5 reasons why the hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov will be bigger in January 2022 than ever before

Escape from Tarkov is a nasty hardcore shooter with no mercy. Something like that actually only attracts shooter nerds and hardened streamers. But since the end of 2019 the shooter has been conquering the streaming platform Twitch around the turn of the year and MeinMMO tries to explain the phenomenon.

This is the situation:

  • Escape from Tarkov relies on hardcore PvP action and explains little to its players. In the beginning, every inserted ball can mean death and almost everything you have with you stays in place.
  • The shooter has been in development for over 5 years and remains a rather small title on Twitch for most of the year.
  • For the third year in a row, however, Tarkov is booming around the turn of the year, conquering Twitch and making its most dedicated streamer the number 1 streaming platform. We ask ourselves: why?

1st reason – a unique approach to date

Escape from Tarkov can be compared to a good, versatile tool. You are happy to have found it and can do things with it that you are proud of. But you have to write your own story.

Nobody comes and suggests a project or gives you an instruction manual. Only your own drive will bring you forward.

Tarkov does have a background story and also tells a story on his maps and missions. But a main story with self-sacrificing characters and a tearful happy ending? Forget it.

The shooter throws you on a map, gives you a destination and if you die on the way … you lose everything from your inventory.

You only get rudimentary information about what’s going on around you:

  • There is no indication of how many bullets are left in your magazine.
  • If you start a co-op game with friends, they do not have a separate marker. They look like enemies.
  • Nobody in the game tells you where the destination is that you have to reach in the match.
  • Every shot can be fatal or injure you so badly that you can’t get far.
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Apart from reaching the destination, the focus is on looting. Weapons, money, keys, armor, crafting materials – especially at the start you pack your inventory full of stuff and experienced players will be happy to find your fresh corpse with full pockets.

Playing passively, acting aggressively, good agreements, stealth maneuvers – every situation requires an individual solution and should be planned in advance. There is also the risk that your opponents could try the same.

Since you can lose everything at any time, a very special kind of psychological stress arises – the “gear fear”. If you start the shooter with your initial inventory, the first hours in the game are characterized by constant stress.

Twitch streamers explain what Escape from Tarkov is all about: the “Gear Fear”

If you complete the mission and take a valuable heap of stuff with you to your shelter, the game doesn’t just reward you. The feeling of completing the mission is also incomparable.

As the game progresses, collecting and gameplay missions will become important for the in-game traders, as will the expansion of your shelter. You will also explore other maps with heavier opponents – including NPCs and real players with high-end equipment.

If you are looking for a few tips to get started with the hardcore shooter, take a look here:

Escape from Tarkov: 13 tips for beginners to get you started in 2022

2nd reason – Big equipment wipe in December

Escape from Tarkov relies on a wipe system that regularly resets the progress of the players. Collected equipment, completed missions, saved rubles – everything disappears and all that remains is the starting inventory with some weapons, some equipment and money.

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During 2021 there were 2 wipes – one at the end of June and another on December 12th.

At first it sounds paradoxical. It’s so hard to hold your stuff together and then you want it to be good when it’s all gone? Yes, exactly.

Starting from scratch with Tarkov is also something special – for regular players and newcomers / returnees.

There are even NPC bosses on the maps with special properties and loot.

For returnees and beginners, the “Gear Fear” kicks off. Tarkov is exciting, grueling, absolutely unfair … and yet so attractive, fun and rewarding.

For veterans who participate in another wipe cycle, there is a lot of fresh meat and mostly new content.

Well-rehearsed PMCs (the characters in Tarkov) riot shortly after a wipe across the maps and snack on any beginner who needs more than 10 seconds to loot a corpse.

The times around the wipes are often the most exciting of the whole Tarkov year. Also because the gameplay is weakened a little before the wipes with special offers or events.

Incidentally, the “Customs area” map is a beginner’s map after a wipe. You can find a detailed guide including a beginner’s route here:

Escape from Tarkov: Everything about the customs area map – loot, spawns, tactics

3rd reason – Twitch drops and strong feelings

Many popular streamers are expressive personalities. They openly show their feelings in front of thousands of spectators and we cheer, are happy about a win, but also like to smile about an epic fail.

Tarkov tickles these feelings out of his players. Streamers swear at the game, celebrate every extraction and due to the high difficulty and constant pressure in the match, watching is rarely boring.

There are also Twitch drops with which you can secure special items from December 29th to January 8th, 2022. You can let Tarkov run for up to 20 hours a day and receive up to 7 items a day.

In addition, every streamer can take part in the latest Twitch drops and benefit from developer gifts.

4th reason – 25% discount on all editions

Escape from Tarkov has been on sale since the end of December and the discount is currently still running (January 4, 2022).

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You get the different game versions for 25% less and the cheapest variant starts at € 26.24 (via escapefromtarkov.com).

The versions differ in terms of starting equipment. The more expensive the package, the better since you are already equipped with weapons, equipment and a little money.

Incidentally, the start inventory returns after every wipe. However, you can reset your account without wipe and start the race again at any time with your starting inventory.

5th reason – The big shooters struggle with problems

At the end of 2021 there is also another big reason for Tarkov’s strength – the weakness of 2 other great shooters.

Battlefield and Call of Duty are some of the biggest players in the shooter market, and both franchises are not doing well at the end of 2021:

CoD: Vanguard and Warzone are currently plagued by many bugs and the release of Battlefield 2042 did not go as smoothly as hoped for many players.

Since the hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov was already well known, the boom was particularly strong this year, also due to the weakness of the competition.

Tarkov is a fascinating phenomenon which, by the way, is theoretically still in its beta phase. For the third year in a row, the headstrong shooter celebrates great successes around the turn of the year and emerges stronger each time from this phase.

The small title has even impressed the big shooters: With “Hazard Zone”, Battlefield 2042 brought a mode that is strongly reminiscent of Tarkov and CoD 2022 could, according to the first leaks, bring a similar game mode.

It will be exciting to see where this interesting shooter is headed. Until then, let’s curses and lose a few inventories – due to fire from an unclear direction.

Also tell us about your experiences with Escape from Tarkov and what you think, why the hardcore shooter reaches such popularity every year.

If you are looking for more games with a unique approach, we recommend the following list: 7 unique MMOs and multiplayer games that have no real alternative

Reference-mein-mmo.de