Is Escape from Tarkov free-to-play?

Is Escape from Tarkov free-to-play? This question has been on many players’ minds after hearing about the game or watching it on streams. After all, some of the hottest games in the world right now are using the free-to-play model. But is the same true for the Battlestate Games first-person shooter? Is Escape from Tarkov free, or will it launch as a free-to-play game?

Is Escape from Tarkov free-to-play?

No, Escape from Tarkov is not a free-to-play game. Anyone who wants to check out the game first-hand will have to pay for the privilege. Battlestate Games hasn’t mentioned any plans to release Escape from Tarkov for free in the future, either. If you want to play, you’ll have to .

ALSO: How to download Escape from Tarkov

Some might think it’s a bit silly to ask if Escape from Tarkov is free, but the question is valid. The game has been wildly popular on streaming platforms such as Twitch or Mixer, which lumps it together with games that are actually free-to-play, such as Fortnite: Battle Royale or Apex Legends. Still, this is just a matter of association, not an indication of how much the game costs.

Escape from Tarkov is currently available for preorder purchase in four different editions. The price starts at $44.99 for the Standard Edition and goes all the way up to $139.99 for the Edge of Darkness Limited Edition. Regardless of which version you choose, the game will come bundled with an assortment of different equipment and items. For more details, check out our guide detailing the Escape from Tarkov price and bundle differences.

Sorry, folks: Escape from Tarkov is not free. Don’t let its association with other free-to-play games confuse you, as you’ll need to spend money if you want to download and play it. If buzz around the internet is any indication, the game is well worth the purchase. But if you’re still on the fence, try watching some streams to determine if Battlestate Games’ FPS release is right for you.

Escape from Tarkov devs reveal more changes after 12.6 patch

After over a year of waiting, Escape from Tarkov players were finally given the chance to start from a level playing field after Battlestate Games implemented a full character wipe on May 26.

The long-awaited wipe was not the only thing added to the game, however, as they also made many changes, that were well received, during the latest patch.

Battlestate Games

New gunsmith and looting changes have also been added in the follow-up changes to patch 12.6.

Escape from Tarkov’s 12.6 update introduced many new changes such as adding captchas to the flea market to reduce suspicious activity, as well as some new gameplay features and bug fixes.

• Read More: Clever Escape from Tarkov trick to level up faster with no therapist

Battlestate devs were not finished there, however, and surprised fans by revealing that they had brought about some more improvements on May 31.

The EFT devs shared that they had made changes to the mechanic’s gunsmith quests and to some of the traders’ offers, which will help players a bit more during the early stages of their playthrough.

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Some changes right after the 12.6 hit
- Mechanic's gunsmith quests now start from LVL5 (was 10)
- Changed many traders offers to be more easy-to-buy in early game (mk12 gasblock on LL1, Glock and magazines for It for roubles, increased restock count for various popular items

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As well as increasing the restock count for many of the go-to items on the market, they revealed that they had made some looting improvements as well in the follow-up patch.

Escape From Tarkov Patch 12.6 Wipes Character Data, Items, And Progress

Escape From Tarkov went down for a few hours on Thursday, May 28 to deploy patch 12.6 (0.12.6.7456), a major update to the early access shooter that included a global wipe of character data among several other changes, additions, and bug fixes. The massive reset erased all player progress, including level, trader rep, and any items stored in your stash, keeping only weapon presets and examined items saved in the handbook.

While the routine wipe was one of the major highlights of the latest Tarkov update, it's not the only thing that patch 12.6 brings with it. A captcha has been added to the flea market as an extra measure against bots, all stashes (no matter which Escape From Tarkov edition you have) have been increased by an additional 20 cells, and players now have the ability to lean while prone. Five new parts for the AR-15/M4 are also available to scavenge, but cannot be purchased from traders. The update also modifies a few quests and brings a number of optimizations, AI improvements, and bug fixes.

Leading up to the most recent wipe, Battlestate Games also temporarily reduced shop prices and unlocked all trader levels, allowing every player to access high-level weapons and gear before the wipe took place, in a kind of "post-wipe event." Patch 12.6 marks the first Escape From Tarkov wipe since October 2019.

Find the full patch notes for this latest Escape From Tarkov update below, or read them on the game's official website.

Escape From Tarkov Update 12.6 (0.12.6.7526 Patch Notes (May 28)

• This update wiped player levels and stashes. Only weapon presets and examined items in the handbook were kept.

Added

• "Captcha" was added to the flea market.
• If there are suspicious actions at the flea market and in the trade, a captcha may appear.
• If you enter the captcha incorrectly three times, the account will be blocked from accessing the flea market for 5 minutes, after which you will need to enter the captcha again to buy the item.
• Each subsequent three times incorrect entry will increase the time of the ban.
• Access to trading will not be banned, but it will require entering a captcha.
• All stashes, for all editions, increased by 2 rows (+20 cells)
• Improved the display of objects via thermal imaging devices. Through thermal imagers, now, as in real life, it is impossible to spot through the glass.
• Ability to lean while prone
• Added the first iteration of Steam Audio, aimed at improving the positioning of sound in game, it can be turned on with the option “Steam Audio: Binaural audio” in the game settings. This option is disabled by default.
• Now you can't sell items that were not found in raid on the flea market . This rule will not apply to weapons.
• When combining stacks of items found in raid with items not found in raid, all items will receive not found in raid status.
• Items that are placed in a secured container get the status " found in raid” only when you exfil the location with the status “Survived” (“Ran through” is not counted).
• When you exit with the status "run through” or death, all items in your inventory that you brought out lose the "found in the raid” status
• If you enter a raid with items that have the "found in raid” status, the items lose this status.
• When buying an offer from the flea market, the item also loses the "found in raid” status
• The quest reward obtained by completing a quest, crafted in the hideout, the Drops, and items obtained through the scav box will have “found in raid” status
• All the Fence's goods will not have "found in raid” status
• A large number of UI layout edits and UI bug fixes
• The resource of items (fuel, medicine, etc.) is now displayed in the flea market interface
• Now the currency icons at the flea market are colored differently
• 5 new parts for the AR-15/M4, not available from merchants (you will have to search for them on locations and in the inventory of bots)
• New character tops and bottoms
  • BEAR - top " Tigr”
  • BEAR - pants from " Zaslon” equipment kit
  • USEC - Urban Responder
  • USEC - Deep Recon pants
  • Scavs - Motocross Jacket
• New gear

