No More Silent Walking AIs!

BSG is continuing the mission promised by Nikita in a recent interview to make 2025 a “large-scale collaborative project between developers and players.” They’re actively implementing many of the suggestions posted by players on the Tarkov.Community portal. And one of the most requested—and long-awaited—changes has just arrived.

One of the most criticized and unpopular aspects of Escape from Tarkov has always been the ability of certain Bosses and AI characters to walk completely silently, without making any sound. The only way to detect them was to hope they stepped on vegetation, which would produce the typical rustling sound.

This not only made them feel unbalanced, extremely difficult (and often impossible) to spot and counter, but also highly unrealistic in a game that prides itself on realism—albeit with some fair and necessary exceptions.

But as of today, that’s no longer the case: Tarkov.Community Strikes Again!

Today, May 14, an official response from YOWA, Lead of Game Design at Battlestate Games, was posted on Tarkov.Community regarding the suggestion to remove silent walking from all AIs:

Removed silent walking for BirdEye, Shturman, Partizan, and Cultists. They should now walk about 20-35% quieter than the rest.

So, while these AIs will remain slightly quieter—around 20-35% less noisy than other AI characters in Escape from Tarkov—they will no longer be completely silent.

Here is the link to the post on Tarkov.Community.

The EFT community welcomed this news with great enthusiasm, not only because this controversial and much-hated feature is finally gone, but also because it’s yet another clear sign that BSG is willing to listen to player feedback and actively address the game’s most problematic issues—issues that often reduce the enjoyment and overall fun of Escape from Tarkov.

What do you think about this change? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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