"Escape from Tarkov Arena is Escape from tarkov roubles a standalone game project," the studio wrote, "a session-based multiplayer first-person shooter for PC with all the known and beloved hardcore game mechanics of Escape from Tarkov."

The distinction is somewhat muddy, especially when you take into account that Escape From Tarkov(opens in new tab) technically hasn't "released" yet, and so Edge of Darkness and the other editions are still advertised as "preorders." So, you can "preorder" a game (which you can play now), and with your preorder get an upcoming spin-off of that game as DLC (but it's EFT Roubles a standalone game), likely before the original game has technically released. That's just videogames in 2022. It's best to just accept it and carry on. The point here is that it's clearly more than just a new mode.