Developer: 4A Games
Publisher: Deep Silver
Rrp: £34.99 (Humblebundle, Steam and Epic)
Released: 14h February 2019
Available on: Humblebundle, Steam and Epic
Played Using: A mouse and keyboard
Approximate game length: 20 hours
After a long time of searching Artyom discovers that not everywhere has unbreathable air, that beyond Moscow, the air is clean. However, on his journey Artyom will discover that just because the air is breathable doesn’t mean you can live there.
Metro Exodus is the third game of the Metro series where we once again we take on the role of Artyom. However, unlike in the other games we’re no longer confined to the metro tunnels and ruined city of Moscow, now we take to the rails as we travel across Russia.
When a game series gets to this point I always ask myself “Do I have to have played the other games in the series to understand what’s going on?” Thankfully, in this case the answer is “No.” You do not need to have played the previous instalments in order to understand the world or what is going on. However, if you have played them, the events and characters that appear in this one will have more significance.
Like with the previous titles the difficulty settings are quite wide ranging. This time they’ve included a ‘Reader’ setting that’s designed with people who don’t really play this genre so they can play through the story without there being much in the way of challenge.
The difficulty setting isn’t the only thing that is different about this game from the others, in fact there are quite a lot of changes that range from minor to extremely major.
First and foremost is that this game is now semi-open world as opposed to strictly linear. Of course, there is a reason I’ve said ‘SEMI’-open world, which is because its not actually an open world, its more like an extremely large area for you to explore, similar to the areas that you find in the Borderlands series except you can’t leave when you want or ever return. This change does mean though that this is by far the most ‘open’ of the series.
There is now a day and night cycle, which brings with it its own advantages and dangers. There are some creatures that only appear at night and usually the number of guards at a location will decrease in the night time. Thankfully, you don’t have to stand around literally waiting for the sky to change as there are campsites and safehouses to be found where you can rest up in safety and use a bed to quickly pass the in game time. These locations also tend to have a workbench within them so you can upgrade, maintain and create your arsenal and equipment.
Weapons now have degradation, so if you don’t maintain your equipment it’ll begin to misfire and eventually break. Thankfully, these are easily repaired at a workbench using very easily found materials. As I very briefly alluded, there is also now a crafting system where you can create bullets, medkits and filters etc.
The bullets as currency system that the previous Metro games have used has been removed, which is a shame as I really liked that mechanic, however I can understand why its no longer needed since that was the agreed upon currency within the Moscow metro (similar to how bottlecaps are used in the Fallout series) and the rest of the world doesn’t seem to use any monetary system at all.
There are some things that haven’t changed though, for example the npc’s still like to have multiple people talking over one another. Sure, it’s accurate to how groups of people speak, especially in moments of stress. But it does make it a little hard to follow conversations sometimes as several can be happening at the same time.
Also as has been the case with all the Metro games there are different endings that depend on your actions throughout the game.
There is something I do want to bring up which may seem like a minor thing but I found it just so impressive that it was included that I feel it must be mentioned. I noticed that as you travel from area to area the people change, as in you can see actual physical differences between them, which makes sense since in Exodus you are trekking across Russia which is a vast space containing multiple cultures and different environments.
This is simultaneously the most hopeful and dark of the Metro series, so far. There are so many quiet moments where you can learn about your companions and see how life is progressing, all of which are skippable if you just want to get on with the game. Personally I recommend indulging the game with these moments, they really are worth it.
Seriously people, play this game! It’s just so damned good and it’s a crying shame that so few people have heard of this series as a whole!
