Escape From Tarkov is a rather unique title that has arguably pioneered and spearheaded the growth of the ‘extraction shooter’ genre. It’s known as one of the most challenging games online today, boasting borderline milsim features and a learning curve that easily threatens the more casual gamer. In this list, we’re breaking down the best games like Escape From Tarkov that you can play if you want an alternative to this uber-punishing title.
What Are The Best Games Like Tarkov?
Escape From Tarkov requires a sizeable investment of time, effort, and finances. It’s a stressful and at times overwhelming experience that challenges even the most skilled gamers, but at the same time, it can be a massively satisfying and thrilling game that boasts an operating model similar to gambling: you never know if you’re going to win, and when you do, it’s exhilarating.
Here are the best games like Escape From Tarkov, then.
5. Marauders
Marauders was developed by Small Impact Game and published by Team 17, and it serves as a direct (if minor) competitor to Escape From Tarkov. It boasts a similar layout but a totally different setting, given that it’s set in an ‘industrialised deep space’ environment. It doesn’t have anywhere close to Tarkov’s player count, but it’s a great game in its own right.
Related: Team 17 Hit By Layoffs
4. Hunt: Showdown
Hunt: Showdown was first released in 2018, and it remains a popular enough game today. In Hunt, players are tasked with entering an open-world environment, fighting against other players and AI-based opponents, completing tasks, collecting bounties, and then extracting successfully from the map.
3. Zero Sievert
Zero Sievert is a 2022 top-down extraction shooter that’s easily considered one of the best games like Escape From Tarkov. It’s a similar game in many ways, but it effortlessly stands apart as a unique adventure. In Zero Sievert, maps are procedurally generated, so you’ll never have the same raid twice, and with the post-apocalyptic vibe that the game lets off, it’s a perfect cross between Tarkov and something like Fallout or Stalker.
Related: Fallout 76 Almost Died, Until PlayStation Saved It
2. Call of Duty: DMZ
Call of Duty’s DMZ mode debuted in November 2022 alongside ‘Warzone 2.0’, emerging as Activision’s stab at an extraction shooter. It’s not a standalone game as such, but it’s bundled up with Warzone and is sizeable enough that we can consider it as a game by itself. In DMZ, players load into a range of maps – including the desert-themed Al Mazrah – to complete tasks, fight enemies, and then successfully extract again.
Related: What is Call of Duty’s DMZ Mode?
1. Dark and Darker
Despite suffering from some development issues, Dark and Darker remains one of the best games like Escape From Tarkov today. It’s a twist on the extraction shooter genre, fusing elements straight out of an old-school RPG and a fantasy setting with the complexity and challenge of an extraction shooter – despite not actually having any ‘shooter’ elements. It’s a mix between a battle royale and an extraction game, and it has already proven to be a promising title.
What do you think? Are there any other games that should have made this list?
