Escape from Tarkov has been upset many of its players with recent developmental decisions as of late, introducing a $250 version of the game. Games like Arena Breakout Infinite—a direct extraction shooter competitor—are looking to provide a haven for Tarkov defectors.
Arena Breakout Infinite is actually a PC port of a pretty popular mobile game called Arena Breakout. Going to its page on the Google Play Store reveals a 4.5 rating from 500k reviews, and over 10 million downloads. It also has the “Editors Choice” highlight. I would argue one of the biggest reasons for its popularity is how it plays a lot like Tarkov. It even has the little details of opening a can of sardines and visually scooping out a spoonful to replenish your food meter.
Arena Breakout is already in its fourth season and has a lot of content, so it stands to reason that its eventual full launch after its May 8th closed beta release will have some meats on its bones. Fans of extraction shooters on mobile already resonate with it, which is half the reason it has been driving so much hype in the face of Battlestate Game’s almost hostile monetization decisions.
Decisions like locking an online-only coop PvE mode behind a $250 purchase or $100 upgrade for Escape from Tarkov, while also greatly increasing stash space, PMC pocket size, and vendor reputation from the get-go. A recent tweet from BSG went so far as to call Arena Breakout Infinite a “blatant plagiarization” of Escape from Tarkov. Needless to say, this upset many Tarkov fans and was the straw that broke the camel’s back
It is even more clear now that the want and need for viable PC Tarkov alternatives has reached an all-time high. Where Arena Breakout on PC aims to provide an experience like Tarkov and everything that the game does right while avoiding some of Tarkov’s weaknesses, such as rampant cheaters that plague and ruin the game for many.
Cheaters in an extraction shooter ruin the gameplay far more than, say, a cheater in a looter shooter like Destiny 2. Sure, it sucks to be killed by a cheater in those games, but you can respawn and try again and maybe kill the cheater. However, in an extraction shooter, everything you are, your weapons, armor, ammo, loot, and currency are stolen from you, and taken.
When facing a cheater with only one life to live, and that end comes far too quickly, it feels much worse to be cheated in that way. On its Steam page, Arena Breakout Infinite claims that its “vigilantly enforced, anti-cheat measures, in-game reports and more” are going to be what stops cheaters in their tracks. That is something that I and many others desperately want.
Arena Breakout on PC is going to launch as a free-to-play title at some point. and while their plans and experience are promising, I do worry Arena Breakout Infinite could fail much in the same way that The Cycle did—another extraction shooter that was ruined by cheaters. Time will tell, and many are hoping Arena Breakout can overcome the challenges it will surely face. That said, it will be free at least, so if it can launch with a PvE component—or very strong anti-cheat—then it would already have one foot in the door of success.
For more like this, check out our list of fps games releasing in 2024 that you should have an eye on.
