Seven reviews. Zero concurrent players. One guy calling it “pay to lose DLC tbh.”

Escape from Tarkov’s Unheard Steam Edition Expansion Pack landed on Steam today as a free download, and the early returns are peak Tarkov. Six of seven user reviews are positive, which sounds glowing until you read them. The top-rated review reads, in full: “Pay to lose DLC tbh. Booted up the game and got killed by Tagilla twice in one night.” Another player simply celebrated finally being able to upgrade their edition, complete with a “blyat” for flavor. The sole negative review is a single word: “nah.”

This is the Tarkov experience distilled. The game has built one of the most dedicated — and chronically miserable — communities in multiplayer gaming, and they wear it like a badge of honor.

The Unheard expansion itself bundles Tarkov: Arena, a PvE co-op mode, exclusive gear, and an expanded stash. It’s the same $250 package that ignited a firestorm earlier this year when Battlestate Games locked PvE content behind it and told Edge of Darkness owners — who’d been promised “all future DLC” for $140 — that the new mode was a “unique feature,” not DLC. The community manager’s semantic gymnastics did not land well.

Now that package is free on Steam, which is either an olive branch or a recognition that the battle already damaged the brand. It also arrives in the wake of Tarkov’s broader Steam launch, which Tech4Gamers reports was “bombarded with negative reviews” — only 30% positive at launch — thanks to overloaded servers and a mandatory third-party launcher that forced players through extra account creation steps just to die in a raid.

Battlestate’s 2026 roadmap is ambitious: a seasonal system replacing the wipe cycle, a premium currency called Tarcoins for cosmetics only, and three spinoff games including a free gun-modding title on Steam. Nikita Buyanov promised “no pay-to-win stuff” for the in-game store. Players have heard promises before.

The expansion is live. The servers will probably catch fire. Someone will die to Tagilla within minutes of reading this. That’s Tarkov.

Sources