Did Tarkov Create the Extraction Genre by Accident?

(Intro)

Is Escape From Tarkov the first extraction shooter, and if so, did that technically happen by accident? With the rise of the extraction genre, more developers wanting to try their hand at making something unique and interesting, it’s always good when you are in this position to look at the success and see what makes them so revered by those who experienced it. And in this case of this genre, it’s no surprise that EFT took the world by storm and fulfilled a desire for many players out there; a rugged, tough as nails game that doesn’t explain anything to you for better or worse, but has easily one of the most addictive thirty-second loops of any multiplayer game currently out there. Once a new player starts to understand the game and figures out some of the beginner mechanics, the itch to play kicks in and that’s how Tarkov pulls you over to the other side. And with the success of EFT over the years, and it finally finding its stride, when you look back at the history of popular multiplayer games, this genre is absent for the most part. Because before the popularity of extraction games became a thing, the more previous trend for a while was battle royale games. Last man standing, random loot on a map that can be played a thousand and one ways (if designed well), and a gameplay loop that has no barrier of entry with no real loss when you lose. EFT is for the most part, the opposite of that; nothing but stakes every time you load in, no guarantee you’ll win or even survive and everyone trying to fight each other. It’s kind of surprising that that it’s become as popular as it currently is. This topic is being talked about a lot right now; not just the first game but what makes them so effective. So, I wanted to chime in and give my own perspective on the matter. Upon looking back at gaming trends, a question arose; was EFT the very first proper extraction shooter? Or was there something else before it?

(The origins of the genre)

To start, an important question to ask is, was EFT the first extraction shooter, or even just the first extraction game? And the answer to that question has some nuance to it. Looking back at the genre, the actual first true extraction shooter experience was in believe it or not, Tom Clancy’s The Division 1 from Ubisoft all the way back on March 7, 2016. This game offered an area of the map called the Dark Zone, where it was a hostile area in which it offered some of the best loot for players, but in order to acquire that loot you had to fight other people for it. Which meant that if you died, you lost any of that loot collected in the dark zone. How you got that loot out of the zone was by calling in a helicopter and waiting for until it arrived and depositing the loot on the helicopter before it left the area. I never played that game, but I did remember hearing about the dark zone and how crazy it could become when you were fighting the AI and other players. And while technically you only extract the loot and not yourself via that helicopter, this is still technically the first modern experience where this is a lot of risk with entering a certain zone of a game and gambling on whether you will survive. The entire game wasn’t like this, however, and that’s where the nuance comes into play. Some people might not count this as the first true extraction shooter. And I see both sides of the argument. On one hand, just the fact The Division had this extra area of the map that was much more dangerous, hostile with other players and that there was risk with finding loot and trying to get it out, that alone should count as an extraction experience proper. But others might disagree and say since the entire gameplay loop didn’t revolve around this section of the map, it was kind of just a post-game idea that while not fully flushed out, did lay the foundation for the current most popular and prevalent extraction shooter on the market right now.

(The original vision of EFT)

It’s obvious that Escape From Tarkov is one of the bigger games out currently, and the biggest extraction shooter so far. It has been around for a long time, and it took about half of its lifetime to explode in popularity. For the longest time, EFT was this niche game that was grounded in its approach to weapons, equipment, and was only known for being insanely difficult and punishing. And it built somewhat of a reputation for just those ideas. What we are currently playing right now, was not the original intention behind Tarkov and how the core gameplay loop was going to work. Originally, Nikita in interviews has said before that the game was supposed to be open world; where you would travel from each location, doing quests, engaging with other players and trying to survive as best you can. But because of their smaller team, less experience, and working with the Unity engine, the idea had to be essentially postponed until they could do it right. So, they settled for instance-based raids where you would load into a map, with the main difference being instead of trying to find a transit point to a different map, you needed to find the extraction to leave the map with any loot you had acquired. And that has been the game we’ve been playing for years. To this day, the idea of open world still hangs in the air, but the likelihood of it existing before the game goes 1.0 later this year is basically zero. Open world Tarkov is such a dream for me personally; the idea of being in raid for potentially hours, moving to different locations and having to worry about food, water, your armors durability and ammo reserves. They kind of added it with the transit points, which allow you to load into a new raid with other people when you go between maps, but it’s not the same as loading onto another map that has been live for an hour and a half. In that scenario, you don’t know where anyone is, how many people have walked through the map, or what the current game state is on the map either. And that is something that Tarkov has lacked for pretty much its entire life once you come to terms with the game and it’s asking of you.

(Was this genre an accident?)

It’s hard to determine if EFT intentionally created the genre we now know and that has companies trying to make bank off. When it comes to game creation and design, sometimes compromises have to be made even if it’s at the expense of the original idea. And that’s what happened with Tarkov. Nikita wanted open world, couldn’t do it so he settled for instance-based raid experiences that you will pop in and out of. The original tagline for EFT was: “Battle simulation in a hazardous environment”. Meaning that you are expected to fight not only the AI but other players you come across; while also dealing with anything the world tries to throw at you. The entire game’s existence the way we know comes from a capitulation from its director; something I wonder if he still wishes didn’t need to be the case. Imagine what EFT would be like as an open world game; just the thought always gets me excited because I believe it to be the dream game of anyone who enjoys this genre. We have a lot to thank EFT for. It isn’t perfect; the game has done a lot wrong over the course of its life, but the concept of the extraction genre has become a thing due to this game existing and becoming as popular as it has. Players were able to get over the steep learning curve and foster a community that enjoys the struggle, enjoys the challenge and isn’t afraid to take risks with their gameplay. And BSG also need to be applauded as well for not ever truly giving up or caving on their idea of a hard game. It allows people to figure out problems and overcome challenges and that makes you feel good when you are victorious. It’s something that other studios and developers needs to understand when it comes to making a game in this genre; there needs to be tension and friction for the player. Making the player feel uncomfortable and having them lose tangible items or progress that they were so close to claiming is a necessity for this genre to stick and for people to become addicted to the loop. Otherwise, you have a glorified battle royale game, which isn’t wrong per say, but when you seek out to make one thing and invertedly make another, you need to ask yourself how this happened.

(Outro)

While EFT is technically the first full game that revolves around the extraction genre, it is not the first game to try this idea out. The Division tested these waters almost a decade ago and while there were some solid ideas in that game, ultimately it never resonated with players. However, EFT has been working its ass off to be what it is; a difficult and intrinsically niche idea that has since gotten popularity because it goes outside of the mold for a traditional shooter. It took a lot of risks with the gameplay, and how unforgiving it can be sometimes. But it worked; people understood the assignment and were willing to lose again and again if it meant a game respected their intelligence and asked them to embrace a hard game. And people did just that; which in of itself, is truly something special. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on the first true extraction game, if you ever played the Division and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the nuanced conversation about what game started a trend that nobody asked for, but are going to get for the next couple of years. I hope to see you in future ones.