Players can insure weapons and equipment they brought in which enables that gear to be returned to them if not taken by other players. When players die in a raid, they lose everything, including loot and the equipment they brought into the raid. The game has a minimal HUD, with little on-screen information presented to the player. In addition to combat, players can also find loot in these maps such as firearms, equipment, and armor, and once extracted, can store their loot in a stash to use in future raids or can be sold to other players in a virtual flea market. In addition to these standard extractions, players are also given the opportunity to use 'optional' extraction points near the middle of the map, but in order to do so you must meet various requirements per extract such as paying roubles (the primary in-game currency), not having a backpack, or having certain items equipped on their character.

Once in-game, the players are given an extraction point on the other side of the map, and must fight against other players and non-player characters to reach that point in order to escape. In these raids, players can choose to play solo or in groups and spawn on one side of a variety of maps to choose from in the game.

In its current state, Escape from Tarkov incorporates several modes for the players to play: online PMC raids, Scav (short for 'scavenger') raids, and a temporary offline mode. The developers of Escape from Tarkov refer to the game as a realistic and hardcore first-person shooter, survival video game that borrows elements from massively multiplayer online games.

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