Lighthouse is Tarkov’s Worst Map; Here’s Why

(Intro)

Out of all the current playable maps in Tarkov, Lighthouse is the worst. A rather bold claim, but this particular map has been problematic for some time since its introduction into the game. A small, coastal section of the entire Norvisnk region littered with layout problems, spawn conundrums, and a general disdain for the quests that are required of us to complete. Speaking only from personal experience, I have never been excited to load onto Lighthouse outside of when it was initially released into the game. The problems with the map are layers deep; things that would require them to literally redesign the map from potentially the ground up. There were some elements that were not well thought out in concept, and because of that, have plagued this map for years now. No map is perfect; every single one of them have their own issues, and some that are shared across a variety of maps. But Lighthouse is the most rotten out of all of them, and is in desperate need of some attention. Customs really doesn’t need another once over right now, but instead that attention and care should be going to this map. Lighthouse sucks, and here’s why.

(What it gets right [not much])

Let’s start with what Lighthouse actually gets right. Granted, there won’t be a ton to cover, but it wouldn’t be fair to talk smack about this map without admiring what it does right. The actual design of the map is amazing; the aesthetic, location; it is littered with plenty of areas that provide awesome screenshots of either sunrise or sunset looking over the water with the lighthouse in the background. Another example as to why Tarkov is truly such a beautiful game when you stop and take some time to look and appreciate it. And what it’s trying to accomplish with Lightkeeper is truly commendable. Also being the first map to introduce a constant antagonistic faction, the Rouges is a really interesting idea. One that is tolerable to USEC, but despise BEAR and will shoot them on sight makes for some creative problem solving, when they are working as intended of course. Also being the only map in the game to sport both a car and train extract give you extra options should you happen to be around and lucky that either one of them are up and not taken already. And Lighthouse is probably the best sniping map in the game next to woods; with the number of cliffs, and levels of elevation there are. It turns into a game of who’s willing to risk sticking their neck out for a kill and potentially get counter sniped by someone else that has spotted them. But sadly, that’s about all the map does right, and it does so much more wrong.

(The layout is not player friendly)

While the theme and design choice are stellar, the actual layout of the map is not. A big rectangle is somehow worse than the squarer shape of something like Interchange. What makes Interchange work more effectively is the focal point of the map, the entire reason you go being the mall, is located at the center of it. It’s the impedes for why you queue up to that map. There is no other reason to load onto Interchange besides the mall. That’s the whole point. And while there is definitely an argument to be had about that map also needing some attention to potentially curve out that issue and give players another reason to go, Lighthouse is even more problematic because of its shape. A rectangle forces the spawns of the players to be on only two sides of the map. You can’t spawn players on the northmost side of the map because that means you’re in the trainyard and are the closest to the Rouge camp, and the south side is also off limits because you’re either in the water, or on the southern road with no cover and would die almost instantly. So, the east and west parts are cluttered with spawns. And even those can be too close to the camp; which leads into some of the worst spawn fights since original factory years ago. Should you survive those initial encounters, your only safe means of navigation are through the mountains on the east, or the coast on the west. The center of the map being one gigantic road is asking to die. It’s the lowest point elevation-wise so people will have no problem taking pot shots at you from either your left or right. There are some places along each side of the map that you can hunker down in for cover, but they are few and far between for how generally large the map is to run from one side to the other.

(Points of interest are lacking)

There are approximately five points of interest on the map. Some would argue there are more, but the ones that stand out to me are the two chalets, the houses on the coast, the two villages, the rouge camp, and the train yard. You might be thinking what about the lighthouse? We’ll get to that in a bit. Five POIs sounds robust and enticing for a single map. But when comparing it something like Shoreline or even Customs, these maps have way more places that would pique your interest as a player and would have you investigate them either for quest related items, or simple just to loot. I counted eleven places to go for Shoreline, and about twelve or thirteen for Customs. Lighthouse has five. With basically nothing in between them. Their distribution is also heavily skewed towards the north side of the map, which only funnels all the players into one direction, even if the north side of the map doesn’t have their extract or one that’s up, they could use otherwise. The southern side of the map doesn’t have much going on; some cars and lootable items out in the open, but nothing that will normally yield big results or give players reason to come back each time they are on Lighthouse unless they just so happen to be walking past it. The quest distribution is also skewed towards the north too; especially the rogue camp. To be fair, at least the quests have you more often going south than the loot or any physical locations do, but even still it’s not enough to really feel good as a player. And this is problem with the map I have no solutions for sadly. It would require them to remake the map from scratch and more properly distribute the POIs and where the map is going to ask players to spend their time. I mean, maybe, technically, you could move the rouge camp more south towards the center of the map that creates a shit tone of logistical problems that in the maps current form, simply wouldn’t work. And the camp just existing is probably the main issue with Lighthouse.

