Escape from Tarkov 1.0 Launches on Steam with Login Issues & Mixed Reviews
"If you want to Escape from Tarkov, first you need to Get in Tarkov."
Battlestate Games
After 10 years of development, Escape from Tarkov is finally out on Steam, but it's too early for Battlestate Games to celebrate: the launch left players unable to get into the game, and players made sure to make the developer know about it, dropping Steam reviews to "Mixed".
"Somebody said that if you want to Escape from Tarkov, first you need to Get in Tarkov," the head of the studio, Nikita Buyanov, shared on X/Twitter, and this describes the situation well: players just couldn't play, bumping into endless maintenance errors in the launcher.
"Escape from Tarkov is not a game. It is a cosmic punishment sent by indifferent gods to remind humanity of its insignificance," said one reviewer. "Booting it up is like willingly inserting your face into a malfunctioning wood chipper. Nothing makes sense."
They then called the raids "a dissertation in disappointment, a Shakespearean tragedy written by drunken raccoons on fire" and added that "you don't play Escape from Tarkov, you endure it, you endure until madness becomes your only friend." Very poetic.
The backlash might not have been as harsh if not for the developer's questionable monetization strategy. If you decide to swim in the sea of red reviews on Steam, you'll see players complaining about having to pay for the 1.0 launch despite already owning one of the paid editions of the game.
Yes, one of those editions that also enraged fans when Battlestate introduced the Unheard Edition for $250 and forgot that it had promised the owners of the $150 Edge of Darkness editions free DLCs. After the wave of discontent, the price was lowered, and those who had already bought the new edition were offered $50 vouchers.
Now, players accuse the developers of predatory schemes, making fans pay again for their game. Considering its launch issues, the deal doesn't seem fair at all.
But this didn't stop the game from attracting 47,800 concurrent players.
Battlestate is working on fixing multiple issues, so if you wish to try your luck with Tarkov's launcher and servers, find it on Steam.
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