Escape from Tarkov’s Steam Launch Melts Down: Players Call It “Cosmic Punishment”

Escape from Tarkov landed on Steam with sky-high expectations. Within hours, it crashed spectacularly. The game’s long-awaited Steam debut on November 15 saw thousands of players unable to even log in, let alone survive one of its famously brutal raids. The fallout? Mostly Negative reviews and a tidal wave of frustration across the community.

As of today, less than 34% of the 7200-plus reviews since launch have been positive. Developers at Battlestate Games admit that players are dealing with “problems connecting to the servers and authorising in the game launcher”, and for many, that’s putting it politely.

Server Chaos: “A Dissertation in Disappointment”

The Steam reviews read less like feedback and more like cries for help. One user’s assessment went viral almost instantly: “Escape from Tarkov is not a game. It is a cosmic punishment sent by indifferent gods to remind humanity of its insignificance.” That’s not hyperbole for effect; the entire post is a scathing (and kind of poetic) breakdown of Tarkov’s launch reality.

“Booting it up is like willingly inserting your face into a malfunctioning wood chipper,” the reviewer vented. Hit registration feels unpredictable. Audio cues vanish, ‘everyone moves absolutely silently’, while AI enemies glide through doors like ghosts. Every new connection error is a fresh dose of despair, according to these early players: “Every raid is a dissertation in disappointment, a Shakespearean tragedy written by drunken raccoons on fire. You don’t play Escape from Tarkov, you endure it, you endure until madness becomes your only friend.”

And the sarcasm isn’t just limited to rage reviews. Even the positive ratings are laced with dark humour. One user gave it a glowing “10/10” but called it “Escape From Maintenance: Mental Warfare”, noting that just trying to create an account was enough to test anyone’s sanity. Another summed up the pain bluntly: “They should implement a feature where you can actually play the game.”

Battlestate’s Silence and Player Backlash

We thank players for their interest in the release of #EscapefromTarkov 1.0 and are aware that due to high traffic, some players may experience problems connecting to servers and authorising in the game and launcher.

Our technical team is actively working to stabilise the game…

— Escape from Tarkov (@tarkov) November 15, 2025

Battlestate Games isn’t hiding from the mess. “We thank players for their interest in the release of #EscapefromTarkov 1.0 and are aware that due to high traffic, some players may experience problems connecting to servers and authorising in the game and launcher,” the studio posted on social media. The team also promises it’s “actively working to stabilise the game servers and authorisation services.”

That hasn’t stopped the flood of negative reviews. As server and website outages continued, frustrated players scoured both Steam and social channels for updates. Some couldn’t even make accounts, thanks to ongoing maintenance and connection failures. Despite frantic troubleshooting, at the time of writing, there’s been no further announcement from Battlestate on Steam or social media to explain when or how players might actually get to play the game they just bought.

This isn’t just a bad launch; it’s dogging an already controversial title. Last year, Battlestate found itself apologising for trying to lock an ‘exclusive’ PvE mode behind a pricey Unheard Edition, only to reverse course after public uproar. “We are very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” the devs wrote back then. This week, history seems to be repeating… with much higher stakes thanks to the Steam spotlight.

Until the studio stabilises things, Escape from Tarkov’s first impression on Steam looks like a masterclass in what not to do. Its community, once notorious for enduring punishing raids, is now united in agony for all the wrong reasons.