Battlestate Games pulled a bit of a sneaky on players looking for an easier ending in Escape from Tarkov following the arrival of the 1.0 release midway through November. In the closing chapter of the game, players must navigate the Terminal map, slaying hundreds of AI enemies, to make it to a boat that marks their ultimate escape from Tarkov.
However, a trickery in the design meant that, in a group, not everyone could get a seat on the boat. In a post on social media, one streamer asked to alter the number of seats available on the boat to get out of Tarkov, to which Battlestate said, ‘It’s changed already.’
But the nature of that change has players perplexed.
Solo or No Go
Under Velion’s post asking for ‘everyone’ to be able to escape together, Battlestate Games’ Nikita Buyanov wrote:
Its changed already
This prompted many to believe that, as a group, all comers could escape from Tarkov together, no longer needing to sacrifice themselves or kill their friends at the ultimate exfiltration point.
However, the change that Battlestate Games implemented was something pretty drastic and not what fans were anticipating. Instead of allowing a group to escape from Tarkov, Battlestate has ensured that just one seat is available on the ZUBR boat, regardless of squad size.
That means if you make it through Terminal as a five-man squad, you’ll be left choosing which solo player gets to complete the game at the final post.
This was detailed by Pestily, arguably the most recognizable Escape from Tarkov streamer, in a post on social media:
Hey I watched multiple runs of Terminal yesterday and even with 5 people getting to the end it’s always 1 seat now? I understand “changed” can mean multiple things but only 1? Bruh…
Fans were quick to comment on the change, and as always, feedback was dramatically mixed and divisive. One user wrote, ‘If this isn’t fixed soon, I’m done with this game.’ Another wrote, “I like the 1-seat change – it forces an actual decision instead of defaulting to the 5-man safety net.”
One Tarkov player suggested a dynamic seating structure that changes according to the ending the players have. The ‘nicer’ their ending, the more seats are available on their boat.
Have you managed to escape from Tarkov yet? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server if you were forced to run solo.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Cloudhead Games has laid off 70% of staff
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
I was expecting Escape from Tarkov’s ending change to be something massive, but it feels more like a behind-the-scenes adjustment.