Escape from Tarkov boss says Arc Raiders is "an extraction shooter for casual people," but he wants "the most painful" experience possible

Escape from Tarkov boss Nikita Buyanov, now also heading work on sci-fi shooter Fragmentary Order, says Arc Raiders is the "extraction shooter for casual people," which is decidedly not the experience he and developers Battlestate Games and Rant Gaming are pursuing.

Speaking with GamesBeat, Buyanov comments on the prospect of taking cues from Arc Raiders following its explosive launch, which convinced a significant number of people to try out an extraction shooter after games like Escape from Tarkov cultivated a hardcore, arguably unwelcoming reputation for the genre. Simply put: he's not interested.

"It's an extraction shooter for casual people," Buyanov responds. "It's not an option for us. We want to have the most painful, most challenging, and most rewarding experience."

Painful certainly lines up with my understanding of Tarkov's high highs and abyssal lows. GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi asks if Buyanov isn't interested in the friendly community that Arc Raiders has developed. Buyanov says "you can try" to promote friendly play and "that's your call," but "we're trying to simulate reality" instead with Fragmentary order.

"Tarkov is the same," he continues. "We simulate reality. But in the future, it will be even richer than that. You’ll have a lot to do, and not just fighting people. You’ll need to survive dynamic events in the location. You might need to work with others to find shelter."

That being said, Buyanov clarifies that the game won't "force people to fight," but inevitably, "people will fight, of course."

Unsurprisingly, it sounds like Fragmentary Order will learn toward PvP much the same way Tarkov does, though friendly play is perfectly possible.

Marathon, Bungie's newly released extraction shooter, took a similar route, actively challenging players to kill other runners in several bounties, and leaning heavily on aggressive play in its spawn system and marketing. Basically everything in the game is also designed to give away your location, ringing the dinner bell for other players.

In an interesting examination of the evolving extraction shooter space, and seemingly in a bid to make the game more approachable, recent updates have made Marathon easier while also actively encouraging cooperative play. Bungie added mercy kits to revive downed 'enemies' and rewarded players who successfully extract with other runners solo. Many players responded, shockingly, by reviving downed players and then instantly killing them again. Arc Raiders this clearly isn't.

Arc Raiders players all sigh with relief as Embark extends new Expedition challenge window from 5 days to 13, and confirms it's "approximately equivalent to destroying 20 Bastions."