Escape From Tarkov Update Adds 2 New Guns For VE Day

Online mil-sim FPS Escape from Tarkov is adding two historically significant World War II-era weapons in a new update celebrating VE Day.

In honor of the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the developers of hardcore online multiplayer FPS Escape from Tarkov have added two new guns as part of a celebratory update. Weapons and equipment are the name of the game in the title’s unique extraction-based modes, so players are happy to add two beloved World War II-era firearms to their arsenal.

Outside of its dedicated medium-sized playerbase, Escape from Tarkov is best known by most in the gaming world as an interesting FPS with military simulation features and a highly controversial developer with a penchant for outrage. The game first found itself on most players’ radar not for its ambitious blend of MMO-lite gameplay and hardcore combat mechanics, but instead for developer Battlestate Games’ unethical abuses of DMCA takedowns to silence who dared criticize their work. After about a year of wise silence, Battlestate once again made headlines last year for one developer’s despicable and demonstrably false claim that women are incapable of soldiering as an excuse Escape from Tarkov‘s male-only cast, which forgoes female representation into the present.

Along with a May 8 quality-of-life update, Battlestate added the world-famous American M1911 pistol and Russian PPSh-41 submachine gun to Escape from Tarkov as part of continued efforts to absolve itself of past mistakes in current and prospective players’ eyes. The team also took the time to publish a news post wishing fans a happy VE Day in celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany near the close of WWII, the infamous conflict in which both of these weapons of war undoubtedly saw the greatest amount of action in their production histories. Escape from Tarkov YouTuber DeadlySlob shows off how effectively each of these time- and battle-tested firearms hold up in-game in the below video.

Much as they should have probably always done, Battlestate has been keeping its head down and providing decent support for its online title, which is still in beta. These newest guns join a huge list of guns already added to the game, with the developer having included dozens in the game’s growing collection over the years. The PPSh-14 is a particularly interesting historical addition that further rounds out a varied arsenal of submachine guns, while the M1911 is still such a widely used and represented pistol that it’s almost hard to believe the beloved pistol was only just added to a game with such a firearm-minded community.

It’s probably not quite the solemn or peaceful celebration of the end of the deadliest phase of WWII that veterans would have imagined back in 1945, but it’s still nice of the controversial Russian studio to honor the milestone while giving the Escape from Tarkov playerbase a couple of new toys to play with.