Escape from Tarkov
Escape from Tarkov sends you on raids through a fictional region in northwestern Russia. A raid lasts from 20 to 50 minutes with up to 14 players on the map, and the loot is yours only if you reach an extraction point in time. Whoever dies or runs late loses everything except what sits in a small secure container and insured gear no other player carried off.
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Battlestate Games started on the game in 2012. Its lead developer, Nikita Buyanov, taught himself game making through mods for Half-Life and Oblivion. The team gained its experience on its previous game, Contract Wars.
The beta stretched over eight years, from 2017 to 2025. Version 1.0 arrived on November 15, 2025, the same day the game reached Steam.
Its creator has said the game was never planned for everyone. During the beta years it struggled with cheaters and with in-game currency sold for real money. The Steam launch came with server and login failures. Players on Steam leave 50% positive out of 59,092 reviews, critics give it 73 on Metacritic. By our Recommended Score it is #4,252 of 4,736 games.
Liked it? Try Hunt: Showdown 1896, where bounty hunters kill monsters and fight past other players to reach the exit, and Gray Zone Warfare, a tactical open-world shooter on an island in Southeast Asia.
Major updates
Patch 1.2.0.0 · Oct 2026All 5
System requirements
Minimum GTX 1660 · 16 GB RAM · 80 GB✕Steam Deck UnsupportedMin & recommended
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 11 |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or similar | Intel Core i7-14700F or better |
| Memory | 16 GB | 64 GB |
| Graphics | GTX 1660 or similar | RTX 4070 or better |
| DirectX | 11 | 11 |
| Storage | 80 GB | 80 GB |
From the game’s Steam store page.
