Twitch has been a popular platform for gamers for quite awhile now, but in 2019 it’s fair to say that streaming exploded in both gaming and mainstream media. Streamers like Ninja and Shroud dominated streaming platforms, while Ninja moved on to Mixer after becoming a sensation on Twitch. However, many Twitch users also reaped thebenefits of Ninja moving to Mixer, with many big names gaining more eyes on them than ever before.
That being said, many of the biggest Twitch streamers rely on video games to help them entertain and keep viewers engaged during their live streams. Currently, a game calledEscape from Tarkovis beginning to dominate Twitch’s landscape, with over 150,000 viewers collectively watching the game via streamers. So what exactly isEscape from Tarkov?
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Escape from Tarkovis admittedly a pretty hard game to describe exactly.Escape from Tarkovwould probably be best described as a first-person survival MMO-like game. Additionally, the game has some elements of battle royale and PVP injected into it as well. Needless to say, it’s a game that’s a bit complicated to describe without seeing or playing it for roneself.
The main gameplay loop ofTarkovcomes from the standard PMC survival mode. In this mode, players choose their main character called a PMC. Then, players load that character with any loot their want to bring into a ‘raid,’ and are then deployed onto one of seven maps currently in the game. One they’ve dropped, players must find more loot within the maps and make it to one of severalextraction points to clear the raidand keep what they’ve found. The catch is: if a player dies before extraction all of the loot on them is permanently lost.
However, it is not so simple to find an extraction point inTarkov. Players can also choose to enter the map as a ‘Scav,’ which is a hostile enemy type that can enter a raid without losing the loot that they’ve brought in from their main character. This is where the PVP element ofEscape from Tarkovcomes in. However, unlike theincredibly popularFortnitethat dominated Twitchthis year, players aren’t striving to be the last man standing.
So, unlike standard battle royale games likeFortniteandApex Legends, which has changeda lot since its launch, the ultimate goal inEscape from Tarkovis to collect the best loot, survive, and leave the map through a certain extraction point. While the gameplay loop inTarkovseems different from most battle-royal or MMO RPGs, the game still maintains many of the philosophies and staples of games from those genres.
