Beautiful Light vs Escape from Tarkov: gear loss, raids and what is different
Beautiful Light borrows Tarkov's full loss extraction loop, then adds player controlled monsters, fixed three player squads and a single artifact objective. What is confirmed, and what is not.
Escape from Tarkov defined the hardcore extraction shooter, and Beautiful Light clearly comes from the same school: you bring your own gear, you can lose all of it, and traders and quests drive what you do between raids. Where the two part ways is in what a raid is for, and in what is hunting you.
| Beautiful Light | Escape from Tarkov | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Deep Worlds SA | Battlestate Games |
| Status | Early Access, December 2026 | Released |
| Players per raid | 24: 18 operators and 6 anomalies | Varies by map |
| Team size | Squads of three | Solo or a group |
| Raid objective | Secure the artifact, extract by helicopter | Loot, quests, extract |
| On death | You lose the kit you brought in | You lose everything except your secure container, melee weapon and armband |
| Insurance | Not announced | Yes |
| Secure container | Not announced | Yes |
| Monsters | AI anomalies and player controlled anomalies | None, AI Scavs and bosses |
| Traders and quests | Yes | Yes |
Gear loss looks harsher, as far as we know
In Tarkov, death is softened in two ways. A secure container keeps a few items safe whatever happens, and insurance can return insured gear that another player did not take from your body.
Beautiful Light's Steam page describes each death as a failed mission that costs you everything you brought with you. Deep Worlds has announced neither insurance nor a secure container. That is not the same as confirming they will not exist, but on what has been published so far, Beautiful Light is the less forgiving of the two.
One objective instead of an open map
A Tarkov raid is open ended: you pick your own loot, quests and route to an exit. A Beautiful Light raid centres on a single artifact that every squad is sent to secure, and extraction means firing a flare and holding position until the helicopter lands. Leaving without the artifact is allowed, but the design pulls every squad toward the same objective, and the same fights.
The monsters are players
Tarkov's threats are other players plus AI Scavs, raiders and bosses. Beautiful Light adds a layer Tarkov does not have: six of the 24 players in a raid are anomalies, monsters controlled by people, whose goal is to eat operators and stop anyone extracting. They level up on their own progression track. The anomalies guide covers what is confirmed.
Familiar ground between raids
Both games run on traders and quests. Beautiful Light adds an RPG style progression tree that you spend rewards on to level your character and skills. The full release roadmap goes further, with a mercenary and contractor system and a team system with stats, ranks and leaderboards.
Which one should you play?
Tarkov is out now, deep, and famously punishing. Beautiful Light launches in Early Access in December 2026 with 2 maps and a single mode, and a lot of its systems are still unannounced.
If you want the Tarkov loop with a horror identity and monsters that fight back with a human brain, Beautiful Light is the one to watch. Start with the release date, and compare it with the other obvious reference, Hunt: Showdown.
Sources
- Beautiful Light: Steam store page
- Escape from Tarkov gear loss and insurance: official Escape from Tarkov wiki, Insurance
BL Guide, unofficial community coverage of Beautiful Light. Every figure on this page comes from an official source, and anything unconfirmed says so.