Escape From Tarkov's in-game skill system might make you envious

It's easy to neglect putting in a proper skill or talent system in a game. It's also easy to fall into the trap of making your games system of competence uninspired or copy the more successful models outright. Escape From Tarkov has taken the hard road with a very unique approach. Not so much learning them, but in retaining them. And of course there's a massive list of skills you can learn, all useful to the progression of the game.

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In the model that Battle State Games is using, learning skills is done through a repetition system. The things you do make you better at them, and you can upgrade skills once you've done them a distinct number of times, letting you then do the same thing to the upgraded skill and so forth. That's great, it's been done to great success before, and so long as you don't have to grind too much for skills, it should work well here, too.

The real fun part comes in how you retain those skills. Everything you learn can be unlearned if you don't use it often enough. Thankfully there's a predefined minimum that skills are rolled back to so you don't completely forget them outright. They've even modeled a bit of muscle memory in how you can retrain forgotten skills more easily and quickly too. We've got the full list of skills as they are now just below after the break. The great thing is that they're inclined to add more as development progresses, so this isn't complete at all, but just a start.

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Ph - physical

• Endurance
• Strength
• Vitality
• Health
• Stress resistance
• Metabolism
• Immunity

M - Mental

• Perception
• Intellect
• Attention
• Charisma
• Memory

C - Combat

• Pistols
• Revolvers
• SMGs
• Assault rifles
• Shotguns
• DMR
• Sniper rifles
• LMGs
• Heavy machineguns
• Under-barrel weapon systems
• Grenade launchers
• Throwing weapons
• Special weapons
• Melee weapons
• Preparing for action
• Recoil control
• Weapon switching
• Troubleshooting

P - Practical

• Sniping
• Covert movement
• Prowling
• Basic medical aid
• Field medical aid
• Light armor
• Heavy armor
• Gear distribution
• Basic weapon modification
• Advanced weapon modification
• Nighttime operations
• Silent operations
• Clean operations
• Barter
• Multi-level marketing
• Free trading
• Task performance
• Shadow connections
• Auctions
• Lock picking
• Search
• Electronic hacking
• Trap placement
• Minelaying
• Explosive devices
• Weapon treatment

S - Special

• BEAR
• AK weapon systems
• High caliber
• Assault operations
• Raw power
• Authority
• Zeroing

USEC

• AR weapon systems
• Total weapon modification
• Tactics
• Negotiations