Escape From Duckov

Escape From Duckov was provided by bilibili for review. Thank you!

The rather shamelessly named Escape From Duckov is finally here, and as the name might suggest (being a take on Escape from Tarkov), this one is an extraction shooter, but it's got something that separates itself from the rest of the bunch: it's a single-player extraction shooter. However, while it is a unique experience, it is one I feel conflicted about.

Rarely have I felt so conflicted about a game as I do with Escape From Duckov. I enjoy the concept of a single-player extraction shooter; my main issue with the genre is that they are (usually) competitive multiplayer, which isn't my cup of tea. The gunplay in Escape From Duckov is good; the weapons feel powerful and great to use, and enemies present a challenge, requiring you to play to your weapon's strengths and ensure you are well-equipped.

You've also got a decent progression system, which features many upgrades to enhance your duck, and a bunker that you can upgrade with new furniture that lets you craft more powerful items and get new unlocks. Really, this game should be a lot of my favorite things all boiled down into one game.

The problem is, each of these systems has its own little flaws, and when they're all put together, the game really feels like it's a bit... well, sparse.

The single-player aspect of the game, which initially appealed to me, actually ended up being a downside. Escape From Duckov doesn't have a story that keeps things moving along. A multiplayer game doesn't need one; the motivation and satisfaction come from besting other players or showing off your equipment to your friends. In Escape From Duckov, what's my motivation to keep progressing? It's not a quick pick-up-and-play game; progressing takes time, and it feels a little like a single-player grinding game after you've played the same map a few times to find the randomly generated loot you need.

Therein lies the issue I have with the progression in the game. There's plenty of it, from new weapons and crafting stations to upgraded stats on your duck. The problem is that it takes a long time to progress. Not only do you need the items required to do the upgrade, which can be a little RNG as to whether they spawn in the map, but you also need money for almost every upgrade. Plus, some upgrades take time to research, which is baffling in a single-player game. Why do I have to wait several minutes to research a health upgrade?

Map progression likewise feels like a bit of a pain. You can explore the entire map, but the harder enemies feel like a huge step up from the rest of the map, meaning you'll have to grind for a while to get the absolute best equipment before you can take on the final enemies.

The audio in the game is also a very mixed bag. The guns sound great, with differing sounds depending on the gun type and whether they are silenced. The music, however, was much louder than anything else in the game on the rare occasions it played. It is also a strange lo-fi relaxation mix you might find on a coffee shop ambiance video online, not really fitting for the kind of game Escape From Duckov is.

Sounds like dodge rolling was also unusually loud compared to other sounds. Ambient sound is almost absent from the game, but that is somewhat understandable, as hearing enemy footsteps can be vital to figuring out positions out of your line of sight.

Escape From Duckov - Steam Deck Performance

Escape From Duckov does support 1280x800 as a resolution, so we can take advantage of the entirety of the Steam Deck's display.

Sadly, the game does not support controllers, which is pretty irritating given how the aiming works. The best I could come up with is using the default Keyboard (WASD) & Mouse layout, using the left touchpad for a radial menu to control the hotbar, and then adjusting the sensitivity of the right analog stick to your preference to aim somewhat acceptably, but it's not ideal.

As for the game's performance on Steam Deck, if you want a pretty stable 45 FPS experience, you have to play on the lowest settings, aside from having the Shadows bumped up to Low, which is how I decided to play.

If you disable Shadows entirely, you can run at closer to 60 FPS, but it does make the game look worse and is not quite as stable, so I recommend you stick to locking the game in the 40-45 FPS range.

The power draw was around 11W-14W, and temperatures were around 55-60 °C. Expect a battery life of about 4 hours on a Steam Deck OLED and 3 hours on a Steam Deck LCD.

Accessibility:

Controls are rebindable, and all dialogue is in text form. Escape From Duckov has no other accessibility options. There are flexible difficulty settings, so you can make the game much easier (or harder) than the default difficulty.

Conclusion:

Escape From Duckov has some great potential, but it feels like a rushed game. The actual gameplay feels great, fighting enemies and finding loot is engaging and satisfying, but the progression systems feel too elaborate and lengthy for a single-player game.

Co-op would have gone a long way to fixing the issues I have with the game, allowing us to show off our cool new loot to friends, as well as sharing the burden of progression amongst a group, rather than it just being on you to constantly search out for that 1 item you need.

Escape From Duckov runs OK on the Steam Deck; the performance is fine, and we can get a stable 45 FPS experience here. The controls aren't ideal, though, and I would love to see some actual controller support in the future.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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