At first glance, it seems like we're dealing with another "Tarkov killer," created for the sake of irony and quick hype on someone else's brand. However, behind this multi-layered irony lies a full-fledged message to all developers of extraction shooters and their communities.
Escape from Duckov is a single-player extraction shooter developed by Team Soda, which is part of the Chinese media corporation Bilibili. The project is positioned as a parody of Escape from Tarkov, but in fact, it is an independent game with a distinct structure and mechanics characteristic of rogue- and souls-like games.
The main feature of the project is the simple rethinking of the principles of multiplayer survival into a single-player format. The player goes on raids, completes quests, collects resources, and risks losing everything, as well as gradually unlocking new locations. Despite the parodic visual style — with designer bath ducks — the mechanics are built on principles standard for the genre.
Parodic Wrapping
The story tells of us being one of the remaining inhabitants of Duckov – the native planet of ducks, which began to be consumed by a cosmic storm. Most of the population has left the planet, and now you need to find a way to leave the planet. On the way, you will encounter bandits and mercenaries trying to survive in the ruins of a dying civilization.
A number of in-game quests and situations directly refer to the original. The most famous example is the task of finding a bronze watch. In Tarkov, it requires multi-stage actions: finding a key, accessing a truck, and evacuating from the map.
In Escape from Duckov, the task is simplified — the key is bought in a vending machine, and the object itself is located near the exit from the raid. And almost every quest from the original source was ridiculed. This approach reflects the principle of conscious simplification: the project demonstrates how excessive complexity affects the player's perception of the genre.
Bosses also have prototypes. For example, an opponent nicknamed "Vida" externally and tactically repeats a similar boss from Tarkov – "Killa". He also sits in a shopping center, armed with a machine gun with armor-piercing rounds, wears heavy armor, and behaves very aggressively towards both bots and the player. Although the tactics of combat differ slightly from the military-realistic shooter.
The main difference lies in the requirement of constant movement. Battles with bosses are built around the mechanics of rolls, allowing you to dodge enemy attacks and quickly change position. Rolls consume stamina, and when it is depleted, the character becomes vulnerable. In addition, the effectiveness of evasions is affected by the weight of the equipment: overload significantly reduces the range and speed of rolls, which forces the player to choose between hunting bosses and raiding for resources.
Individual bosses are accompanied by special quests, which means they will have to be eliminated time after time, but in different conditions: from a certain weapon, without hitting the head, and so on. But this is not the only game feature borrowed from FromSoftware games, and not the original source for the parody.
More Souls Than Tarkov
The game contains five main locations, and they open sequentially as you progress. For traveling to a new zone without replaying through all the levels, the game provides a teleporter, ready to deliver you to any location. But for this, you need to activate special beacons, performing the function of checkpoints and teleports. This system creates a linear structure of advancement with the possibility of returning to previously visited areas.
Each location includes several points of interest — with enemies and useful resources, the most valuable of which are hidden behind closed doors. You can also get into such rooms with the help of keys found in raids. But here they have no restrictions on the number of uses, as in multiplayer counterparts. And so that they do not clog up the stash, the keys can be handed over to a special machine for "registration". Thanks to it, you can always use the keys in the raid without carrying them in your inventory. In addition to doors, some maps have damaged walls. They can be blown up, after which they will remain destroyed forever.
Another similarity with the Souls series lies in the local "insurance" mechanic. Instead of paying for the item return service after death as in EFT, Duckov applies the principle of returning items through a repeated visit to the point of death, similar to the soul return mechanic. The player can return lost items if they manage to get to the place of death before the next death. With repeated death, the inventory is destroyed.
"Head-Eyes" in Place
Escape from Duckov uses an isometric perspective with the ability to switch to a top view. This decision affects not only the perception of space, but also the mechanics of combat. Isometric provides better visibility of long distances, and the top view makes it easier to control in narrow spaces.
Shooting is implemented through a direct aiming system. If the player shoots in the direction of the enemy, basic damage is dealt. If the sight is aimed directly at the target, a guaranteed headshot occurs. The system takes into account armor classes and the armor penetration rate of bullets. But unlike Tarkov, there is no division into specific brands — it only works for specific types of weapons: pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, and others. But even with an accurate hit, the result depends on the level of the enemy's equipment.
Special attention should be paid to the behavior of weapons. Each model has different recoil, reload time, and effective range. The feeling of shooting is balanced — there is no excessive arcade, but there is no excessive realism characteristic of Tarkov. When you hold down the left mouse button, the sight will start moving away from the initial target. Therefore, here, as in other military shooters, you need to move the mouse in the direction opposite to the force of recoil.
The artificial intelligence system is based on the active behavior of opponents in space. Bots constantly patrol locations, react to noise, light sources, and player movement. At the slightest suspicion, they move to the alleged location of the sound and begin to inspect the area. Even quiet actions — steps, reloading, or using a weapon with a silencer — can attract the attention of nearby enemies.
