So accompanying BF2042 is the eventual release of hazard zone, a free to play battlefield experience that has been repeatedly compared with Escape from Tarkov. Some say it's a mix between tarkov and the hunt showdown. We only have a few leaks from playtesters, nothing real yet, other than a few notes from the devs that it would be a squad oriented experience that places high stakes (gear fear?) and makes death matter. Lastly it appears the "hideout" or base of operations area will be an aircraft carrier out at sea.
What I imagine in my head in a Tarkov clone from a AAA studio like Dice is a more polished, but scaled down experience. Less lore, dramatically reduced weapon animation quality and detail (because Tarkov is just the only studio that can do this apparently), but also it would be a massively more optimized and polished experience. The maps won't be as detailed, the loot won't be as varied, but again, polish and AAA quality.
Imagining a AAA but simplified Tarkov experience has me hyped af. My biggest fear is that the combat itself will be too casually oriented. They won't want to target the same audience of gamers, they'll have revives from death or spongy time to kill where a headshot isn't a 1 tap. There probably won't be a flea market or hideout, but it isn't out of the realm.
What do you guys think an EA Tarkov would be like? Would you sacrifice some of the quality and depth for optimization, functional netcode, working audio, simplified UI, etc? Do you think it will be too casually oriented? What sort of things would you want DICE to do differently?
