no ammo counters, etc.
• Most detailed gun customization I've seen in a game. You can break a gun down to its frame and attach 3 flashlights or 3 different sites, even if they get in the way of each other. Go nuts.
• Plan to have every variant of every included gun in the game. So they have the AK, they want the 47, 74, 74N, AKS variants, etc.
• Very realistic. A few shots and you're dead on realistic, headshots are one shot. Very unforgiving unless you get armor. Armor=one of the best pieces of equipment you can have because it increases your survivability so much.
• AI is currently better but a definite WIP. They were improved to run, crouch, and use full auto, but some are laser accurate while others are idiots. They outlined plans last week to improve them and make them behave more naturally. Expect to die from them, a lot.
• Loot system needs balance. It's easy enough to FIND the loot, but there is too little of it, so the risk vs reward is fucked. Many players horde items for fear of losing them unless they're experienced, so they don't go back into the economy. A lot of people recommend going into a level/raid with just a pistol or shotgun when you're a beginner, even if you have better weapons.
• Economy needs balance. They improved it with more traders but it is player driven, as well. Good and bad comes with that. Some prices are very strange--attachments that cost 1/3 of the gun's total value, for example.
• Lots of potential and the devs seem to take feedback into account, though there have been some accusations of the devs being dicks. Still, the hardcore model could keep it as a niche title unless they balance out the loot.
• 3 factions: BEAR, USEC, and Scav. You play as BEAR or USEC when you go into a raid. This uses your own loot. If you die, its permanently gone unless you use insurance (which is new as of the Beta). Goal is to get in, loot, stay alive, and escape at the other end of the map. You can group up, but there is nothing preventing members of the same faction to kill each other. Use the Q and E keys in-game to do a friendly wiggle if you want to risk not killing on sight.
• Speaking of, playing in a group REALLY increases your survivability, just because this game is all about awareness and working with others can/should improve this. However, again, it's so easy to die that someone can still get the jump on you.
• Shooting generally feels really good. Amazing weapon effects and sounds--some of the best in any FPS. Shooting can feel a LITTLE floaty sometimes, in a weird way. It's like there are two points where the weapon can sway: the front hand and rear hand. I could be imagining it, but maybe it could feel "tighter". It doesn't always feel like it's simulating pressing the gun into your shoulder, maybe. Overall though, it feels great.
• Scavs are mostly AI "scavengers" across the map. You want to kill them--UNLESS you are in Scav mode. Scav mode puts you in as a Scav. You want to kill the BEAR and USEC players who are trying to escape. You *can* kill Scavs if you want and they won't attack you, but the next patch will change that. You can even imitate AI Scavs if you're with others to trick enemy players who think you're idiot AI. If you die as a Scav, it doesn't matter, because you spawn in with a random gearset--it's none of your own gear. However, if you extract from the level, you DO get to keep your gear. Partly because of this, you can only play as a Scav 1x per hour. Otherwise, it would be easy to amass loot (some Scavs spawn with decent gear, like AKs, and there is an extremely rare fully-loaded M4 Scav loadout too, I think).

Player screens of Alpha:

 

[Neptonic]

This game looks amazing

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I'm seriously interested in this. Goddamn it looks good.

I guess my question is, how many people can play in a match for MP?

 

[Soulblighter31]

Some Stalker feels

 

[SocksAndShoes]

This looks crazy awesome. Is the beta going to be under NDA? Fake edit: NM, I missed that in the OP.

 

[TVexperto]

How does the game run? On a RX 480 8GB?

 

[kuYuri]

I had forgotten about this game since it's been awhile since I heard about it. Good to see it's still coming along.

have they announced if this will be on platforms like Steam or does it use its own client?

 

[Blam]

Damn that looks fucking dope.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Color me interested. Seems challenging and fun, with a few areas of improvement.

 

[Grief.exe]

This game has always been on my radar.

 

[tobactrac]

So what's the general format of this? Drop-in and go battlegrounds/battlefield-style play with a persistent progression outside of game?

 

[wwm0nkey]

Really impressive, also made with Unity 5

Will probably buy this as it's been on my radar

 

[HStallion]

Some Stalker feels

I think some old STALKER developers are working on this game.

 

[Dubz]

What are the rec specs?

 

[Conkerkid11]

Eager to find out how the game performs, considering it's running on Unity.

Edit: Ahh... It was playable in an Alpha before? How was performance?

 

[Masterspeed]

Really impressive, also made with Unity 5

Will probably buy this as it's been on my radar

Bu-but Unity sucks and isn't capable at running good looking games?

I need this game to fix my stalker withdrawal, even if it doesn't have crazy monsters and campfires with acoustic guitars.

 

[Sailent]

Very impressive and all but, why are all these people killing each other?

