Battlefield 6 has just been dethroned on Steam by 2025's weirdest military shooter

The life of a news editor is a chaotic one. Sometimes there are days where nothing happens: the world spins on its axis and the videogame sphere remains calm for a day. Then there are weeks where it's big release after big release: Silksong, Borderlands 4, Bloodlines 2. And then there are days when an Escape from Tarkov parody, aptly titled Escape From Duckov, overtakes Battlefield 6 on Steam, beating the FPS game's player count to secure itself the fourth-place slot on Steam's 'most played' list. I won't lie to you, I love those kind of days.

If Escape From Duckov has passed you by, allow me to fill you in. Inspired by Battlestate's colossal extraction shooter, Team Soda's parody game replaces vicious scavs with cute rubber duckies, and trades out multiplayer action for a single-player experience that has, in recent days, gone viral. Rated as 96% positive and currently sitting in Valve's coveted 'overwhelmingly positive' category, it's trounced new releases like Bloodlines 2 and Jurassic World Evolution 3 to cement itself as yet another one of 2025's unexpected success stories.

Despite plenty of interest when it launched last week, Duckov has continued to pick up steam (pun intended), reaching a colossal 255,556 active player count at the time of writing - its highest peak yet. That puts its current player count just behind the usual trio of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PUBG, but above Battlefield 6, which sits in 'very positive' with an 80% rating.

While PK raved about EA's latest shooter in our Battlefield 6 review, awarding it an impressive 9/10, its player count has steadily declined over the past week. That's hardly a surprise - that's typically how videogame lifecycles work - but did I expect it to be overtaken by a game about rubber ducks that's bucking the trend? Not particularly. Still, I like to be surprised.

Having sold over 500,000 copies since its release on Thursday October 16, Duckov is going from strength to strength, and that brings a smile to my face. 2025 has been full of surprises - Expedition 33, Blue Prince, and Schedule 1 to name but a few - and Duckov is just another curveball. In a world where triple-A fatigue is setting in hard, I'm glad there's a little chaos to spice things up.

Escape from Duckov is out now on Steam, and you can grab it for just $15.83 / £15.83 until Thursday October 30. All you have to do is head here.

If you're busy playing Battlefield and refuse to believe that an avian shooter is somehow rivaling it, we have a list of all the best Battlefield 6 weapons and guns to make sure you keep coming out on top. Alternatively, if you want more games like Duckov, we have a rundown of all the best indie games, most of which are a little less shameless.

Have you been playing Duckov? Tell us on Discord. Or, if you're playing Battlefield instead, show us your loadouts.