Call of Duty DMZ isn’t hardcore enough for Shroud: ‘It’s not even close to Tarkov’

Call of Duty’s new open-world mode called DMZ was previewed for the first time today. And while the jury may be out for some on how good the mode is, Shroud has already come to a verdict on where it stands as far as the genre is concerned.

While DMZ has drawn comparisons to a CoD version of the first-person survival shooter Escape from Tarkov, the influential shooting game content creator was quick to reject the notion.

“It’s not even close to Tarkov,” Shroud said. “You can’t even say Tarkov but casual because it’s just not. It’s definitely its own thing that it’s trying to do, but you can’t even say Tarkov but casual. Because it’s not even close to the same realm.”

Instead, Shroud expressed that he wasn’t all that happy with DMZ, saying that it emulated another CoD game mode called Plunder. Meanwhile, the ample conveniences that are provided in the CoD user interface for the game mode make it less of an immersive experience compared to Tarkov.

“This is pretty much a touched-up Plunder,” he said. “I’m a little disappointed, I will say. I was hoping it would be a little more gritty, a little bit more hardcore.”

Much of that “grit” and “hardcore” nature Shroud is referring to presumably comes in part from the lack of UI amenities that appear in Tarkov, where it is easy to accidentally take down an ally because there’s no name above their head indicating that they’re friendly.

Additionally, Tarkov intentionally doesn’t provide many of the modern UI conveniences that DMZ does like a mini-map in the corner of the screen, teammate health, and equipped weapon information all on your main in-game screen.