Escape from Tarkov director says Arena will be a ‘mediocre’ game that ‘increases attention’
Nikita Buyanov says the team wanted to get more people into Tarkov
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Escape from Tarkov: Arena, the standalone session-based multiplayer FPS based within theEscape from Tarkovuniverse, will be a “mediocre in-between” game, according to its director, Nikita Buyanov.
Buyanov, who serves as the head of Battlestate Games and also directedEscape from Tarkov,told GamesRadar+during Gamescom 2023 thatArenais being made to simply “have as many players as possible”, and furthermore, get more gamers “familiarized withEscape from Tarkov”.
“Escape from Tarkovis a really interesting game, and we always wanted to get more players to it,” Buyanov explained.
He continued: “We decided to make something mediocre in-between, some mid-core game that increases attention, and will lead to more players playing, and being familiarized withEscape from Tarkov."
The director stated thatArenawill be “a little bit simpler in terms of matches”, although it will remain “complex in terms of gameplay features and mechanics”. This certainly sounds like it will makeArenaa little more approachable for anyone who’s not super familiar withEscape from Tarkov.
Inhis preview article, TechRadar Gaming’s editor-in-chief, Jake Tucker, describedArenaas “a recruitment poster rather than a unique mode”. He wrote: “It almost feels likeArenais, if I’m being cynical, a way to get arena shooter fans looking for something different to try and convert them intoTarkovplayers.”
At the time of writing,Escape from Tarkov: Arenadoesn’t have a set release date, although it iscurrently available to pre-order- those who do so will also unlock Ryzhy’s gear preset from the Chronicles of Ryzhy series. It’s worth noting that anyone who already bought the expensiveEscape from Tarkov: Edge of Darkness Limited Editionwill get access toArenaat no extra cost, so they don’t need to pre-order.
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Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.
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