Gray Zone Warfare vs. Escape from Tarkov, which should you play?

The extraction shooter genre entered a competitive era as the likes of Gray Zone Warfare arrived to challenge Escape From Tarkov’s throne. If you’re new to the genre, you may be wondering whether to play GZW or Escape from Tarkov, and it’s not an easy choice.

For a decent time, Escape from Tarkov has been the go-to extraction shooter, mainly because there weren’t notable competitors. This slowly changed with Call of Duty’s premier DMZ mode and now GZW‘s arrival. The secondary market participants tend to try improving upon firstcomers’ formulas, which benefits the gamers in the long run.

Gray Zone Warfare vs. Tarkov, what are the differences between the two?

The biggest difference between GZW and Escape from Tarkov is the learning curve. When I first played Tarkov, learning the ropes felt a lot harder than GZW. I think GZW is a whole lot more newcomer-friendly and can be more forgiving when it comes to in-game mistakes. While losing a shootout and hitting zero HP would make me feel like rage quitting in Tarkov, that hasn’t been the case in GZW.

Compared to Tarkov, GZW also puts a higher emphasis on factions and squadplay. While you can still GZW solo, it does a better job of encouraging players to work together.

Should you play Gray Zone Warfare or Escape from Tarkov?

Gray Zone Warfare is definitely worth the try, especially considering the drama surrounding Escape from Tarkov.

Tarkov‘s April 2024 “Unheard Edition” controversy left a sour taste in many players’ mouths. The edition offered significant advantages, including gear, resources, and even experience boosts that felt like huge pay-to-win advantages. This angered the existing Tarkov playerbase who felt the playing field was becoming unbalanced.

Taking advantage of this, GZW hit the market on early access, but that also came with its set of drawbacks. Bugs, performance issues, and a smaller content pool have been some of the earlier complaints from the game. However, GZW’s roadmap highlighted some of the upcoming mechanics and improvements, meaning if you like it during early access, you may well love it when it gets closer to full release.