Escape from Tarkov Wiki

Escape from Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov is a first-person extraction shooter developed and published by Battlestate Games. It is set in the fictional Norvinsk region of Russia, where the city of Tarkov has collapsed into a lawless zone after the fallout between the TerraGroup corporation and the Russian authorities. Players take the role of a private military contractor, either a USEC operative sent in by the West or a BEAR operative sent by the Russian government, and deploy into raid maps to loot, complete quests and fight both the local Scavengers and rival PMCs. The defining rule is that nothing carried into a raid is saved unless the player survives long enough to reach an extraction point, which makes every firefight, every loot decision and every route choice a calculated risk. Underneath that loop sits a detailed simulation of ballistics, armour plating, limb-based health, hunger, hydration and magazine management, supported by a modular hideout, a player-driven flea market, ten traders and a long quest line that carries the player from a level one nobody to a geared operator. After roughly nine years of testing, the game left early access with its 1.0 release on November 15, 2025.

• Raid and Extraction Loop: every match drops the player into a sealed map with their own gear and a timer. Loot, quests and kills only count if the player reaches an extraction point, and dying hands the entire loadout to whoever killed them.
• PMC and Scav Runs: the player's main character is their PMC, but they can also enter as a Scavenger at no cost with random free gear. Scav runs are the low-risk way to earn money early, and shooting other Scavs as a Scav damages standing with their faction.
• Limb-Based Health and Medical System: damage is tracked per body part. Blacked-out limbs cost mobility, a blacked head or thorax is fatal, and healing is a real action that consumes time and medical items mid-fight.
• Ballistics and Armour Plating: ammunition carries real penetration and damage values, armour has durability and plate coverage, and the outcome of a firefight usually comes down to which round met which plate at which angle.
• Hideout Construction: a modular base built out of found materials that generates money and crafting, unlocks new recipes and repairs, and provides the stash and shooting range upgrades that make raids sustainable.
• Traders and the Flea Market: ten traders sell and buy at loyalty levels earned through spending and quests, while the player-to-player flea market opens up after the early levels and sets the real economy price for loot.
• Insurance: gear can be insured before a raid. Anything not taken off the body by another player is returned after a delay, which quietly shapes how players loot and where bodies are left.
• Quest Progression: task chains from each trader gate access to better gear, keys, containers and map knowledge, and they are the main way to level past the early game.
• Scav Karma and Fence Standing: cooperating with AI Scavengers raises reputation and unlocks benefits, while killing them turns them hostile and shrinks the free-run economy.
• PvE Mode: a separate profile where raids are filled with AI opponents only, added as an official mode so players can learn the maps and quests without PvP pressure.