 

[Akronis]

Very impressive and all but, why are all these people killing each other?

It's PVP.

 

[Masterspeed]

Very impressive and all but, why are all these people killing each other?

Video games set in Eastern Europe means killing each I hehe.

 

[MontyBrown]

Looks great but PUBG is my MP game right now.

Will there be SP?

 

[Conkerkid11]

Bu-but Unity sucks and isn't capable at running good looking games?

I need this game to fix my stalker withdrawal, even if it doesn't have crazy monsters and campfires with acoustic guitars.

To be fair, performance didn't look great in those rain-heavy sequences.

 

[wwm0nkey]

To be fair, performance didn't look great in those rain-heavy sequences.

Looked fine to me?

 

[Blam]

Bu-but Unity sucks and isn't capable at running good looking games?

I need this game to fix my stalker withdrawal, even if it doesn't have crazy monsters and campfires with acoustic guitars.

Yeah well DX12 I believe works on Unity 5 so there's that since this developer isn't only just throwing the game into it and are probably running through and optimizing everything it should run fine.

 

[Shin]

Looks good graphically and very atmospheric, will see how it unfolds.

 

[Blizzard]

That's the ugliest chromatic aberration postprocess I've seen in quite a while. I feel like developers on average are learning to leave it out or make it very subtle, but that's very in-your-face.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm seriously interested in this. Goddamn it looks good.

I guess my question is, how many people can play in a match for MP?

Not sure. It may vary per area?

How does the game run? On a RX 480 8GB?

Beta was supposed to come with a big performance increase, so we should hear over the next few days how big it was.

So what's the general format of this? Drop-in and go battlegrounds/battlefield-style play with a persistent progression outside of game?

Definitely more like Battlegrounds than Battlefield in the game type and how it plays, but still very different from those. In survival games, PUBG and this are probably at opposite ends of the genre. Looting in PUBG is instant, you can move. Looting in EFT is slow, having to click through the things you want to search, not being able to move while looting, etc.

The core gameplay, attention to detail, the perfect equipment models/loot, and atmosphere make Tarkov rewarding, but you *definitely* have to get through the fact that you will die a lot and lose gear regularly.

I think some old STALKER developers are working on this game.

I think there were a few, but this doesn't have any scifi elements to it. It's some story about PMCs fighting over this territory. Too bad!

That's the ugliest chromatic aberration postprocess I've seen in quite a while. I feel like developers on average are learning to leave it out or make it very subtle, but that's very in-your-face.

Doesn't help that some of those images are fuzzy/compressed, but there is a toggle to turn off CA as well as a lot of other post effects.

 

[Subterranean]

I love the atmosphere and the attention to detail this game brings. Last I heard desync was a major problem, going to see how they handle that before I jump into a paid beta.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Might be a good idea. It got worse in the latest Alpha patch, wonder how it is in the Beta.

 

[tobactrac]

Definitely more like Battlegrounds than Battlefield in the game type and how it plays, but still very different from those. In survival games, PUBG and this are probably at opposite ends of the genre. Looting in PUBG is instant, you can move. Looting in EFT is slow, having to click through the things you want to search, not being able to move while looting, etc.

The core gameplay, attention to detail, the perfect equipment models/loot, and atmosphere make Tarkov rewarding, but you *definitely* have to get through the fact that you will die a lot and lose gear regularly.

This sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the breakdown.

 

[A-V-B]

I think some old STALKER developers are working on this game.

That would explain it.

 

[Joey Ravn]

Looks great but PUBG is my MP game right now.

Will there be SP?

This is what I want to know as well. Is it online and PVP only?

 

[Spence]

Is this essentially a PvP game?

 

[LordKasual]

"realistic"

does that mean that hiding behind a fucking refridgerator is still going to save you from an assault rifle?

 

[Anton Sugar]

"realistic"

does that mean that hiding behind a fucking refridgerator is still going to save you from an assault rifle?

Ummm I don't know. There is penetration though. You'll see plenty of players kill through doors and certain walls.

 

[spindoctor]

The trailer conveys absolutely nothing about the game except that you can shoot people and kick in doors. Nothing at all about weapon customization, looting, player driven economies, factions, modes... nothing.

 

[drotahorror]

Is this ' increased size of stash ' pre-order incentive not available in game via other means? Seems kind of important.

 

[More_Badass]

The trailer conveys absolutely nothing about the game except that you can shoot people and kick in doors. Nothing at all about weapon customization, looting, player driven economies, factions, modes... nothing.

It's a beta launch trailer, not an overview video

 

[Anton Sugar]

The trailer conveys absolutely nothing about the game except that you can shoot people and kick in doors. Nothing at all about weapon customization, looting, player driven economies, factions, modes... nothing.

