Take them down

“We take them down,” you say. You can’t waste time being indecisive. This way, you won’t have to deal with these guys later if you end up coming back this way, and you’re worried that you’ll have to. The big road on Customs is what makes it a popular map. The road makes it easy to navigate; you can spawn, find the road, and you more or less know where you are. That makes this place somewhat newbie friendly, and you are a relative newbie. You know where the exit is. Getting the objective done, then coming back this way to use the road to get out makes sense. Maybe Colby knows a better way. “I think they’re behind that trailer.”

Sound design in this game can play tricks on you. Tarkov does a good job making the gunshots sound awesome and real, but the locational audio is strange and often deceptive. It always reminds you of playing R6: Siege, another shooter that you never got into.

You never play shooters on your own. It’s always with Colby.

“We can’t hit them from both sides, we’ll just shoot each other,” Colby says. “Do a Pulp Fiction. Full speed.” She sets off at a trot, not trying to mask the sound of her movement. You hurry to follow, raising your AK as you approach the trailer.

Another voice line in Russian goes off. You wish you knew what they were saying. You and Colby both have suppressors. Unless you’re extremely unlucky, no PMCs will notice what happens here.

Colby’s in front. She crouches and you both lean, taking the corner at the same time.

It’s not two Scavs. It’s four. And they aren’t like any Scavs that you’ve seen before. One of them looks like a regular guy, and the other four wear identical body armor and have helmets. At a glance, you also see that the weapons they’re holding are not typical Scav weapons. These are real AKs, not the rusty junk that Scavs sometimes carry.

“Shit,” Colby squeaks. She fires a burst, shooting the helmet off one guy and taking him out. The others turn, shouting voice lines. Shots bang out. You have your AK on semi; you put the dot on a head and take down one guy, but you aren’t prepared to hose four a cluster of four, and they have armor anyway. Clicking madly, you backpedal as you take hits and your guy flinches and grunts. Your screen flashes red. You hear a grenade hit the ground and your gun clicks empty.

Backpedaling won’t work. You wheel around and mash shift to sprint around the cover, but there’s nowhere to go. You crash into bushes, but your guy is bleeding. Heavy bleed. You duck behind a big, rusty pipe and crouch, opening your inventory and switching to your health tab. The grenade goes off, shaking your screen, but you got to cover.

“Motherfucker,” you mutter, using an anti-bleeding thing and grinding your teeth as the character rips the package off it and slaps it on. There are footsteps and shouting. You hear several suppressed gunshots, then some loud ones.

“Fuck me,” Colby squeaks, but you can’t pay attention to her. You hear footsteps and bullets zing off the pipe you’re using.

You do a fast reload and stand back up, flicking the AK to full and firing back blindly. It’s your only option. In this game, when you attack someone but don’t kill them, you have to chase them down and finish the job before they can heal or make a play. That’s where that guy who ambushed you fucked up; he was playing too passively.

You have to make your attackers think twice about pushing on you.

You’re empty. You sprint for the nearest shelter: one of the huge warehouses. You can’t keep them straight even at the best of times. You rush through the door into the dark, but you don’t use your light. That will just give you away. You stumble into a small office and crouch, opening your healing menu. You have a lot of work to do in here, and you listen as you bandage.

You don’t hear anyone coming, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t. They might just be taking it slow. You stop bandaging so you can truly listen. It’s quiet.

Then someone shouts in Russian, outside the warehouse.

“Colby? You OK?” you ask distractedly, reloading your AK and taking your bearings.

“No,” she replies irritably.

Your heart sinks. If she’s dead, it’s game over.

“Are you dead?”

“No. But I need meds.”

“Are you bleeding?”

“No, but my guy’s in pain. He’s moaning,” she snaps.

Right. That’ll draw everyone straight to her. You check your stats. You should sit here and heal to get more HP up, but amazingly, all your limbs are still on. You didn’t bring fancy injectors, but you do have painkillers. You move out of your hiding place and go to the nearby windows. They’re dirty, but they allow you to peer outside. You see a body on the ground, but nothing is moving. Colby killed at least one, and you think that you got one too.

“How many did you get?” you ask, your body pumping with adrenaline.

“One of the guards is still alive,” Colby replies.

“Guards? Who were those guys? They weren’t players,” you say.

“It’s what’s his name. The boss on this map.”

You completely forgot that this dumbass game has bosses. The boss and three guards. One guard left. You don’t see him, but you did hear him a few seconds ago.

“Where are you?” you ask.

“In the trailer.” You see it. It’s not that far away. She’s scared to move; that encounter will have drawn the attention of any nearby PMCs. That remaining guard is not the only one you have to worry about, and sometimes Scav Snipers spawn on the roofs of these buildings.

Try to go to her?

Or have her come to you?