After it was suggested that Escape From Tarkov could make campaign co-op runs easier, an update to the game has done the exact opposite.
If you’ve heard of Escape From Tarkov, you’re no doubt aware that the extraction shooter has a reputation for being a notoriously difficult video game. That’s why it was such a big deal when someone actually managed to complete the story campaign and escape from Tarkov last month.
The game’s difficulty has been a talking point ever since Escape From Tarkov’s early access launch on PC, several years ago, with long-time players often warning newbies about how unforgiving it is.
As such, there are some requests for the difficulty to be toned down, particularly when trying to escape as a group. In what can only be described as a premium case of trolling, though, a recent update to the game has purposefully made it harder.
For context, when you reach the end of Escape From Tarkov’s last map – Terminal – there is a boat you must board in order to flee the city. If more than one person makes it to the end at the same time, though, there’s never enough room for all of them to escape.
As highlighted by Twitch streamer Velion on X, if two or three players work together, there’s still only one seat available on the boat. If there are four players, there are only two seats and then three seats for five players. Basically, anyone who’s playing with friends could still be stranded even after making it all the way to the end.
In their post, Velion directly tagged Escape From Tarkov’s director, Nikita Buyanov, to suggest this be changed with an update: ‘Imagine being able to go into Terminal and meeting two other players who you work together on a hard map and you survive and make it out. You could potentially make some dope friends.’
Surprisingly, just a couple of hours later, Buyanov replied to say, ‘It’s changed already,’ which means either the development team made a very quick turnaround or this change was already planned beforehand.
Players have since learned the hard way, though, that this change isn’t what Velion asked for. Instead of adding more seats, now there’s only ever one seat available, no matter how many of you there are.
Another Twitch streamer, Pestily, has drawn attention to this on X, saying, ‘I watched multiple runs of Terminal yesterday and even with five people getting to the end it’s always one seat now? I understand ‘changed’ can mean multiple things but only one?’
Other players have chimed in to verify this, with one saying, ‘We went six to seven times helping chat (five mans) yesterday and every single time one spot.’
‘Did a run the other day with me and two other randoms and thankfully I won the coin flip (the one guy said he won’t take it) and I got out but we only had one seat,’ adds another.
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So far, Buyanov hasn’t offered any reasoning behind this change, nor are there any official patch notes or statements from the Escape From Tarkov X account. But as you can guess, some players are not happy with it.
‘If this s*** isn’t fixed soon (more seats on the boat, allowing groups to Transit into Terminal together) I’m done with this game, plenty of other games out there,’ writes one disgruntled player.
Another one argues, ‘This is actually the biggest L I’ve seen by Nikita yet. It’s the biggest challenge in the game, the big climax at the very end, and we’re forcing PvP in the worst way. Either let everyone escape who gets put into the map or make it a fully solo experience.’
Naturally, there are some who just find the change hilarious or even prefer there only ever being one seat. Some players who aren’t as bothered still reckon it might be too harsh a change though: ‘Maybe two to three seats max could be a good middle ground? Keeps the pressure without killing group play entirely.’
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