Optimizations

• Various CPU optimizations
• Sound optimizations
• Optimization of casing, muzzleflashes
• Optimizing the creation of decals

AI improvements

• Improved behavior of ordinary scavs, now they can cooperate
• Fixed a bug that when a player falls into the bot's legs, the bot can’t hit him
• Fixed a bug where the Gluhar and his guards did not react to the enemy
• Fixed a bug where the Gluhar did not react to shots and the death of his guards
• Fixed a bug where the Shturman's guards did not take their positions
• The Sturman's guards will no longer rush between points while in peaceful behavior
• Bots no longer attack a player scav who has killed another player scav (the aggressor)
• Increased variety of bot patrol routes on locations

Fixed

• A bug where the border of the interface elements were twitching
• The mastering counter is now updated during the raid
• One of the bugs where player did not hear the fall of the grenade
• Ripples in the FLIR thermal imager
• Bug that would cause inability to open the inspector of items on quest items
• One of the bugs of incorrect calculation of the amount of money when purchasing an item
• Bug when a grenade would not fly through the window if you throw it too close to the window
• A bug where the character could pass through obstacles if player would switch to melee weapons while checking the weapon's fire mode
• Bug when the image in the inactive optics was frozen if several sights were installed
• Bug of inability to complete the quest if the player lost the connection to the server at the time of selecting the quest item
• Bug when the sight image was frozen after reconnect
• Visor audibility sounds, prone movement, third-person character shortness of breath
• Bug when a character could move to a prone position while jumping
• Blocking the examining of items if the player has started examining an item in the handbook
• Movement bug, when a character could increase their speed as a result of running and jumping
• A bug where the reconnect while indoors led to the fact that all sounds were not switched as indoor sounds
• Bug when there was no animation for a melee attack while prone
• Bug when a broken visor was visible against the background of the preset or modification screens in the Hideout
• Spamming AI error on the server, related to searching the bot's path
• Spamming error on the client “Graphics.CopyTexture called with null destination texture” when opening inventory
• Lack of sound when switching magnification on some scopes
• Error when the storage time of items in the email displayed a negative value when opening the window or receiving the mail
• Bug that didn't display the list of friends for invite to the group dialog
• Bug that caused deleted messages to appear in the dialog after sending new messages
• Fixed incorrect position of the “Old school" bottom clothing icon
• Various other bug fixes
• A large number of fixes on locations (culling fixes, physical colliders, visual bugs, etc.)
• Various localization edits
• Various fixes in the animation system
• Various network fixes
• A large number of various technical fixes aimed at increasing the stability of the game

Fixed at the flea market

• Layering of the offer description in fleamarket UI
• Bug of deducting twice the number of items from the merchant, when buying two items
• Bug of overlapping the drop-down list of filters with elements of the offer list interface
• Improved display of the purchase limit
• Displaying the maximum number of items when purchasing a single offer with multiple items
• Bug of inability to buy several items for barter

Fixed in presets

• Bug for selecting blocked offers, if you put a checkbox when purchasing items for a preset “Select all”
• Flea market interface block, when purchasing preset items, as a result of an error
• Various other fixes

Changed

• Removed the audio notification about the completion of crafting during the raid
• Now you can't throw grenades while sprinting
• Changed the conditions for the status “Survived”. Now you need to stay in the raid for at least 10 minutes or gain at least 600 XP before leaving the location.
• Increased the amount of experience required for the first 20 character levels
• Simplified Jaeger's quests
• Changed various old quests, new rewards have been added
• A large number of rarity edits and chances of items spawn
• Increased the variety of items spawned in loot containers
• Improved the quality of loot issued for a successful extraction with a friendly Scav
• Various changes in the characteristics of items
• Various changes in the equipment of bots and the player scavs
• Various changes in loot spawn points locations

Escape From Tarkov Gets Twitch Drops, Viewership Numbers Surge To Above 200K

Over the past few years, Escape From Tarkov has become notorious for its hardcore approach to the competitive shooter genre, a persistent gear-driven game where you lose everything you're carrying when you die. Well, if you've had a run of rotten luck in the trenches of Tarkov, or you're just getting started, there's some good news: you can score some item drops by watching participating streamers on Twitch.

Thanks to a previous patch, which also reset overall character progression for all players, these items can't be sold on the game's black market. This means you'll have to use the gear yourself, rather than fencing it for what you really want. This is a substantial change from previous Twitch drops, which some players accused of disrupting the game's economy.

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This promotion has caused Tarkov's viewership numbers to balloon on Twitch, with over 240,000 online as of this writing. For comparison, Fortnite is mustering a bit more than half of that, at 154,000, despite it being only a few hours after a massive event. At the PC Gaming Show, developer Battlestate Games revealed that a new map will be coming soon, as well as a revamped skill system. If you're looking to begin your illustrious career as a scavenger, check out our guide to Escape From Tarkov's controls and hotkeys.

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