Tarkov’s Recoil Got Reworked (Again), and It Feels...

(Intro)

So Tarkov’s weapon recoil did in fact see some changes with patch 0.16. And while the community as a whole myself included were hesitant on any changes to the system after it had been unanimously praised by players after its first major overhaul, BSG assured us that this round of adjustments were to try and make the recoil visually look more accurate to firing weapons proper. Whether or not they succeeded in that front I’ll leave up to experienced users of firearms, but the main concern from most people was whether or not the recoil was going to feel worse after these changes. And to be brutally honest, I can’t tell if the changes in totality are better or worse. I mean, it’s not terrible by any means, and in some instances it looks more interesting while still being easily controllable, but it definitely feels different at the very least. So, was this second go around at changing Tarkov’s recoil worth it? Let’s talk about it.

(Intent versus implementation)

BSG said in the October livestream they did where they showed off preliminary footage of the work in progress recoil changes that their goal was to make each shoot feel weightier and heavy; as if you could feel the blowback from a large rifle, or the short and curt clap of a pistol. And I remember when we talked about the recoil change, it visually looked heavier; the camera twisted in a quick spiral instead of just kicking upwards. We also had a talk about the different types of recoil that can employed in a shooter game. And from the footage the main component they wanted to tackle was the camera recoil; how our view of what was going on with the weapon as it was being fired changed. And they assured us that the weapon recoil was staying the same. Well, again, it’s hard to really say if that is true or not. At the very least, it doesn’t feel worse across the board than before the change, I’ll say that. But their primary goal was the camera recoil, nothing more. And that is noticeably different. But in a mostly positive way. It’s difficult to articulate these feelings of recoil, because while for the most part, there is an objective truth as to whether or not a weapon’s recoil is good or bad, for different people and different weapon builds, things will vary slightly from person to person. But for anyone who is actively playing the game this wipe, you may or may not have even consciously noticed the changes. You might be like woah this looks different when you first fire a variety of weapons, but after some stone your eyes kind of just get used to the new visual feedback. This distinct lack of a visceral negative reaction to the new recoil is what makes me believe that the changes were in fact for the better. It may look funny or slightly off if you’re so used to using one weapon with one build and have the muscle memory for that specific recoil pattern. But now things are just different enough that your eyes noticed it for a short while it then very quickly adjusts and adapt to what’s new. And to me, this is the hallmark of good change. Something you can visually identify as being different, but not to the detriment of your ability to fight other entities in the game.

(The never-ending challenge of good recoil)

It’s difficult to articulate exactly what’s different in the recoil without just reading straight off the patch notes. As I said earlier, recoil and weapon feel are very much a subjective matter as it is objective. While I might be totally fine using an AK with a PSO scope on it, there are people out there who might hate that scope in general or on a specific rifle and refuse to use it. And as someone who general prefers to build weapons for cosmetic reasons and not always going for best in slot, I’m much more prone to seeing these changes in a large variety of weapons. From everything I’ve used this wipe so far, not a single weapon has felt worse or just awful to use. Maybe one exception would be the revolver shotgun, but in its defense ever since the major recoil changes, we got two years ago, that gun specifically has felt extremely floaty. Not entirely sure why, but other than that each gun feels solid to use. Until patch 0.14 was added, weapon recoil was an insidious beast to try and wrangle. Each weapon was so vastly different from one another. Even just small adjustments to the builds on the same weapon would have beneficial or detrimental effects that didn’t really make sense. It’s kind of funny how we still have recoil numbers in the game for a weapon’s stats. Who is going to figure out what seventy-five vertical recoil means on an AK? Again, before patch 0.14, there was a little more nuance with the numbers and more barometers to gauge what weapons felt like at certain number values. But now, the recoil across the board is so much better the numbers feel kind of moot to a certain extent. Who remembers the VAL meta? The SA-58 arc? The dominating performance of the Mutant and RD-704; those are the darker times of the game where even as someone with thousands of hours, I don’t want to relive those moments. When variety isn’t the name of the game for Tarkov, there is something utterly wrong with it. At its core, any weapon can take out any player should you play your cards right, and have a dash of luck on your side. But when there is a dominating presence out on the field, that’s when the game feels its weakest. If everyone is using the same weapon, there’s no fun in that. Sure, some people are going to disagree and say that’s when the game is at its best because the same weapon with the same build and ammo, means it comes down to the player. And to a certain extent, you’re right. However, how many times have you eliminated a PMC, tapped his body and saw a weapon that looked so cool and unique you went, oh I want to use that. That looks sick. When it’s always one weapon, that doesn’t ever happen. Variety is the strongest trait of Tarkov; it always has been. And recoil prevented that from being a reality for quite some time. Luckily, we are at a much healthier point to where tons of weapons get used by the community at large.

(Outro)

We were all nervous about a change to such a positive recoil adjustment. Granted, at least for myself, before the first major change, when I saw the work in progress video, I remember having a very nasty knee jerk reaction to it. My eyes did not like what they saw. Luckily, they must’ve got some great feedback, because it ended up being the highlight of patch 0.14. The same thing happened again in October last year, but the reaction wasn’t so viscerally negative, at least for me. It was more asking why are we messing with something that is genuinely loved by the community. I didn’t hate what I was seeing, but I also didn’t love it. But I am just glad that things seemed to have turned out okay. Recoil in general with patch 0.16 feels respectable. Visually, it’s the most interesting it’s ever looked, so kudos to BSG for making it look to engaging and reactive without compromising the numbers. Now that it’s in a place where everyone can say for the most part that it looks fair, it feels fair, maybe we can tackle some of the other issues plaguing the game currently, please? 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 recoil changes in patch 0.16 as a whole, if you still notice them this late into the wipe and be sure to subscribe for more videos about systems that have been in the game since day one receiving yet another rework like Ryze from League of Legends. I hope to see you in future ones.