Opponents are divided into several factions that interact not only with the player, but also with each other. Marauders, mercenaries, and bosses with a retinue can operate simultaneously on one map, and each of these groups is in a state of conflict with the others. This leads to situations where enemies engage in firefights with each other, creating a sense of a living world without the need for the presence of other players.
But the basic logic of behavior is the same for all opponents. They try to get as close as possible to the target, open fire in long bursts, and act aggressively. After the battle, some opponents can replenish their health if they have medicines. AI does not use complex maneuvers or coordination, but compensates for this with reaction speed and high density of fire.
Individual fighters have additional capabilities, which adds variety to what is happening. Some actively use grenades in narrow spaces, others are able to dodge the player's shots, and the rarest opponents can teleport a significant distance. This creates unpredictability and requires the player to constantly control the battlefield.
Which Raid Are You Going To?
Maps in Escape from Duckov are distinguished by a large scale and structure designed for gradual development. Locations have an open layout with several levels of access, many transitions, hidden routes, and vertical elements. The space is not divided into separate arenas, but is perceived as a single territory with points of interest, which encourages exploring the world, and not just running to complete missions. The player gets the opportunity to freely choose a route, combine goals, and avoid direct collisions. Thanks to this, each sortie is different, even on a familiar map.
A significant element of the design is the system of dynamic conditions that affect the behavior of enemies and the choice of equipment. There is no timer for exiting the location in the raid, so you can stay there as long as you want. But you need to take into account that the game has a change of time of day and weather conditions. At night, combat spider robots appear on the maps. They are equipped with good armor and machine guns, which makes them a threat in the early stages of the game. In such raids, you can use any equipment, including body armor and night vision devices, which allows you to compensate for the lack of visibility and effectively conduct combat.
But during cosmic storms, the structure of locations changes. The territory is covered with a dense purple haze, and anomalous creatures of unknown origin appear on the surface. Contact with them occurs more often in open areas and near energy sources. A special protective suit is used for such raids, providing immunity to radiation, but with minimal armor protection. This creates an asymmetry of risks: the player gains access to rare trophies, but loses standard means of defense.
Separate sections of the maps are infected with toxic gas. In these zones, you can also find valuable resources and unique blueprints for crafting. A respirator mask is required for safe movement, which must be pre-discovered in other locations or purchased from a merchant. Thus, the structure of the maps stimulates preparation and planning: knowledge of geography and the availability of suitable equipment directly affect the effectiveness of the raid.
In addition to the main maps, the game has a special test location available through the ferryman in the shelter. This area is an independent test where the player fights against enhanced opponents. The conditions are closer to arena battles and serve as a test of individual skills. Victory gives you the opportunity to get rare weapons and armor, and defeat leads to the loss of equipment, but without the right to return the lost equipment.
My Shelter Is My Fortress
The shelter in Escape from Duckov is a central element of the game cycle and combines the functions of preparation, trade, production, and character development. This is not just a zone between raids, but a full-fledged control base where the player interacts with key objects — accepts and completes quests, buys and sells items, collects equipment, studies blueprints, and develops skills.
The architecture of the shelter is built on a modular principle. At the beginning, a minimum set of objects is available: a warehouse, a vending machine, and an architect's table. At the latter, you will discover new stations — trading zones, research centers, training grounds, and even a mining farm. Most of these elements have direct analogies with the original Escape from Tarkov: the warehouse acts as a loot storage, the workbench serves for crafting, and the trading terminals provide access to the economy. However, Duckov implements an additional advantage — the ability to freely place and move objects within the shelter. This allows you to optimize the space for the player's individual preferences and build your own logic of organizing the base.
Each object can be improved. The warehouse can be increased in capacity, the workbench can unlock the production of armor-piercing rounds, modified body armor, and weapons. The research module opens blueprints for new types of equipment. Separate training zones increase the personal characteristics of the character: health, endurance, accuracy, resistance to hunger and thirst.
Some improvements require rare materials found in raids or the completion of specialized tasks. The economic system of the shelter is based on the extraction and exchange of resources. The trading zone and the black market allow you to sell and buy rare items, and the assortment of NPCs is replenished with new items as you complete missions associated with them.
As a result, the shelter combines mechanics from Escape from Tarkov, adapting them to a single-player format and adding elements of flexibility. The ability to freely rearrange objects, a simplified system of improvements, and extended functionality turn the base into a strategic development tool that directly affects the effectiveness of raids and the progress of the character.
Diagnosis
Escape from Duckov is a rare example of how a parody demonstrates a more responsible approach to adapting multiplayer mechanics to a single-player format: the structure, the basic principles of sorties with a constant search for values, the advancement through locations for the sake of fulfilling the goal from the title of the game. The main attention is paid to a stable game loop — preparation, raid, return, and improvement of the shelter, which creates a sense of systemicity and controlled progress.
With all the limitations, Escape from Duckov performs an important function: it offers a model of alternative development of the genre, where the priority is not pretentious realism, but manageable complexity and the internal logic of the gameplay. In this context, the game can be considered not as a parody, but as an experiment that reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the system on which "Tarkov" is built.
