Yeah, same. Had to run it again for PvE mode, but after the first run I had considered just starting over because I wanted another shot at that. Second run went much better, didn't take any hits until I emerged at the end part, where the extraction point is and took a bunch of hits because I was running out of ammo, but couldn't see this. I look in inventory and there's a question mark over the rounds remaining in the magazine. That's the sort of detail or depth we have here with Tarkov. So I need to work out how to see that. Maybe just click inspect? Count them out as they leave the barrel?

Well, at least the second attempt left me with just one of every injury or wound and not 4 or 5 of them like the first run, where, aside from getting the sh!t shot out of me I stepped on a mine, or tripped a wire. That hurt. I stepped around it the second time.

I like a lot of what I see, the mechanical side to it. The weapons system is cool, and ammunition is king. I would never have picked this up if I were forced to go PvP. Tarkov players always speak of 'wipes', because it is done routinely. What it means is that early on, after the wipe, players don't have good gear yet, high tier armor, so modest weapons work. But if you're a new player coming in any time after the wipe then you start way behind and it can seem impossible to make any progress. If I understand, PvE Zone has no wipes, and anyway there are no players ramping up their gear aside from you. In some ways PvE is more difficult, especially with scavs. Scavs spawn near players, so in a PvP server this spreads the scav spawns around, but when you are the only player it means they all spawn near you. With the disclaimer that this is what I have read, not seen for myself and this game is always evolving so things may have changed

I have yet to do anything but the prologue twice, and look around the UI a bit, and read up on the game way more. Another unique thing about Tarkov is there is no map. Nothing to guide you. And with that timer Leaf mentioned (we had just talked about how we prefer no time pressure) if you don't know where the extraction zones are, you might die just because you can't find it. So learning the maps (or just pick and learn one, really) must be job number one for me. And to help with that I plan to do my early runs in Scav mode. This means the only enemies are AI PMCs and Scav bosses, if you get too close. In PvP it probably sucks, because you want to assume all scavs are allies, but players can just light you up. Chalk up another point for PvE Zone.

Most players recommend this site for interactive Tarkov maps. Customs seems the one most suggested for starting off.

Tarkov Maps

There's a cooldown timer on Scav runs and I don't know how long it is so maybe I can't just run a bunch of scav raids first. Safehouse upgrades can shorten this

A second display would be handy to have a map off the internet open so you can learn the landmarks and extraction/spawn points.

And it looks better on PC than it did when I remarked on the video I posted. Maybe that was on console.

To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss