What Escape From Tarkov 1.0's Full Release Might Look Like

BSG recently released the first part in a multitude of videos for their own official beginner's guide for Escape From Tarkov. It’s a good watch, and I recommend you check it out even if you’ve been on the game for years. It’s nice to hear the voice actor for USEC 3, Forty-One going over the basics of the game. So shoutouts to him. But after watching that video and knowing that it’s going to turn into a series of beginner friendly videos, it made me reflect on the entire game as a whole and where 1.0 might be in the pipeline. What features may or may not be added. How the game might start and how it will end. Because regardless of the in-between sections of the game, the goal is still to get to Terminal and actually escape from the area of Tarkov. That’s always been the end goal for anyone playing Tarkov, and it seems like that hasn’t changed over the years. But in regard to the rest of the game, what can we expect for new introductions for weapons, gear, mechanics and the other important aspects like that? Well, that’s what I wanted to go over today; just having a conversation about the potential of 1.0 being around the corner and how much different Tarkov might look or might now look. Because while we know for certain some elements still haven’t been added that BSG wants, there might be others that can’t make the cut and are saved post official launch of the game. Other than that, we still don’t have an exact release date. We’ve heard the phrase “this year” for a couple of years now, and maybe 2024 will finally be that year. I’m just as if not more curious than you about Tarkov’s future and what it looks like, especially how our account and experience with Tarkov will start once we go full 1.0

They’ve said in the past that the introduction to Escape From Tarkov will be single player; a way of introducing the game to the player as well as an in-game tutorial. The only big difference I see potentially is the moving of where it happens. Because before, once streets got added to the game, they said that’s where we would start the game. But now that we have Ground Zero, the map to help new players get a feel for all things Tarkov, something tells me we might actually start there instead. It would make sense; GZ was designed to be noob friendly, and BSG wants the first section of their 1.0 game to be single player for story related reasons, using the noob friendly map makes a great deal of sense. But at the same time, they might have reasons for wanting it on Streets so who knows at this point. Either way, regardless of if it’s on Streets or GZ, we are still getting a tutorial that leads into the game, with story quests still paramount to the core gameplay loop of 1.0 Tarkov.

Lightkeeper is still the only “vendor” I use that term loosely, that is in the world on a map that we talk too. It took a long time to get just one vendor on location, and the idea was originally to have them all scattered throughout the world, where you could approach and talk to them. Now however, I doubt that’ll be the reality. It would make more sense timeline-wise if we got one or even two of the vendors on location. Having to animate rig and voice act all seven (eight if we included Fence), seems to just be a logistical nightmare. So, don’t be too surprised if we only get two or even just one more vendor in the game that we can actually talk to. It’s just the reality of where we are versus what could’ve been for Tarkov.

As for the end of the game, getting to Terminal and escaping; what does that mean? It’s something that ever since it was alluded to, we’ve known that’s how the end of the game would be. People have been talking about the implications behind the map itself, as well as the prerequisites for leaving. Because if I recall correctly, Terminal doesn’t mean an airport terminal, it means a boat terminal. I also can’t remember exactly if Nikita said that on Shoreline, by the coast down the road from the Road to Customs extract, if that huge walled off section was going to be the impedes for Terminal’s starting location. It would make the most sense because in the live action Raid series, we see the BEAR and USEC operators work together all the way to Shoreline to get into Terminal and get out of the situation they’re currently in. Is it going to be something like the BTR where we hop aboard and talk to a character about wanting to leave? If so, would that person require us to fetch some items? Money? A sort of access card that says hey we want to and are eligible to leave? It could be any number of those things and then some. I feel as though talking to an NPC about wanting to leave, or getting a quest from the vendors that begins the process of leaving, similar to seeing Lightkeeper, would be really cool. Again, there are lots of ways BSG could handle this whole process. We might not be even able to play on the map until certain conditions are met beforehand. Kind of like how we need a labs card to get onto the map, but probably more complicated than just a single item.

And speaking of complexity, where is the black division? You know that shady group of insanely geared PMCs with the orange patch on their fully blacked out clothing so you can’t tell who they are. If it’s one thing Nikita has done a good job with, it is keeping literally all information regarding that group locked down tight. They still have zero relevance to the gameplay of Tarkov. I hope they haven’t been forgotten. Even just for the time being an event that incorporates them somehow. A new question line where they are mentioned by name, would at least be a start.

In general, Tarkov and 1.0 still seems far away, with a lot of questions and not so many answers. Whether that’s intentional so that we are kept in the dark and things are a surprise is unsure. Granted, I do appreciate BSG’s desire for things to be new and exciting and not spoiled if possible. The Cultists was the big one that was snuck into the game, and nobody knew it was coming. It was a genuine surprise to see clips online of people freaking out about their existence in the game. Or when airdrops suddenly rained down from the sky, sometimes even on command. Features and mechanics like these, when snuck in correctly, just bring life back into the game. I don’t know how much they would want secret for a huge 1.0 release. But whether they go down that route, or give us all the information necessary, it’s hard to say for certain when 1.0 will happen. They need to do it eventually, and the longer they drag their heels with it, the more complicated and problematic it might become for them. If I had to guess when it might occur, Hmmmmm... I would honestly say within the next year. Their goalpost has moved many times throughout Tarkov’s life, but for some reason I have this gut feeling that they want to buckle down and finish this game. Again, what that finished product looks like, we don’t know. It could be 1:1 with Nikita’s vision. It could be completely different. It all depends on their roadmap, the general development pipeline they have for features right now, and how eager they are to move on to another project. Russia 2028 must be funded at this point. Because remember, Tarkov only exists because they needed money to create their real dream project: Russia 2028. A single-player shooter set I’m pretty sure in the Tarkov universe. Either way, all this speculation doesn’t do us a whole lot for concrete answers, but it certainly is fun to talk about and discuss. Hopefully we see 1.0 in a state everyone can be happy and satisfied with sooner rather than later. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know in the comments down below what you think Tarkov 1.0 will look like when we get it and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the fun and complex decision making that comes with getting a fully loaded project out the door. I hope to see you in future ones.