(The Rogue camp is the only reason to go)

Let’s be real for a second; other than to complete quests, the only reason we even queue onto Lighthouse is to fight Rouges at the camp. It’s the main attraction on this map and that isn’t a bad thing per se, its location, how the Rouges interact with us the players, and what they can sometimes have either on their person or across the camp, creates some complications and sacrifices the map shouldn’t need to make. Their AI in general aside from the actual bosses, are the most cracked in the entire game. This map is tough to play as a USEC, and a nightmare to try as a BEAR. Overtime, I believe BSG has somewhat toned down their aggro range, but even still, we’ve all seen clips of how insane the distances they will still attack players from. Combine that with giving them both kinds of turrets to sit on and protect their base, and it quickly becomes a recipe for disaster. Even when they just have their own weapons, their reaction speeds are so fast you have to use the slow lean function in the game in order to land successful kills without getting your own brains scrambled in the process. There are some paths, and even some positions you can abuse to guarantee easy and clean kills, but when the community is forced to use dirty and cheap tactics to kill the AI opposition, you’ve failed in creating an engaging and thrilling experience that is both satisfying to play out, but also just fun. These guys should be slightly worse than raiders; in regards to their aim, reaction time, and levels of aggression. Raiders to me are almost exactly where they need to be for how often we come across them. But because Rogues are so much more common in their spawn rates, they can’t be this insane. They just can’t. Nothing feels worse than finally getting into the camp for a quest, only to die to an aim botting AI from the other corner of the camp. It's awful.

(Lightkeeper is a wasted mechanic [right now])

We’ve talked about Lightkeeper in the past and my stance on him, and while I have to respect what BSG is trying to do with him, he’s still a wasted mechanic in the game. What was once to be a trader located on the map you would need to travel to during a live raid, has been reduced to just a quest giver. What makes this sting more is that before he was added into the game, we were actually able to go and visit the lighthouse island, walk around and loot stuff. We couldn’t go inside because there were mines, but just being able to go to the location that the maps name takes after, felt good even if it was kind of a death sentence because of how precarious the run onto the island was. But now, you can’t even get onto the island without doing the questline necessary to meet Lightkeeper. And it’s not easy. The loot pools have been nerfed so many times that finding the items to give to either Mechanic or to craft components needed is way more of a chore than it needs to be. On PvE, I still haven’t gotten all the military radios for the first quest. I can’t find them. I’m sure I am missing some locations where they might have a chance to spawn, but for god's sake it shouldn’t be this difficult. And then all the other quests on Lighthouse that were once terrible but have since become marginally easier courtesy of BSG makes the whole experience not rewarding, but a deep sigh of relief that it’s over. I hate Lightkeeper. I hate what he stands for, and he’s just a reminder of how obtuse BSGs philosophy is when it comes to quests, progression, and how they want us to interact with their game.

(Outro)

Lighthouse has a ton of glaring problems. Every map has some issues, but it’s Lighthouse that takes first place in the ‘BSG please give this map some attention it desperately needs it’ leaderboard. I’m not sure what they can honestly do to resolve some of these problems that doesn’t require them to go back to the drawing board. It’s a cool map, which interesting mechanics and elements, but to sit down and play the map, it doesn’t feel good. There’s a reason the general consensus with the map went from this is so cool on release, to I loathe having to play on it. And making punisher part four on this map was the icing on the shit cake. My hope is that there were some screenshots BSG posted a while ago of some map areas that are unfamiliar. My hope is that these are some kinds of either expansion to Lighthouse or adjusting some of the existing parts. Because this map is the worst to play. Dying here hurts more than any other map. It feels like a deflating balloon. And no map should ever feel like that, especially when at some point you know you have to go there. 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 Lighthouse as a map, whether or not you enjoy it and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the parts of Tarkov that need more love and care than the fourth expansion to a map that plays perfectly fine in its current state. I hope to see you in future ones.