Escape From Duckov: The Quackiest Looter Shooter of 2025 Lands With Rave Reviews

Enter Escape From Duckov, the newest unsuspecting hit on Steam — a PvE top-down looter-shooter where you play in a world of ducks, bullets and survival. Created by Team Soda and published by bilibili, this zany yet deceptively challenging indie title released on October 16, 2025, but its already nearing “Very Positive” reviews from around a thousand gamers.

In this bizarre and mesmerizing world, you’re born a common duck — complete with basic gun and stats — from which you must scavenge, craft and survive your way to freedom.

Checkout the full trailer on Play Nestor Official Channel.

The Survival and Loot World of a Duck

However you will surely not be safe even outside your savehouse, Dukov is everywhere. Players scour five vast maps, scattered with random loot and unpredictable enemies, but friendly landmarks lend each raid a tinge of familiarity as well.

Each run is a gamble — stick around too long and risk losing everything, or extract in time to keep your hard-earned loot.

Players will dash through levels searching for precious items, medical supplies and gear, which they’ll bring back to their base to upgrade and craft stronger equipment. Even trash has its uses here — the proper crafting station can transmute garbage into gold.

Weapons, Mods, and Custom Playstyles

Players can experiment with different combat styles with more than 50 available weapons — from shotguns to wooden sticks. More of a stealthy ambush kind of guy or all-out firefights, Duckov allows you to mod weapons based on your style.

There's also a new gun modding system that adds depth without overburdening the player with details. Every build feels personal, and as one player described it:

"It does progression better than anything — developing your hideout and gear feels extremely rewarding.

Progression, Skills, and Crafting

Escaping is the core of Escape From Duckov. By prowling for blueprints and solding, you’ll extend your base and skill trees — making you faster or restoring health more quickly in battle.

It’s packed with a long-term grind that will last you well over 50 hours of gameplay to chat up NPCs, accomplish quests and gradually reveal the truth behind Duckov’s bizarre dimensions.

Mods and Steam Workshop Support

Duckov comes with Steam workshop support and enable players to create their own weapons, maps, and even story-lines. The modding community has wasted no time — a co-op mod is already in the works.

This freedom is what helps maintain Plateau's replay value well beyond its initial release.

Community Reactions: “Better Than Zero Sievert”

The player reviews were out of this world. It has sometimes been called a kind of better Zero Sievert — one of the great indie extraction shooters.

Here’s a sampling of what fans are saying:

• “Great graphics, easy controls and fun gameplay. Better than Zero Sievert.”
• "I've played since beta -devs listened to community and made it better.
• “No pay to win, no scams. 10/10. Already better than EFT.”
• “Came for cute ducks, stayed for fowl warfare.”
• “One of the best indie games I’ve played this year. Workshop support is the cherry on top.”

Some have quibbles about limitations — the 1x1 inventory grid, the repetitive map layout and such — but even then admit that Duckov combat, progression and feel are right there.

System Requirements

Minimum

• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: GTX 1060 / Radeon RX 6500 XT
• Storage: 16 GB available space

Recommended

• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 7 5700
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: GTX 2060 / Radeon RX 6600
• Storage: 16 GB available space

Final Thoughts

This is the kind of game that might seem like a meme, but in fact under its cartoonish veneer is one of the outright best extraction shooters of 2025. It’s an indie gem that mingles humor with hardcore looting, featuring easy-to-pick-up controls, a satisfying progression loop and robust community support.

If you like Escape from Tarkov, or just Zero Sievert and are looking for something new with a sense of déjà vu, Duckov is well worth your time – and it’s as “quack-tical” as it sounds.