Welcome to Another Review

Metro: Exodus is a first-person shooter developed by 4A Games. The game is available for the Xbox One, PS4, and Microsoft Windows. Exodus is the third game in the series and inspired by the original Metro Novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky. You play as Artyom the main protagonist from the series as you seek out survivors beyond the nuclear fallout zone of Moscow.

Early on you'd be forgiven for thinking you're playing the same old game again. The first 90 minutes acts as a very linear and narrow prologue tutorial and it does drag on a little. Once you reach the first open-world area the game really comes into its own the open worlds aren't huge but they're big enough to get lost in and it gives you time to digest the story explore derelict areas and meet all sorts of weird and wonderful characters along the way.

To make your journey easier there are safe houses you can unlock and this is where you can resupply your gear, clean your guns, or use the crafting stations to mod your weapons. The world has a day-night cycle and you can rest at certain locations if you'd rather take missions under the cover of darkness. There are cars boats and other means of traveling across vast distances as well. For me, the open watch sections are exactly what the franchise needed as it gives you some much-needed space to breathe as before the game was a little bit too linear and claustrophobic.

It definitely feels a bit different from the previous games. I think Fallout meets the Last Of Us set in Russia or something like that. The main campaign is one long road trip and to get across the vast Russian landscape you have a train that becomes an interlude hub after completing each region. In time you can expand the train with new carriages you can try out the radio to listen in to local broadcasts have a quick smoke chat with Anna or just craft some gear at the workbench.

It's full of character and charm and it really starts to feel like home after a while. Okay, so what about the weapons and the gear? The gun variety isn't that impressive but it's the gun parts that remedy that. Guns can be altered on the fly using your backpack or via a workbench. You can change parts add scopes new magazines and as you kill enemies you can loot their guns for parts and ammo. One nice feature that gun enthusiasts will appreciate is the emphasis on keeping your guns clean because if you let dirt build up then you might find that they jam in the middle of a firefight
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You have a trusty gas mask for contaminated zones. There are binoculars to scout out locations night visions for stealthy raids battery-powered torches and as I said a backpack that acts like a mobile crafting station. One of the best qualities of Metro Exodus is the earthy and grounded feel of proceedings what I mean is everything feels analog manual like your map is a piece of paper on a clipboard. The way you can use loot or craft items the way you mod feels natural. The safe houses that allow you to take a break and even the old-style radios you have to sit manually and tune. All these things give a grounded and realistic quality to the experience.

In terms of enemies, you'll encounter a vast array of mutants creatures but mostly it'll be human enemies that will cause you the most problems and this is where the moral choices come in. The game does a great job of letting you choose how you want to play the game like in a firefight if you kill a certain amount of enemies the remaining troops will surrender now you can just wipe them out you can knock them out or you can leave them it's completely up to you but your moral choices through the whole experience do become relevant in the end so think carefully before you kind of completely annihilate a group of soldiers unnecessarily.

The story is pretty good but the writing and narrative leave a little bit to be desired it doesn't feel up to the high standards of the first game but as the story progresses things do improve a little bit. Finally, on gameplay one performance issue, I noticed was the very long loading times for open-world areas there were times where it took two to three minutes to load a level which was a little bit tedious.

So, that's the base game what about the DLCs included in the Gold Edition. Well, firstly we have Sam's story which has a new map and narrative story that fleshes out the journey of one of the supporting cast. You find yourself in Vladivostok and need to broker a deal between two parties in order to complete your objectives. The second DLC is the two kernels which tells us the origin story of a particular location from the main campaign now the DLCs do contain spoilers so i'm not going to go into the story details here but I'd say they are both well worth playing and add value to the package. With one being more of a throwback to the first two games and the other being more open and expansive.

Graphically, the game looks pretty good overall although I can't say it's a massive leap forward from the second game. One area I did love was the detailed interiors they're full of fantastic little touches and they really do look gorgeous. The only graphical issue I had was the bobblehead style camera work for your character every minor physical action sets your screen off on a relentless and ridiculous amount of motion and it's just so overzealous. The game features a photo mode also but it doesn't let you capture Your own character. So, it's more for landscape photographers.

The music is fine but I was a little bit disappointed as in the previous games the soundtrack was of a much higher caliber and more frequent. Voice acting-wise it's okay but again doesn't quite hold up to the previous installments. The balance between open-world and narrow linear sections is spot on. It's a believable game world the grounded approach of customizing guns and crafting had a real earthy atmosphere. The two DLCs add depth to the overall story and it's a game that keeps you interested until the end. The music voice acting and writing aren't as good as in the previous installments and some of the camera work is a little bit bizarre.

Final Thoughts

This game is a fantastic adventure game set in a grounded and believable post-apocalyptic world. It's an immensely playable and varied experience and this installment strikes the right balance between open-world and linear gameplay. You're never stuck doing the same thing for too long and because of this, I enjoyed those tight linear sections a lot more. The game world is fascinating the customization options for guns are very cool and the train becomes your home away from home. It's an epic journey into a dark and disturbed world full of cults rebel groups and innocent civilians caught in the middle and when you add the moral choice aspect to it you've got a fantastic game that's hugely satisfying to work your way through.