Tarkov without the fog sure looks different.
Nikita Buyanov, game director of Escape From Tarkov, has released the first images of the upcoming visual overhaul to the game and it looks outstanding, with a major upgrade is visibility.
Last week Nikita announced that the team at Battlestate Games was working on a major visual change for Tarkov by toning down the level of fog in the game. Fog features on almost every map and makes it difficult to make out objects in the distance, as well as creating a dark wall that makes the game feel quite claustrophobic even in open areas.
Fans were excited when the change was announced, and now we have seen the first images of Tarkov without the fog it is safe to say that excitement is still there. Nikita released two images of Tarkov without the fog on his personal X account, comparing them to shots from the same locations with the fog on and the difference is clear.
The images released on X show two locations on the Woods map, one from a high vantage point and another at ground level. Put side by side with the same locations with fog you can really see how much of an impact it has on visibility, with the images with reduced fog allowing you to see individual trees well into the distance instead of just a dark wall as has always been the case.
If this is how fog works when the visual overhaul is released then Tarkov is about to become a very different game, with even more opportunities for long ranged combat and stealthy sniping on some maps. It should also make the game look a lot better and bring it up to a more modern visual standard.
Since the recent controversy around the $250 edition of Tarkov, which Battlestate Games ended up backtracking on and handing out compensation, Nikita has been on something of a community redemption campaign with regular posts on X showing off work in progress and teases of new features. Another that was shown in the last few days was some kind of explosive mortar fire, not too dissimilar to the kind found in PUBG Battlegrounds.
We have no idea how this will be implemented, with some X users speculating this could be part of the upcoming Terminal map that is set to be a single-player story-based experience. This would make mortar fire more palatable in Tarkov as dying to a random air strike when you have just found amazing loot certainly isn’t going to be fun.
