"Tarkov will go to the trash": Escape from Tarkov fans are unhappy with the announcement of the knockdown mechanic - Nikita Buyanov told them to relax
Some players fear the appearance of a mechanic that has already been introduced in other extraction shooters.
Recently, the developers of Escape from Tarkov published a preliminary update plan for 2026. The plans include a series of patches, a game engine update, various technical improvements, new content, including a map and the "Povodir" boss, as well as a specific mechanic.
In December of this year, the "addition of ally healing, knockdown, and revive systems" is expected. The developers did not go into detail during the announcement, and this wording caused certain concerns among players - there are already extraction games on the market where a player can be "revived" even after a headshot.
Because of this, comments like these are heard in the Escape from Tarkov community:
- "After the introduction of knockdowns, Tarkov will go to the same trash bin as Arena" (referring to Arena Breakout: Infinite).
- "Knockouts are the worst thing that can happen in this genre. [Arena Breakout] died partly because of this, even colorful anime skins are not as confusing as the fact that you cannot kill an opponent [...] and he is constantly revived ten times during a fight. And when you are alone and there are four opponents - it becomes 4 times more absurd.
- "Well, this is literally a stupid addition, and it's especially bad for solo players... It feels like you don't think at all before adding such nonsense. Such a thing should have been added to the game many years ago, if you were going to do it at all, and not almost a year after the 'full release'."
Suggestions are already being made to divide the game into "classic" and "hardcore" Escape from Tarkov:
Divide the game into 2 clients - like Blizzard did with WoW Classic Hardcore and Retail for casuals,
Battlestate Games boss Nikita Buyanov reacted to the outrage. On social media, he briefly described the mechanic and urged players to calm down. According to him, a headshot will still lead to death:
Guys, relax. This will be a normal and realistic mechanic. If you are shot in the head - you will die. There will be a chance that you will lose consciousness due to serious injuries, severe blood loss, and so on.
So far, the developers have not shown a gameplay teaser of knockdowns; at the moment, there is only this textual description.