I'd recommend you check out the new user guides. They're 10-40 minutes for a reason. Even typing my impressions, I kept thinking of things I researched or learned along the way. There is definitely an initial learning curve and there is no in-game tutorial at the moment.

Is this ' increased size of stash ' pre-order incentive not available in game via other means? Seems kind of important.

I'm not really sure about this one, but a lot of players are trying to get them to increase stash sizes, across the board.

I know that, depending on the preorder package you choose and when you joined the game, you get a special container. These are Alpha, Gamma, etc. containers and are basically a perma-item that you have (unless you choose to drop it).

It's essentially your own little pack of equipment that, even if you die out in the world, you won't lose the contents. It's not a lot! I joined during the Gamma and got one of the cheaper packages and mine has four slots, which is enough to fit a pistol. Some older players have the six slot version.

Normally, when you die, you lose everything (although the insurance they introduced changes this somewhat). This helps ease the anxiety that comes with that. You *can* drop yours, which can then be picked up by another player, at least currently.

 

[FrankCanada97]

Going to try out a bit of the closed beta later today. I'm running an ancient CPU and the Alpha was playable, unsurprisingly got the best performance on the Factory map. Did they do some optimizations CPU-wise for the Beta?

 

[TacticalHotdog]

I think some old STALKER developers are working on this game.

I don't think that's the case. The devs of Escape from Tarkov are based in Russia while GSC Game World and the companies that spun off from it were based in Ukraine.

The concept of Escape from Tarkov originates from an unfinished STALKER-inspired Crysis mod called Russia 2028 which seemed pretty ambitious. The devs of that eventually ran into some technical/licensing issues with the Cryengine and then made a f2p MP FPS in Unity called Contract Wars which establishes the world and factions of Russia 2028/Escape from Tarkov. Now that they have some more funding and experience working with the engine, the devs started Battlestate games and are making something closer to what they originally envisioned.

 

[Inkvoterad]

Heavily considering getting this, but i saw that there seems to be a slow sending of keys now since the beta just released. Is the whole closed beta thing timed or could i preorder this in like a month and jump in then when stuff is calmer?

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

Warning to anyone that wants to get this. The gunplay is top-notch but there's a lot of work scavenging/doing inventory management to get to that stuff to the point where it feels like I spend significantly more time doing inventory management than playing the game.

I also think that the game takes realism to the point where it isn't much fun (and I've been playing milsims for 15 years).

 

[haozz]

I first saw gameplay of this interesting game from Frankie on youtube: https://youtu.be/etwETB-IaMs

Everything looked and felt very realistic. Especially the sound design. From the noise you make in bushes to the various sounds for gun handling.

The game seems vulnerable to cheating. Given that you take stuff from other players and you can lose stuff if you die, it seems that cheating will be a big problem. I read that in the alpha testing, they had a tough ban policy toward cheaters, but I wonder how much cheating will be an issue still.

 

[ChosenPredator]

I first saw gameplay of this interesting game from Frankie on youtube: https://youtu.be/etwETB-IaMs

Everything looked and felt very realistic. Especially the sound design. From the noise you make in bushes to the various sounds for gun handling.

The game seems vulnerable to cheating. Given that you take stuff from other players and you can lose stuff if you die, it seems that cheating will be a big problem. I read that in the alpha testing, they had a tough ban policy toward cheaters, but I wonder how much cheating will be an issue still.

Watched his video the killing seems so satisfying in it, i am surprised this game hasn't taken off like battlegrounds the devs seem to have put tons of detail into it.

 

[drotahorror]

I first saw gameplay of this interesting game from Frankie on youtube: https://youtu.be/etwETB-IaMs

Crazy. PUBG made H1Z1 look like an arcade game. And now EfT is making PUBG look like an arcade game.

This game looks insane and intense. I think I would get bored though but I'm close to pulling the trigger.

I wonder how long that game round took Frankie? He started at daylight, was playing in night, then waited til day to move out. Guess I could look up how long day/night transition is.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

I first saw gameplay of this interesting game from Frankie on youtube: https://youtu.be/etwETB-IaMs

Also quoting this to say it looked pretty darn good.

I got a bit tense at the very end lol come on, come on, hurry up and load, you're gotta make it, please no one come in behind you.

 

[Conkerkid11]

Watching Lirik right now. As well as the game looks like it runs for how great the visuals are, there's like 30 seconds of delay between the actions performed by other players and what Lirik's seeing them do. There's no indication as to who is friendly or not, so coupled with the lag, they just keep shooting each other, and there's no real point in there being no indicators because there's also no friendly fire.

This looks more like a DayZ / Ark type game? Am I right on that? Progress saved to the server you're playing on or something? What happens if you die?

