in an era where most first person
shooters seem to be intent on constantly
upping the tempo Metro Exodus is
refreshing in its demand that you take
your time this is not a run-and-gun
experience it's a stay low and go slow
crawl through some of the most
atmospheric and detailed rich settings
I've ever experienced in a story-driven
shooter with a storyline that sidesteps
the supernatural themes of its
predecessors in favor of focusing on a
more affecting human experience and
level design that affords you
significantly more freedom without ever
giving you too much room to relax
Metro Exodus feels like the full
realization of this franchises potential
[Music]
picking up two years after the events of
Metro last light the largely
self-contained story of Metro Exodus
follows the plight of main protagonist
Artyom his wife Anna and the crew of
surviving Spartan Rangers as they set
out from nuclear war ravaged Moscow in
search of safe harbor aboard the train
Aurora that mobility brings a dazzling
variety of settings we've never seen in
a Metro game taking you from snow
blanketed sprawls of urban decay to sand
swept deserts and lush forest settings
each populated by a healthy variety of
deadly mutants and pockets of humanity
both friendly and hostile these levels
are also far more open than what we've
come to expect from the previous two
metro games but that's not to say you
won't spend a considerable amount of
time exploring the traditional dank
underground corridors many story
objectives still require you to descend
into the sorts of dread fields
subterranea that the metro series was
built upon and thanks to a generational
jump in lighting effects and
high-quality ambient audio they feel
more ominous and claustrophobic than
ever up on the surface the largest
sandbox tile levels relax the leash and
let you sniff around with more freedom
stuffing your way through enemy camps
and abandoned houses that can be scoured
for precious resources but even when
you're out in the open
Metro Exodus finds ways of keeping your
anxiety levels in the red by obscuring
your surroundings with intermittent
sandstorms in the caspian desert level
or introducing packs of snarling dogs in
a forest valley section that can attack
from any direction and have you
frantically scrambling for higher ground
with factors like these in play Metro
Exodus successfully manages to put you
in wide-open spaces without ever giving
you too much room to breathe
Metro Exodus does away with the
ammunition based currency system and
weapons merchants from its predecessors
in favor of work benches and a backpack
that can be used to craft certain items
on the fly
I found the backpack to be an invaluable
addition to the Metro Exodus experience
particularly since it also brings with
it the ability to swap out weapon parts
without returning to a base allowing you
to tweak your arsenal to suit each enemy
encounter human enemies seem noticeably
smarter in Metro Exodus communicating
with each other during a firefight and
intelligently maneuvering around to
flank but it's the scraps with mutants
that provide the stiffest combat
challenge the gunplay is nice and
crunchy and there's a broad range of
mutant enemy types to tackle from the
humanimal 's that camouflage themselves
in the desert surroundings and surprise
you at the last minute to the light
fearing spider creatures that must be
weakened with the beam of your
torchlight before you can finish them
off each mutant type requires its own
unique strategy to overcome which means
combat in Metro Exodus rarely becomes
mired in repetition since so much of
your time in Metro Exodus is spent on
tents and lonely excursions away from
the Aurora the playable vignettes aboard
the travelling train that bookend the
main levels give you an opportunity to
relax and bond with the rest of the
characters I relished the chance to get
to know the crew a little better as the
journey went on and I became more
invested in their individual flights as
a result even despite the inconsistent
quality of the voice acting
I also enjoyed pulling on the train
whistle to literally let off steam
perhaps I enjoyed it a little too much
while bonding with these characters
ensures that the plot delivers an
emotional payoff the lack of any main
antagonist in Metro Exodus means there's
no climactic showdown to speak of at the
story's end after surging forward with
slow-paced yet sustained momentum for
the bulk of its 20 hour runtime Metro
Exodus ultimately grinds to a halt as
opposed to going out with a bang I was
compelled towards its conclusion by the
strength of its story and I was altom
utley satisfied with how it resolved but
I can't help but feel that the most
exciting moments of Metro Exodus are
centered around its middle act Metro
Exodus takes the fear-inducing formula
of the series and transplants it into
expansive sandbox like levels without
losing any of the oppressive tension
that makes the franchise memorable and
distinctive among post-apocalyptic
first-person shooters it's a frequently
exhilarating and densely atmospheric
journey across a russian dystopia
brimming with detail and deadly
inhabitants and well worth the trip for
its consistently effective use of
survival horror and hair-raising action
for more on Metro Exodus check out 10
minutes of gameplay and the unboxing of
the Spartan collector's edition