Image credit: Rant Gaming Studios
Nikita Buyanov, Escape from Tarkov‘s director, has shut down any comparisons between the popular Arc Raiders and his upcoming sci-fi multiplayer FPS Fragmentary Order.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Buyanov was asked about how Fragmentary Order could have picked up ideas from Arc Raiders, to which he simply responded: “It’s an extraction shooter for casual people. It’s not an option for us.”
Fragmentary Order was announced last week and is billed as a “realistic hardcore sci-fi multiplayer FPS”. Buyanov went on to explain that he wants to it to be the “most painful, most challenging, and most rewarding experience.” Further stating that the studio “simulates reality”, briefly speaking about players will fight even when not forced to.
Fragmentary Order aims to thrive on the squad-based nature of Escape from Tarkov; however, the core of the experience is still very much a work in progress. When asked about the amount of people on each team, Buyanov claimed “from four to five” but that it was “too early to talk about it”, so things seem to be very early in development.
That’s not surprising, given that Escape from Tarkov launched (and remained) in Early Access for over eight years before finally going gold with Version 1.0 on November 15, 2025. The extraction FPS sees remarkably consistent player counts month on month. However, this long period could be a thing of the past, as Buyanov claims there’s “98%” of a brand-new team, totaling 130 people.
A commitment to the hardcore FPS fans
When there’s innovation in gaming, there’s always the fear that things will become more accessible as they grow in popularity. Escape from Tarkov is an incredibly popular game, and one that shooter enthuasists have clicked with for almost a decade. With the announcement of a second game, arriving after the breakout success of extraction shooters like Arc Raiders, it was understandable that Fragmentary Order could have been more casual.
Thankfully, Fragmentary Order sounds as though it’ll be just as tough and abrasive as Escape from Tarkov, but will deliver that “hardcore” intensity with a sci-fi flavor. It’s just as difficult or (seemingly) impenetrable as all video games should be, a welcome challenge for those who meet the mechanics on their terms, without the worry of appealing to a mass market.
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