Escape from Tarkov is exceptional and was not possible 10-20 years ago

Escape from Tarkov is a dumpster fire of a game, and scav AI is almost as good as the AI in a single-player NovaLogic game back in the early 2000s. There was great potential when I was playing it back in real beta, when the only map was Factory and you kitted your PMC out with weapons still missing receivers because that was all you could get. Streaming, along with incompetent devs desperately trying to avoid conscription, ruined that game,

The biggest problem with EFT, IMO, that also affects other games is that the game needs a constant stream of newbies to act as "content" for the high-tier players and those willing to stream the game.

There's three things that exacerbate this issue:

* Everyone is in the same lobby

You're matched up with players with no regard for skill or gear. If they split the community by some sort of skill measurement, the high-tier players would be stuck in queues waiting for their peers, so that option is probably out. Splitting by gear is possible and worth exploring, IMO. (Imagine a zero-to-hero lobby where everyone starts with a pistol and a can of beef stew.)

* Insurance, post-raid recovery of items

People can get many of their items back when they die during a raid for a relatively small upfront price. They can commit "fraud" by ditching insured items before they die, guaranteeing they can get them back later. This allows high-tier players to preserve more of their high-end loot indefinitely and the fraud part makes it harder for lowbies to get the good stuff earlier. IMO, insurance should be ditched entirely.

* Characters can level up skills, attributes

Like a lot of games, in EFT you can boost your skills and attributes in game. For example, you can make it easier to spot loot and reduce how much water/food you need. Naturally, experienced players will have characters with higher attributes, which tips the balance even more in their favor. I think ditching this would help a lot.

Similarly, characters can gain access to higher tier loot that they can simply purchase in-game. They can buy items lowbies will have basically no chance to ever buy, and because of insurance fraud, may never even be able to loot.

All of this is usually written off as a "skill issue". I concede that my issues are mostly related to skill. But the fact is that different people have different skill limits (and of course time to practice) and adding game mechanics that exacerbate the differences makes the game less fun for newbies -- the very newbies that they need.

A strange jab at avoiding conscription - I’d rather everyone in Russia did that and not gone to that insane war.

As for the game, well that’s a hot take

If you only played in early Factory-only days you probably have seen maybe… 5% of the game?

It’s the deepest and most complex FPS there is mechanics-wise, not to mention the map design is simply above and beyond any other first person GAME, not just shooter. The developers seem to craft enormous multi-level maps inch by inch, with minimal copy-pasting. It’s on the level or better than Red Dead Redemption 2 level design and that’s a multi-billion dollar game.

Not to mention the mechanics that turn any engagement into a 10D chess.

As far as AI, eh, it has improved (you can call the scavs using voicelines and they will reply, and ever eventually command them, so you can have 5 scavs following you around the map reenacting some degenerate version of D&D :) I assume AI will keep improving faster now as they’ve added PVE mode (if that’s your thing).

Ultimately Tarkov is PvP that is unparalleled and the emergent storytelling that comes from encounters with other humans.

If you really haven’t touched in 5(?) years I’d urge you to give it a shot - the new wipe starts Aug 20 (booby traps, Molotovs and burning mechanic, UZI and M60 are coming). I heard it may be the last one wipe before the release - at least the devs started to talk about 1.0 and that the game is close to being ready (I agree actually).

Yea, there are massive piles of good games these days. With that said, there's an even bigger pile of total crap, so it really does take a bit of work to figure out what's good. But the thing is, that information is out there if you spend just a bit of time on YT looking for it.

That and check the demos out. Unicorn Overlord for example released a (massive) demo. In my case though I just listened to a small youtuber who has excellent taste in games... and I thought that it was a better game than he did at first (although he's now also on the 10/10 bandwagon).

The Elder Scrolls Online is awesome as well. Never ending adventure.