Escape from Tarkov – New Halloween event with ritual around Zryachiy

After the Halloween festivities in Escape from Tarkov started a few days ago, players had almost lost faith that there would be no more event content besides a few scary masks, pumpkins and additional effects for candy.

However, on Monday evening, a countdown then emerged, after which a video was published on the official channel of developer Battlestate Games.

Trailer for the Halloween event

In the video, a ritual can be seen, at the end of which a kind of icy glow can be seen in the eyes of the observer.

But what exactly does it mean? What happens in the game?

Zryachiy in all raids

Shortly after the video was released, reports of Zryachiy sightings appeared on all of the game’s maps (excluding Facttory and Labs). Actually, the well-camouflaged sniper is busy guarding the way to Lightkeeper on the map Lighthouse, but currently you can find him in every raid.
He seems to be friendly to most players – but the actual event starts when you take him out.

Once Zryachiy is dead, the weather and time of day will change, whether you are playing a day or night map, and the sky will darken.

The Ritual

The cultists will then start to perform a ritual, this will also show up as information in the extraction overview.
Also, all exits except one are blocked from this point on and all players can only leave the map through the same exit.

Fortunately, a huge glowing pillar of light emanates from the ritual, which you can easily find from anywhere on the map.
Once there, you’ll have to eliminate the cultists before they can finish the ritual.

Zombie Zryachiy

If you fail to interrupt the ritual, a “vengeful” version of Zryachiy will be revived and, along with the cultists, he will prey on all players who are on the map.
In some cases he will use his firearms, but many players report that most of the time he will try to attack you in melee.

If this revived version of Zryachiy manages to get closer to you, you will notice that you get some additional status effect icons displayed.
Every time you try to fire your gun at him, it will jam, and other weapons and grenades don’t seem to impress him much – he also seems to have several thousand health points per body part.

Some players have managed to kill him, partly because some weapons (including the PPSH) seem to be sometimes unaffected by the jams.
Whether this is intentional or not is unclear so far, but the boss didn’t seem to have any special items with him, with the exception of his bloody mask.

So keep your eyes peeled in your Raids in the next few days – and look for the ritual locations with your scav for good chances at loot from PMC’s who didnt make it against the cultists!