An Escape From Tarkov crossover with its most unlikely 'rival' seems almost certain now

The 1.0 launch of Escape From Tarkov marked a milestone I'd started to wonder if we'd ever see, almost a decade after one of the most genre-defining extraction shooters first burst onto the scene. But its departure from early access and arrival on Steam was somewhat overshadowed by a rather unlikely contender. Escape From Duckov combined a cheeky naming strategy with a game that, while rather different from its namesake, is actually a remarkably solid PvE survival shooter. But could the two now be about to collide? All signs point to 'yes.'

Rumors of a collaboration between Escape From Tarkov and Duckov have been rumbling for a couple of weeks, ever since the latter's developer Team Soda posted a teaser for its first in-game collab. The message reads, "Two… interconnected memory… bloodline… exceptional combat… instability."

Combine that with a sketch of a pair of ducks wielding a sledgehammer and a rifle, and the connection to the FPS game's infamous Scav brothers Tagilla and Killa is easy to make. The former is notoriously unstable, while the latter is a deadly specialist, so they fit the descriptions perfectly.

But the pieces are now all seemingly falling into place on the other side as well, with a message from Tarkov's developer Battlestate Games that says, "A WILDHUNT is about to begin. Will you come prepared to shoot birds, or become the one being hunted?"

The capitalized 'WILDHUNT' naturally leaps off the page, and indeed it's a new Tarkov code, one that grants you with a pair of Ushanka hats, two 6Sh112 S-S vests, two pieces of Korund-VM body armor, two MP-43-1C shotguns, and 40 AP-20 armor-piercing slugs.

Add in the image of two conspicuously duck-like targets, and I'm about ready to call off the investigation and file this one as solved. As if to add fuel to the fire, Battlestate COO and Tarkov game director Nikita Buyanov even tweets, "I love ducks what can I say," followed by an innocent smiling emoji.

Now, as to what the collaboration might actually entail, it seems reasonable to think we might get Tagilla and Killa arriving in the world of Duckov, although perhaps they'll be specially duck-ified for the occasion so they don't look too out of place.

On the Tarkov side, the safe bet would be some Duckov-themed collectibles; personally, I do think it'd be great to see rocket-happy Misel or the battleaxe-wielding chicken Man of Light terrorizing the streets of Tarkov, but it might not sit too well with the shooter's more realism-loving crowd.

Whatever it is, it's likely we won't be waiting long to find out, given Battlestate's message that the event "is about to begin." Just make sure you grab that promo code while you can so that you're dressed appropriately for the occasion.