Escape from Tarkov drives itself into destruction with Unheard Edition fiasco

Developer Battlestate Games has found itself in the eye of a storm after unveiling the Unheard Edition of Escape from Tarkov yesterday. After the reveal, it didn’t take long for the community to voice its displeasure, which now seems to have grown into an open rebellion against what has been the dominant extraction shooter until now.

What is going on?

As mentioned, a new edition of Escape from Tarkov was unveiled yesterday. The Unheard Edition comes with a lot of extras, but also with a hefty price tag of $250. Far too expensive for what you get, the community thinks, but apart from that there is also a lot of criticism about the nature of the extras and the way in which Battlestate Games has tackled everything.

For the sake of completeness, we list here what the Unheard Edition contains:

Guaranteed instant access to closed beta
Digital copy preload
Access to PvE co-op mode with persistent progression. Progression will not be reset with wipes.
Enhanced stash size (10×72)
Unique in-game ID
Expanded PMC pockets
Increased Fence standing
More slots on the Flea Market
Unique in-game melee weapon
Increased mail retention time
Additional background screen option
Free access to all subsequent DLCs (Season pass)
Access to the Early Test Server (ETS)
Additional equipment and resources in stash (click here for more details)

Some of the perks you get have a clear pay to win edge. You get things that give you a strong advantage, especially at the beginning of Escape of Tarkov. However, that is not exactly new. Previous editions of the game (such as the $150 Edge of Darkness edition, which was previously the most expensive and “best” but was recently discontinued) also contain such extras and are often seen as a boost . Escape from Tarkov is a game in which the skill level of players is very important, so that pay-to-win push ultimately has less impact.

While “pay-to-win” often works like a red rag to a bull for many gamers, that is not the biggest problem for the community here. But what then?

Empty promises on Reddit?

About two months ago, the CEO of Battlestate Games gave some more insight on Reddit about future plans for Escape from Tarkov. It was stated that owners of the Edge of Darkness edition would have access to an offline co-op mode, something that the community has long requested. Nice of course, but now it turns out that offline co-op mode, where progression is maintained and there are therefore no “wipes”, is part of the much more expensive Unheard Edition, while there was no further mention of the Edge of Darkness edition .

The CEO is therefore accused of lying to the community and promising a much-requested feature for the Edge of Darkness edition of Escape from Tarkov, only to offer that feature two months later only via the more expensive Unheard Edition. Moreover, owners of the Edge of Darkness edition would get access to “all future DLC” and the question is whether the offline co-op mode is not included anyway. Apparently not?

After all the criticism, Battlestate Games has now announced even more extras for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition, including limited access to the offline co-op mode. More about that later in this article, but it is striking that nothing was initially said about it when the Unheard Edition was unveiled. It therefore looks more like panic football and damage control.

Escape from Tarkov: Arena

Another point of criticism has to do with Escape from Tarkov Arena, a spin-off that is more similar to Call of Duty. Interestingly enough, the Unheard Edition does not include access to Escape from Tarkov Arena, while the Edge of Darkness edition did include the spin-off.

On the one hand, the Unheard Edition clearly seems to contain more than the Edge of Darkness edition, but at the same time, things were left out, making the end result rather incoherent and especially causing confusion about what the real value of the new edition is.

“Unique” isn’t so unique after all

Where things really start to get painful is the fact that the Unheard Edition includes “Secure container Gamma (3×3 cells)”, while this was previously an extra that was described as “unique” in the Edge of Darkness edition.

So “unique” is not that unique, which also somewhat applies to the “unique in-game melee weapon” that is included in the Unheard Edition. It turns out to be a knife that is in fact a standard stock asset from the Unreal Engine store. Maybe not as bad as some of the other things hanging around the Unheard Edition, but for the community it is telling about the stinginess and courage of Battlestate Games to sell something like that to their players.

Covering up evidence

It becomes even more painful when it turns out that Battlestate Games tried to cover up evidence by adjusting the game’s website here and there. After the unveiling of the Unheard Edition, it did not take long before a lot of the above criticism was sent out into the world from the community and that criticism of course also reached Battlestate Games, which then quickly tried to make some adjustments here and there so that everything would seem less bad.

For example, on the support page about the contents of the Edge of Darkness edition, the mention of Escape from Tarkov: Arena was removed, so that it would be less noticeable that owners of the much more expensive Unheard Edition would not get something that they did in the earlier, and cheaper , Edge of Darkness edition Sat. Just like owners of the Edge of Darkness edition, owners of the Unheard Edition get access to “all future DLC”, but with the Edge of Darkness edition Escape from Tarkov: Arena was still seen as DLC and with the Unheard Edition it is no longer. Oops. The offline co-op mode is also not considered DLC for some reason.

Furthermore, the word “unique” for the “secure container” was also removed, probably to justify the fact that this same extra was suddenly also offered in the Unheard Edition.

Escape from Tarkov drives itself into destruction with Unheard Edition fiasco

Back and forth on social media: the competition smells blood

When these adjustments came to light, the fence was of course completely over the dam. On both the official Discord and the official subreddit, the community began openly revolting by spamming messages accusing Battlestate Games of lying and cheating to their players.

Naturally, competing games, such as Arena Breakout: Infinite and Gray Zone Warfare, quickly smelled blood and took the opportunity to attract indignant Escape from Tarkov players. They couldn’t laugh about that at Battlestate Games, which resulted in some shouting back and forth in a not very nice spectacle.

Panic football and damage control

In what seems like an attempt to save what can be saved, Battlegate Games has now announced a lot of new extras for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition, but it is highly questionable whether the community will be satisfied with them.

As mentioned, it feels like damage control, since initially there was no mention of the Edge of Darkness edition when the Unheard Edition was revealed. This suggests that initially there was no longer any intention to give owners of the Edge of Darkness edition anything extra, not even the offline co-op mode that they were previously promised.

That offline co-op mode would still be available for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition, but only for 6 months. It seems to be a tactic by Battlegate Games to on the one hand say that it never lied, while on the other hand it can push players towards the more expensive Unheard Edition if they want the “full experience”.

Again, not exactly something to make yourself popular. In addition, several “unique” items are again promised, such as a “unique dog tag”, “unique bracelet”, “unique set of clothing” and a “unique ‘Legacy’ decice.” The question is of course what “unique” is still worth if it is simply deleted as a word a few months later and is also distributed in other places. Here is an overview of all additional extras that have been announced for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition and that they want to make available “as soon as possible”: