Inspired by Escape from Tarkov, Road to Vostok wants to give you the same experience but in a single-player variant.
With extraction shooters still on the rise, it’s great to see small developers trying their hand at this genre as well. And Road to Vostok is a perfect example of this since it’s being developed by one man. Instead of going into PvP and PvE, Road to Vostok will focus on giving you PvE thrills in a Russian-inspired setting. The current map looks like it was taken straight out of Escape from Tarkov, with the same abandoned environments that look almost post-apocalyptic. But this isn’t Stalker. No mutants or anomalies are waiting for you out there. Only starving men wielding weapons that want whatever you have in your bag.
Road to Vostok came out with the first demo last year, with the developer stating that more than 300,000 people have tried it out. Feedback was mostly positive for such a small project, but the developer did take some notes. He has assessed that AI and the shooting and looting mechanics need the most work and improvement. And since Escape from Tarkov has set a pretty high bar for shooting, Road to Vostok needs to step up its game if it wants to be a real contender.
The second version of the public demo for Road to Vostok has brought many improvements to the game. These include a completely new attachment system, which is an important part of the game. Fiddling with your guns and upgrading them for better performance is a crucial part of this realistic type of experience, and this developer knows it. There is a new UI for inspecting your guns, as well as a recoil overhaul. Weapon audio has also been tweaked.
But this new update also brings some new features to the table:
- a winter variant for the sole map that is currently in the game
- night-vision goggles now have a more realistic-looking filter
- better shaders for vegetation and other environmental features
- a bigger and better options menu
- optics for guns that have variable degrees of zoom
- ladders that can actually be used this time around
- an expansion to the village area of the map
Despite all of these new features, some elements from the first demo have been removed for further tweaking. Swimming and fishing are off the table for now until the developer has more time to work on them. But despite these shortcomings, what is currently playable is very enjoyable. Even though there is not much to do except shoot random AIs as you make your way across the map, the foundation for something great is there.
If you want to try out Road to Vostok, check out the Early Access page right here. Even though these types of games can turn into development hell, it’s impressive what this one-man team has created so far. So we’ll have to wait and see if this will turn into a worthwhile game.
