I spent years dipping in and out of Escape from Tarkov during its long early access period, back when desync could end a raid faster than a bullet and every new patch felt like a step into the unknown. Tarkov was always intense, always demanding, and always one mistake away from wiping out your hard-earned gear. Even in its roughest form, there was something magnetic about it. It was a shooter that refused to hold your hand, a survival game that punished greed, and a world where every footstep mattered.
Now that Tarkov has reached its full release, I returned expecting familiar chaos. What surprised me was how much of that brutal heartbeat still remains, only now wrapped in systems that feel more reliable, more deliberate, and more confident.
Tarkov always had storytelling between the lines. Notes in pockets, rooms with history, factions whispered through quests. The full release pushes that further with clearer questlines and better progression pacing. Traders feel more expressive in how they guide you, and the path from low-tier gear to high-value weapons feels less like slamming into a brick wall.
In early access, quests often felt like chores. Many of them were notorious for vague locations or objectives that forced you into the worst parts of the map. The structure now feels more refined. Objectives still push you into danger, because that is Tarkov’s identity, but they feel more purposeful. The world wants you to survive, but only barely.
The gunplay remains the star. Every shot feels weighty, grounded, and terrifying in the way only Tarkov can make it. When I played in early access, firefights often felt like coin tosses, especially during periods of heavy desync. The full release feels far more consistent. Hit registration is cleaner and weapon balance is more defined. When you win a duel, you feel like you earned it. When you lose, you usually know exactly why.
Weapon modding remains the most intimidating system, yet it is also the most rewarding. The full release makes this slightly more approachable with cleaner UI elements and better stat breakdowns, though it still preserves that hardcore depth Tarkov players expect.
This is one of the biggest shifts since early access. There was a time when Tarkov fights felt like wrestling the game as much as the enemy. Stutters, long load times, and unpredictable crashes were part of the lifestyle. The full release is not perfect, but it is substantially more stable. Maps load faster, raids settle quicker, and hitching is far less frequent.
When I played Tarkov in its early days, the game felt like a brutal experiment. Now it feels like a brutal world. That distinction matters. I’ve played Tarkov across several years, through its unstable patches and performance spikes, and I returned for the full launch on a high-end PC equipped with an RTX 4090, expecting near-perfect technical performance. While the game certainly runs better than before, it still carries quirks and rough edges that feel like remnants of its early access identity.
Running Tarkov on an RTX 4090 produces strong results, but not flawless ones. The game delivers high frame rates across most maps, regularly hitting triple digits in closed interiors and staying above 100 fps in calmer outdoor areas. The 4090’s raw power clearly helps smooth out the engine’s roughness, especially in firefights where older systems tend to hitch.
Despite this, Tarkov still struggles to behave like a fully optimized modern PC title. The in-game engine shows its age. Certain maps bottleneck performance in ways unrelated to the GPU. Lighting-heavy areas and dense foliage zones can trigger dips into the 70–80 fps range, which is surprising on a card this powerful.
The biggest consistent improvement is frame pacing. In early access, Tarkov often felt jittery even with high fps. The full release is more stable, and microstutters are less intrusive, but they have not disappeared entirely.
AI behavior has improved too. Scavs move more realistically and feel less like glitchy surprise attacks. Bosses remain dangerous and unpredictable, but they no longer feel unfairly broken. Even with all the mechanical improvements, the biggest surprise is how Tarkov’s atmosphere has matured. Lighting is stronger. Interiors feel more abandoned. Night raids carry actual tension instead of muddy visuals. The improved sound design helps you trace footsteps and distant gunfire with more clarity.
The audio engine has improved but remains inconsistent. Gunfire sounds powerful, and indoor acoustics carry weight, but directional audio can still be unreliable. The 4090 does nothing to solve this since the issue lies in the sound system itself. Footstep clarity is better than before, yet there are moments where the layering blends sounds together in a way that makes pinpointing movement more difficult than it should be.
Regardless of hardware, Tarkov has always leaned heavily on the CPU, and the full release continues that trend. Even on a high-end system, there are moments where the processor does the heavy lifting while the GPU coasts. This leads to scenarios where the 4090 is underutilized, especially in large AI-driven encounters or when many players occupy the map.
Memory allocation is better than before, though still aggressive. The game benefits from having plenty of system RAM, and load times noticeably improve with faster storage. But textures remain inconsistent. Some items and walls look detailed, while others seem flat or outdated. The world looks gritty and immersive, but not polished. The 4090 can brute-force resolution and clarity, yet it cannot disguise the assets that feel stuck in the early access era.
Tarkov has never focused on theatrical visuals, but the full release adds stronger lighting, better materials, cleaner interiors, and more believable environments. On a 4090, the game looks sharp at high resolutions and benefits from maximum settings across the board.
Night raids look significantly better than they used to. Darkness feels more natural, and the lighting engine handles contrast with more intention, though certain areas still appear washed out.
Despite all the improvements, Tarkov is still Tarkov. You will lose gear. You will die unfairly. You will question life during a slow bleed-out in a dark hallway. The game never pretends to be approachable, and it never will. That is part of its identity, and the full release stays true to its roots.
Some systems remain clunky. Inventory management is still a mini-game of its own. Insurance sometimes feels pointless when entire squads sweep the map. New players still face a steep learning curve that even the improved onboarding cannot soften.
But that is also why Tarkov works. Every small victory feels monumental. Every successful extract feels earned. Every backpack jingling with loot makes your pulse spike.
Escape from Tarkov’s full release is not a reinvention of the game I played years ago. It is a refinement. The rough edges are smoother, the systems are thicker, and the world has more shape. What made Tarkov unique has been preserved, while the frustrations that once defined early access have been reduced.
This is still one of the most intense shooters ever created. It is still ruthless, still unpredictable, still capable of delivering moments that no other game can replicate. For those who survived early access, the full release feels like the game Tarkov always wanted to be.
Played on PC (Steam), this review is based on a review code provided by Battlestate Games.
Escape from Tarkov (PC)
Escape from Tarkov is a brutally rewarding shooter that has finally grown into its full potential.
The Good
- Improved stability from early access
- Realistic weapon handling
- Night raids look and feel more immersive
- Better lighting and visual clarity
- Intense, rewarding gunplay
The Bad
- Occasional stutters and frame pacing issues
- Heavy CPU reliance
- Inconsistent audio positioning
- Visual assets still uneven
