Escape from Duckov Review

Escape From Duckov is a single-player top-down extraction shooter developed by Team Soda and published by bilibili. As you can probably tell from the name, this is a parody of Escape from Tarkov, except it's completely offline and you replace the scary mercs with ducks. I am interested in games like Tarkov, but the mechanics kind of turn me away. I can't really get behind PvP anymore; what’s so great about getting your entire inventory completely wiped on a daily basis?

Shake your tail feathers. There's loot to be grabbed.

The story takes place in Duckov, which is going through a slight cataclysmic event. You are a prisoner, but not for long! Someone is willing to help you out in exchange for your willingness to go outside and get shot at for whoever is willing to pay. After busting out of prison to prove yourself, you're now tasked with doing missions for other ducks to eventually get out of Duckov with your tail feathers intact.

Although the intro featured raw Chinese, the rest of the game’s dialogue is competently translated. Like, apart from some trucks and signs featuring some foreign characters, the localisation is extremely well-done. The item descriptions and dialogue have minor or no spelling or grammar errors from what I could see, while also being both informative and a little funny. I commend whoever was able to translate the game; they did an excellent job!

"The planet is on the verge of collaspe."

Anyways, onto the gameplay. Your general goal every time you exit the bunker is to find loot, kill enemies, complete missions, and then extract with all the stuff you have. If you’ve played Tarkov, this should sound like familiar territory. And just like in that game, this is a lot easier said than done; just because it's cutesy doesn't mean it’ll be forgiving. Step into the sights of the wrong person, and they’ll riddle you with bullets faster than you can quack.

The combat itself is really good: heads pop in a satisfying way, the AI isn’t going to stand in the open to soak up bullets, and most firefights that are longer than a minute are harrowing. You will die in seconds against a mallard merc with a good weapon, no matter how much armour you have. I had some tense moments where I was running around, desperately trying to find a moment to heal as more enemy ducks got closer to my position, firing weapons I had no hope of facing head-on.

Did you know ducks eat their own eggs?

That being said, Duckov gives you plenty of time to react. Melee enemies flash before attacking, giving you a chance to dodge out of the way. Meanwhile, you can hear a duck first before you see them. A quack, a footstep, gunfire, it can lead you to getting the jump on them… or you might get ambushed yourself. I genuinely felt scared as I hauled my loot to extraction, hoping I didn't hear heavy footsteps or see a laser sight aimed at my face.

However, that’s just what happens during the daytime. At night, you’ll encounter much more lethal enemies, yet find exclusive loot to grab. But that’s child’s play compared to the Storm. Every 210 in-game hours (about three and a half hours if you don’t skip time), the Storm will roll around and disintegrate any duck that isn’t prepared to face it. You can go out and try to brave it for potentially amazing loot, but it isn’t for the faint of heart (or the weak of body). You will die horrifically fast if you don’t prepare properly.

You better prep for anything.

Luckily, you get to pick how fast you die horrifically via the customisable difficulty options available, choosing if you’d rather have a nice scavenging adventure or a deadly fight for your life as soon as you step out of safety. If you're playing on Balanced, dying will only have you drop your inventory on the ground, free for you to retrieve later. On easier difficulties, not even that, but on Extreme, you won't get a chance to do that and all those items are gone. For this review, I generally played on Balanced, but you can change the difficulty at any time in the hideout.

Oh yeah! You have a hideout you can customise to fit your needs, giving space to the many NPCs that will provide you with the weapons, equipment, and training needed to survive every day. Once you've built the stations, you can purchase items and upgrade your character. The progression does feel good, despite how small the numbers can be; there’s a genuine improvement with each one purchased. It also gives purpose to the seemingly random items you’ll find. You might not know what a bike model can do for you, but it’s better to have it than not at all.

My bitcoin miner runs on potatoes.

Now onto performance, and it was smooth sailing all the way. No framedrops from its standard 60 FPS, and I didn’t encounter any gameplay-affecting glitches. There was one where if I was too close to an object, my duck’s vision cone would go wild, but it generally didn’t affect my enjoyment. But if you are eager for more or want to change something about Duckov, mods are proudly displayed on the main menu. I know I’ll be changing the hideout music.

Just another day in Duckov

I have to admit, I did not expect for Escape from Duckov to actually keep my attention for so long. Its gunplay and base management just kept me playing for way longer than I’d like to admit. I sort of get why people love extraction shooters now, even though I still won’t engage with PvP anytime soon. I’m fine sticking with this single-player version. Escape from Duckov might be a parody, but it's a parody that’s both fun to get into and stands all on its own.