REVIEW

Metro Exodus Review

by Luke Walsh, February 21st, 2019

Metro finally travels outside the tunnels of the underground into a single player story driven narrative that sees Artyom, Anna and the rest of the crew explore irritated Russia in search for a place above ground they can call home without monsters, radiation and enemy humans. Although above ground the game still does not take away from the fact you’ll spend a lot of time on a train.

Metro Exodus is able to successfully combine its well-written story-driven narrative that was once linear into an open world platform that is a good length while not taking away from the series trademark tension and scare factor. Thanks to the slow, steady pace of the game Metro is a different take on the usual guns blazing alternatives on the market where atmosphere still takes the limelight when traversing through the various environments of Russia.

Metro Exodus picks up where the previous games left off with a two-year time jump where Artyom, Anna and the rest of the Spartan Rangers are lead by Anna’s father Colonel Miller as they board the train known as the Aurora as they travel across the continent in four beautifully detailed landscapes that span a year of seasons from snowy ruined cities to deserts and forests bursting with greenery.

Take your time through the richest and detailed places where the storyline favours the human elements of the franchise putting the more supernatural to the side. At the same time concentrating on giving players more freedom than ever before thanks to the open world nature of Exodus. You’ll find a range of different monsters and human settlements some which want to seek out friendship while others will be hostile, such as a bunch of tech-fearing churchgoers.

Although more open world than the previous games, there are no side quests that you gain through exploration, everything is still carefully controlled by the games main narrative. The linear direction of the previous two games is more relaxed allowing you to explore your surroundings at your leisure finding enemy camps, abandoned buildings with precious loot and crafting materials and diary parts and audio logs which continue to push the overall story.

Even with the shift into open world, the game is still as tense as ever, partly thanks to the next generation of hardware being able to push more detail and better soundscapes as you traverse dark sewers crawling with mutants, buildings filled with packs of rabid mutated dogs or repurposed shacks and towers patrolled by enemy humans. Furthermore, the game’s weather system keeps you on your toes with sandstorms, irradiated areas and much more.

The game’s day and night cycles change how you can take on new areas but with their ups and downs. At night monsters become more active but you gain the bonus of stealth becoming harder to spot away from external light sources. In the day, monsters are lesser in number but you are more prone to being spotted by the ones still remaining and other humans who are out to kill yours for your ammo and parts. With the safehouses places throughout each area, you can easily swap the time by resting in bed, a place to recover your health without using a medpack and craft some more ammo or attach weapon mods. It’s also a break of relief from the tense wildlands outside, giving some time to compose yourself and plan your next move.

With the improved visuals, thanks to the more powerful hardware Metro does well at not obscuring your view with loads on HUD elements and keeping the game’s world the main focal point as you wander the lands. Your health is represented by a splash of blood that appears at the top of the screen and other indicators like ammo are minimal. There’s also no map displayed on the screen at all times or any waypoint markers like other games, this makes the journey less laid out for you allowing you to decide what your next objective is.

Part of this exploration will include a lot of collecting parts which you can use at workbenches to craft ammo and improve your weapons. This is a change from the merchants in the previous games where there was an ammo based currency. Artyom also has a trusty backpack which allows you to craft some items when out in the field. Backpack items that can be crafted are limited to stealth ammunition such as ball bearings, throwing knives and bolts. Crafting bullets for an assault rifle or shotgun are restricted to the workbenches. The same can also be said for when you want to clean them to keep them in tip-top shape.

Workbenches are important but the backpack will be your saviour in the rough as you are able to swap weapon parts out when needed. This is useful when needing to add more power to your assault rifle in the daytime against monsters or change the barrel out for something a little more silent that you can use when in the shadows.

Even with the support of your backpack Metro is not a run and gun type of game. You need to conserve your ammo and make every shot count, so aiming for headshots is going to become the norm. Avoiding combat is also a possible strategy along with trying to not to take on too many enemies.

Combat is much harder than the previous games but a fun challenge as enemies are smarter and require more thought. Human enemies will communicate with one another and try and flank you if they can. Turning off light sources will bring enemies to come and investigate what’s happened and monsters will call for backup if you attack them and their mates are nearby which can make you overrun.

Overall the new AI and combat improvements will keep you constantly thinking as even when trying to play it safer and sneak your way around, you’ll still need to avoid smart enemies who can come investigate. It’s not all sneaking about though, Metro will still give you plenty of opportunities to go in guns blazing if you wish for times when you accidentally stumble upon a bunch of mutant ghouls or a pack of wild dogs.

You’ll be able to experience combat from all angles with a wide range of different enemies to tackle both human and non-human throughout your journey as Artyom. From ghouls, spiders, flying creatures and many more all requires different tactics to take them down that stops Metro Exodus from being a combat loop in terms of game mechanics.

Outside of combat a lot of the time spent with the rest of the crew on and around the train are slices of downtime where you can safely take a breather from the tense outside world. There’s a lot of unscripted chat that goes on between Artyom and the other fellow Spartans, as well as some more personal conversations between you and Anna.

At these times it was where Metro become a much more human story around the struggles of a post-war civilisation trying to settle roots down again against the pre-war Russian military and other high ranking officials. Chatting with your rowdy bunch of friends around the campfire, to speaking more candidly with Colonel Miller all made the journey feel more connected outside just heading from point to point alone in the world away from the train.

Some of these experiences also include optional missions like travelling to the other side of the current map to find a lost teddy bear for a young girl. Your actions are also remembered, once I saved the bear was happily playing with it afterwards on the train. Of course, the choice is ultimately yours and you can choose not to take on these missions or interact with the crew and just head out for the next objective.

There are times where your choices or lack of will have consequences and won’t always be laid out in front of you as part of the story or current objective. In an area where you are tasked to steal a boat, you are asked to do so without spilling blood. If you don’t listen to this as I did on my first playthrough that comes back to bite you later on down the line. All your different actions no matter how small will depend on what happens to the multiple endings which also makes it hard to try and achieve a different ending on purpose.

It’s just a shame that all of these choices, the interactions with other characters in the world that shape the story around you are pushing against a wall. Artyom once again is a silent protagonist only ever listening and never engaging which makes all the efforts of the narrative end bluntly. Luckily the story on its own even with Artyom having a tongue is still powerful but there was a big piece that could have been leveraged that wasn’t.

Overall though Metro Exodus has been able to take it’s tested tense horror-filled narrative driven story and apply it very successfully to an open world sandbox game. It combines them well to make it a very standout title in the post-apocalyptic first-person shooter genre. There’s enough freedom to make each playthrough different while still captivating you throughout the progress of the game, plus it’s terrifying at times. Fans of the old games will enjoy this new fresh take, and newcomers to the series will feel welcomed and excited/scared.