I was considering buying until watching more of Lirik's stream. He just said the Alpha wasn't nearly this bad. Kind of concerned about whether or not these devs can handle the server load, considering how popular this game is.

Partying up also doesn't seem to work? Lirik's needing to launch at the same time as his friends to get into the same lobby.

And the game in general seems completely fucked in terms of its approach toward the genre. Everybody spawns in random locations and with random gear. Lirik started a match with two friends, they couldn't find each other, and they all basically died 10 seconds in because they spawned near people who spawned with machine guns, while they just had melee weapons. In PUBG, if you die right off the bat, it's generally your fault. This seems completely based on RNG.

What the fuck

 

[Anton Sugar]

Watching Lirik right now. As well as the game looks like it runs for how great the visuals are, there's like 30 seconds of delay between the actions performed by other players and what Lirik's seeing them do. There's no indication as to who is friendly or not, so coupled with the lag, they just keep shooting each other, and there's no real point in there being no indicators because there's also no friendly fire.

This looks more like a DayZ / Ark type game? Am I right on that? Progress saved to the server you're playing on or something? What happens if you die?

I was considering buying until watching more of Lirik's stream. He just said the Alpha wasn't nearly this bad. Kind of concerned about whether or not these devs can handle the server load, considering how popular this game is.

Partying up also doesn't seem to work? Lirik's needing to launch at the same time as his friends to get into the same lobby.

And the game in general seems completely fucked in terms of its approach toward the genre. Everybody spawns in random locations and with random gear. Lirik started a match with two friends, they couldn't find each other, and they all basically died 10 seconds in because they spawned near people who spawned with machine guns, while they just had melee weapons. In PUBG, if you die right off the bat, it's generally your fault. This seems completely based on RNG.

What the fuck

Lotta inaccuracies here, except for the desync issues that the beta is having, which are huge and pretty much render the game unplayable currently. I hope they sort it out soon.

There is friendly fire, or at least there was in the Alpha. Lots of "is that you, is that you?!?" moments where buddies killed each other. I doubt they plan to add a friendly indicator--you have to communicate and stick with your team and/or remember what they look like. This is a game that doesn't have an in-game map unless you buy it from a vendor, and even then, it is literally a map, with no indication of where you are or where you need to go.

If friendly fire wasn't working, maybe it's a bug, but I'd bet it's just the bad desync right now preventing any shots from connecting.

Progress is not saved to the server you're playing on. Your character escapes with loot, you keep the loot in your stash until you go back out again. if you lose it, you lose it permanently (unless it's insured, then it has a chance of coming back). There is no crafting or base-building or anything like that.

Partying up worked in the Alpha. Maybe it's a beta bug.

You don't spawn with random gear, unless you play in Scav mode, and that's the point. You don't exactly spawn in random locations, it's more like a selection of specific areas. Scavs spawn at back of the map, players spawn in the "front" or furthest away. They really should let groups spawn together, though (see: friendly fire above).

And yup, it's completely possible that you can spawn in near a player who is fully geared. I don't see the problem there--I really like that you have a stash that isn't tied to a server and it acts as your armory before you head out on a raid.

Warning to anyone that wants to get this. The gunplay is top-notch but there's a lot of work scavenging/doing inventory management to get to that stuff to the point where it feels like I spend significantly more time doing inventory management than playing the game.

I also think that the game takes realism to the point where it isn't much fun (and I've been playing milsims for 15 years).

I do hope they tone down some of the smaller details, like how long it takes to search (esp. individual drawers in a four-drawer file cabinet, stuff like that) and streamline the inventory management. Once you get used to it (check players on YT), inventory management is pretty easy/quick. Ctrl + click FTW.

 

[Aztechnology]

You can spawn on top of an unaware enemy or spawn and kill someone effectively randomly? Not a fan of that.

Outside that, is it random enemy NPC's and players? Or only players?

Edit: OK I see it's AI with players sprinkled in, I like that. Most of these game basically exclude AI or environmental (including NPC's) threats from the game and suffer for it IMO.

 

[Anton Sugar]

You can spawn on top of an unaware enemy or spawn and kill someone effectively randomly? Not a fan of that.

Outside that, is it random enemy NPC's and players? Or only players?

Edit: OK I see it's AI with players sprinkled in, I like that. Most of these game basically exclude AI or environmental (including NPC's) threats from the game and suffer for it IMO.

Some spawns definitely need work. I don't know if this happens with the player spawns in normal "Raid" mode, but in Scav mode, some players spawn right next to other scavs, AI or player. It's easy to gank them, even though you are not yet penalized for killing other scavs if you are a scav. They are going to make it so that if you kill a scav, as a scav, even the other scavs will turn against you.

I like that there is AI, too, but it still needs work. They are too deadly right now.