How to play Escape from Tarkov

How to play Escape from Tarkov – a question we have all been asking ourselves for many years, and with great certainty, years to come. Rightfully so; Escape from Tarkov is one of the most hardcore FPS titles on the market.

Upon booting the game for the first time, players are not able to complete a tutorial or a “how-to” guide on the game functions. Unlike other titles, Tarkov allows the players to mindlessly roam the menus until they accidentally find themselves in battle.

Now, this type of “first-time” experience is what teaches us to be great players. But, it is without a doubt the game would be a lot less frustrating if there was an initial help guide, one that stops the hundreds of indefinite deaths we all experience within five seconds of play-time.

Thankfully, we are here to help aid you in your first steps across the unforgiving lands of Tarkov. One thing is for certain, you will never escape, but you can definitely find peace with the help of this guide. Good luck.

Learning the map extracts

When playing Escape from Tarkov, the question “how the **** do I get outta here?” often arises for first-time players. And the way you “escape” the current raid you are in, is through what’s known as an extract.

When you spawn your character is assigned several locations around the map that they are able to successfully disconnect from the raid, whilst keeping all the gear that they have found during the raid. Known as the “Survived” status.

The way you find the locations that apply to you, is by double-clicking “O” on your keyboard, which will then bring a drop-down menu on your screen displaying a series of names, also known as “extracts.” These are the locations you must travel to in order to escape and survive.

For example, if you are playing the map “Customs” and you wish to extract but don’t know where to go, tab out the game, Google: “Customs extracts” and check Google images. There you will find a map of customs with all the extracts. Match yours up with the Google one, and get there to survive.

Understanding how to loot

To survive and prosper on Escape from Tarkov, you must know how to earn money and loot. There is no reason in picking up every loose item you find; you are only weighing yourself down and lowering your chance of survival.

The best thing you can do is hunt for weapon attachments, such as weapon suppressors, optics, and high-value guns. These will obtain the most value when you sell them to the merchant known as “Mechanic,” who will offer you a good price for all mechanical goods.

When looting in general, it is good to keep an eye out for miscellaneous items such as gold chains, streamer items, Bitcoins, and PC parts such as graphics cards. All of these items are priceless and will allow you to have a consistent flow of cash.

Remember, always be aware of the loot buckets around each map. They will keep you warm on cold days, as there are always ten-plus loot buckets on each map; always containing medium to high-level loot. Learn them and keep them close, always.

Escape from Tarkov – understanding weaponry

Now to the most exciting mechanic that Tarkov offers: combat. The game offers a diverse plethora of weaponry within the game, no two lethals are the same, making it more difficult to learn. A different pistol grip can drastically change a weapons feel.

The key to beginners is to never use a weapon that doesn’t have low recoil, and that seems more complex than your average Kalashnikov. Use a weapon you understand more when beginning in a game before you start to venture off into modifications.

Learn how to modify an AK-47 before you learn how to modify an AS-VAL. Players will gradually learn the ins and outs of weapon modifications when you use the same family of weapons, and it’ll help as you can see more small changes when you use the same weaponry more consistently.

Understanding recoil, ergonomics, and weight of weapons is an important feature within combat. All these features and more are important within combat, you need to learn the gun before you learn combat. Especially if your gun has more than 80 recoil.