Games like Escape from Tarkov, lighter and harder

Arena Breakout is the closest thing to Tarkov on a phone, and Arena Breakout: Infinite is its PC sibling. ARC Raiders is the friendlier console pick, and Escape from Duckov is Tarkov for one player, with ducks.

What Escape from Tarkov is

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore extraction shooter by Battlestate Games. You raid maps in a fictional Russian region for loot and must reach an exit alive, or lose everything you carried. Guns can be modded part by part, and damage is tracked per body part.

After years in beta, it reached 1.0 on November 15, 2025 and came to Steam. It is a PC game.

Ranked from casual to brutal

Escape from Duckov. Single-player, top-down, against AI only. The gentlest way to learn looting and extracting.
Delta Force. Free on phones, PC and consoles. Hazard Operations mode has extraction with a softer learning curve.
ARC Raiders. The 2025 PvPvE shooter from the makers of The Finals. Robots are the main threat, and players often team up.
Arena Breakout. Free on phones, with gear, insurance and a stash you can lose. Arena Breakout: Infinite is its PC sibling.
Hunt: Showdown 1896. Crytek's slow, loud bounty hunt. Every shot tells the whole map where you are.

What makes Tarkov feel hard

Three things: you lose your gear when you die, maps have no markers, and the game explains very little. Most lighter games keep the first rule and soften the other two with map icons and clear quests.

If Tarkov burns you out, play a week of Duckov or Delta Force and come back. The habits carry over.

Roam extraction games

Free on Roam for iPhone.

Duck Tarkov. An extraction loadout game. Gear up the duck, loot and get out alive.
Extraction Ride. Five minutes on the clock to clear, loot and extract.
Mask On, Loot Out. Gas mask, flashlight and one way out.

Play it on Roam

Make your own hardcore raid game with Roam

Describe the map, the exits and what you lose when you die. Roam builds it, and you can tighten the rules by asking.

Try: "hardcore extraction in my apartment building, one exit on the roof, lose your backpack if you die, friends can raid too"

Create it with Roam See Roam

Questions people ask

Is Escape from Tarkov on mobile?

No. It is a PC game. Arena Breakout is the closest extraction shooter on phones.

Is Escape from Tarkov on Steam?

Yes. It came to Steam around its 1.0 release in November 2025.

What is the easiest game like Tarkov?

Escape from Duckov. It is single-player against AI, so no other player can take your loot.