The First Time You Played Tarkov

Do you remember the first time you played Escape From Tarkov? I’m sure if everyone thought long and hard about when they first heard about Tarkov and their first couple dozens of hours with the game, a wave of nostalgia comes flooding past them. The sense of not knowing what to do, what each item meant, and how your inventory looked substantial at the start, only after a couple of failed raids did you realize the gear given to you is quickly leaving the stash. It’s one of those experiences that as someone who enjoys video games, I would love to experience as a brand-new player once again. Up there with games like Call of Duty Zombies, the first month of For Honor, and any Dark Souls game. For how scary and intimidating Tarkov is initially, I look back on playing the game for the first time with more confusion and questions than really anything else. When I first played Factory, I thought you needed the Factory key in order to extract from the map. So, I looked up where it spawns and farmed the location running nothing but a hatchet for about a week. Only to then finally get the game, and have it wipe, not even understanding where the key went once I booted up the after it reset. We all start somewhere and for me, even though I had no clue what was going on, I was still enjoying myself if you can even believe that. Tarkov has changed so much in the almost seven years I have been playing it. Tons of new content and additions to the games in terms of gear and mechanics, but also going through the tougher waves when things weren’t looking so good. So today, I wanted to take some time and reflect on all the things about Tarkov that still feel nostalgic and maybe after listening it might unlock some core Tarkov memories that you totally forgot about, and who knows, they might put a little smile on your face as you remember the good and simpler times.

Easily the most nostalgic thing about Tarkov is the soundtrack. Nikita created all the music himself, and while many of the songs in the game currently are certified bangers, there are three in particular that reek of nothing but moments lost to time. Dark Horizon is the first up, and this was the first song I heard when I booted up the game for the first time. By itself this song perfectly encapsulates your first impression of the game. The melancholy feel, combined with the stress that the piano notes bring before the drop kicks in, and you begin to understand what you just signed up for. It’s going to be difficult; you’re going to die a lot at the start, but even through all that, the song has this angle of hope behind it; you will figure it out and once you do, that’s when you will get hooked and want to engage with more of the game. Even though I normally turn off the in-game music after a couple weeks into a fresh wipe, this song is a reminder of a place where we all began. Whether it was in 2017, or more recently in 2024, It’s a hauntingly beautiful track that is absolutely perfect for Tarkov and being a new player to the game.

The other two tracks that also are deeply rooted in nostalgia for myself are Hostile Illusion, and Prepare for Escape. Hostile Illusion is kind of the opposite of Dark Horizon; where Dark Horizon feels you with a sense of dread and stresses you out, Hostile Illusion kind of gets you amped up for another raid. Or perhaps, you just got out of a sick raid where you killed some players, some AI and got some loot. It can definitely assist in giving you that adrenaline pump that Tarkov is notorious for. It’s a feeling good kind of song because the pacing and the beats hit so damn well. And Prepare for Escape lands somewhere in the middle. It feels like the song is well earned after a hard-fought raid. Maybe your friends unfortunately died in the process, maybe you had to make some sacrifices in terms of what gear you took out with you, but you managed to get it done. This song serves to encourage the player and also immerse them in the world that Tarkov takes place. It’s not completely filled with dread and angst, but it also doesn’t get your blood pumping. It feels somber; something you would listen to while you reflect on the things you’ve accomplished in the game. It feels as though it’s just a piece of this larger world that you are now a part of. The people you meet, the places you’ll go, it’s part of the journey. And it’s quite a sight to behold. Together, these three songs combined signify “old Tarkov” to me. And any song that was released after Reserve got added into the game fall under “new Tarkov”. But it isn’t just the music that makes me feel nostalgic.

It’s wild to think just how much this game has grown in popularity over the years. The reserve patch combined with Twitch drops that same year really gave this game the limelight it deserves. But before that, Tarkov was a much smaller more niche game that was only heard about through the grape vine. I only heard about it through someone my brother knew and watched him play the game for a little while. The amount of people streaming the game, talking about, making videos and guides on it was miniscule compared to what it is now. And because of that, the game feels more nostalgic simply for it being not as popular. I guess you could equate it to when Dark Souls was still a niche game and before the massive explosion in players as the series continued and got better. It was the little club we partook in because we found this gem of a game, and there are only so many people playing it, talking about, and making videos about it. Not to sound like an elitist sack of shit, but there is something really cool about being an early adopter of a video game that then at some point in the future explodes in popularity. That growth and progression overtime no matter how long it takes, is special. And seeing Tarkov turn into what it has become today was interesting to witness to say the least.

As the game got more popular, more planned mechanics got added and people engaged with the game more, one aspect of Tarkov that has since kind of disappeared from its previous versions is the idea of scarcity and having to struggle to find pretty much anything you’re looking for. We actually talked about this a while ago, but to me, scarcity in terms of items in the game and the amount of loot you could find were core elements to early Tarkov and also have a sense of nostalgia tied to it. Nowadays, you can easily make millions of rubles per raid if you know where to look, have the right keys for the job and get a little lucky. But back in the day, if you made even 100k rubles from a scav run, that was considered huge. Having two or three million rubles in your stash back then was the equivalent of having 100 million rubles now. The game was harder in that sense because finding items that had inherit value was challenging. The game wasn’t large enough yet to give each item its own purpose; whether that was for the Hideout, quests, or something you may just like. There were items that were pretty much useless in the game, and for the most part that is pretty much gone. And while that’s an improvement from years prior, to me another component of old Tarkov was the difficulty of finding things. It’s kind of like when they nerf the loot on a map because it’s too good and then for a while you basically find nothing. Yeah, that was just old Tarkov for a while. Not necessarily a good thing for the game, but man does it take me back.

It’ll be seven full ass years in September since I started playing Tarkov. It’s been a long time, with tons of twists and turns, ups and downs. Tons of wonderful changes and additions to the game, but also many tumultuous times where we didn’t know what BSG wanted from the game, and more importantly, from us. Nikita has said many times now that he is shooting for a full 1.0 release of the game sooner rather than later. And with the game’s next wipe coming up in August, which we will be covering next, the cycle can once again repeat, with all the new bells and whistles added with the newest patch. I think it’s important to reflect on everything the game has gone through; it helps give perspective on just how large this project has become. From a smaller game to help fund the real project, Russia 2028, to becoming a full hands-on game that will hopefully see it all the way to end, I am glad to have partaken in this game’s existence, and am looking forward now to see what 1.0 will eventually bring us. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video, let me know in the comments your nostalgic moments with Tarkov and be sure to subscribe for more videos about trips down memory lane with other popular games. I hope to see you in future ones.