Metro Exodus (2019) [PS4]

Russia is tough. The history, the land, the people – brutal.

-Henry Rollins

In these dark days, where politics are becoming murkier and the reality of mutually assured destruction becomes ever more believable, it would be nice to know that humanity would survive somebody pressing the Big Red Button. We could survive off mutated rats, rebuild society, and The Pixels would continue ever onward, trading our flashy website for some kind of Roman-style forum (a physical one, not Reddit!). Yes, there’s always something fascinating about the concept of Armageddon. Perhaps it’s seeing the infrastructure we take for granted being used as makeshift homes and battlefields, or maybe it’s watching society fall apart and be reborn as something far more tribal and delicate?

Maybe it’s seeing how humanity would fare when it is no longer safe, those great hallmarks like Facebook and McDonalds replaced forever with spiky leather jackets and scary people on motorbikes, I guess?

Or maybe it’s the fact that the concept of a man-made cataclysm gave birth to such excellent stories: Mad Max, 28 Days Later, The Last of Us, and, from Eastern Europe, the Metro series of books and video games. The Metro series is based on the fictional works of author Dmitry Glukhovsky, tales from the nuclear wasteland that used to be Moscow or, more specifically, the network of rail tunnels that snake beneath it. Both 2010s’ Metro 2033 and 2013’s Last Light told interesting stories in a tightly-designed and claustrophobic world.

So it is with some trepidation that I approach the latest game in the franchise, 2019s’ Metro Exodus, which replaces the tight tunnels of the eponymous Metro for the open world of the Russian countryside. Will This new entry lose its character now that it has shed the darkness, or will the storytelling and immersion remain high and carry it through?

Brrr…

Visuals: 7/10

There tends to be a rule when it comes to open-world games and visuals, at least in my experience, and that rule is this: the bigger it is, the jankier the visuals. Take, for instance, Bethesdas’ run of Fallout games. These were huge, open environments full of things to see and do and manned by all manner of NPCs and bad guys. Yet the pure amount of stuff usually has to come at a price and one of the first things to go is graphical quality. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. Horizon Zero Dawn and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have, among others, managed to buck that trend and keep the experience looking, and playing, fantastically.

I guess that I would sit Exodus somewhere between the two extremes.

It is built on the same setup as the Metro Redux remasters that are available on the PS4 and Xbox One, and overall looks pretty good. The scenery is full of little details, snow whirls through the ruins of Moscow, sand blows off the tops of the dunes in the Caucasus desert and, in the more open levels, distant mountains and flowing rivers look almost real enough to reach out and touch. What drags the scenery down in places is the structures, which suffer the same issue as those of the Fallout series in places.

I’m talking about strange clipping issues, with corners of some structures floating above the ground where the ground slopes downhill but the building seems to have forgotten to follow it. These strange clipping issues also seem to occur within buildings also, at several points protagonist Artyom got stuck on seemingly nothing whilst exploring corridors and ruined rooms and some stick waggling and jumping was required to free him from his sticky situation. I believe this to be only occurring in the larger, open world levels, however. Levels that are set entirely indoors (such as the Yamantau bunker and the early Moscow based section) have more navigable, well-crafted interiors that were clearly given more polish by the folk as 4A Games than their open world, ramshackle counterparts.

Metro: Now Featuring Actual Sunlight!

One thing that has carried over from Last Light and the remasters is the detailed character models. Exodus throws a few new characters into the mix this time and, at first, I was struggling to keep up with who was who in the big Guess Who of burly (mostly) Russian dudes in tatty armour. But after an hour or so I was more easily able to tell them apart.

Characters like Duke, Dimitar, and Alyosha all look like grubby, weathered individuals, their stories plain to see on their well-detailed faces, instead of a mob of lookalike NPCs that are crafted to merely prop up the story and fill out the game world. Special mention for visual design goes to Artyoms’ tough as nails wife, Anna, and her father, Miller. Arytom spends a lot of time in close proximity to his wife whilst riding in the carriages of the Aurora and it looks like extra care was taken with her character model, to allow her to show more emotion up close than her fellow travelers. Colonel Miller, a mainstay all the back from 2033, has also received some extra attention, indeed his makeshift prosthetic legs are very well designed and a nice touch to show the characters’ determination and strength.

Miller: Artyom do this! Artyom do that! Artyom where’s those grandkids you promised me?

Enemy humans are also well designed. Expect to see plenty of gas masks and big coats in the ruins of Moscow and along the banks of the Volga, deer skull-wearing forest folk further east, and pale, almost beast-like cannibals in a dirty bunker beneath the mountains, with sores on their faces and thinning wisps of hair atop their heads.

Also returning is the series’ lovable bestiary of mutated creatures. Fans of the previous titles’ roaming gangs of doglike Watchmen, giant water-dwelling Shrimp and, most iconic of all, the winged, terrifying Demons will be in for a treat here as most levels are well populated by these beasts. They look as gross as ever, all dirty fur, snarling teeth and warped evil faces that instill a healthy fear in the player. Joining this crew are new creatures, like mutated wolves and the zombielike Humanimals, also delightfully gross and unsettling to the eye.

So what to do when encountered by these nasty hordes, I hear you ask? Shoot them, of course! Exodus has all the classic guns of the series, plus a few newbies, and they all still look fantastic, with impressive levels of detail. The Kalash looks exactly how you’d expect it to look, the beefy Shambler shotgun is still a mutant killing joy to behold and the aptly named Bastard looks like it has been welded together from pieces of scrap, as one would expect from something made in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With weapon crafting now expanded upon over Last Lights’ offerings, you will rarely see two weapons the same, with all manner of scopes, stocks, and accouterments to be looted from found firearms on your travels across Russia.

Yet, for my roubles (or indeed premium ammunition), it’s the little details that make this games’ visuals so immersive. Touches like the visor of Artyoms’ gas mask getting misted up with use (and pressing a button to wipe it away), the way the sun shines into your eyes as you leave a dark tunnel, or simply watching rabbits and snakes move away from you as you traverse the game world really helps to draw you into Glukhovsky’s world, to make you feel like you are Artyom, instead of just playing him.

Despite some janky visuals here and there, Metro Exodus manages to deliver a good looking experience, with strong overall aesthetics and plenty of little touches to immerse you in its story and universe.

Audio: 7/10

One thing that I found with Metro 2033, way back in 2010 on my Xbox 360, was that some of the sound effects were rather off-key. I remember a friend and I dying of laughter when a man emitting a long, shrill whistle sounded like he was squealing like a pig instead. This strange, slightly off-kilter quality to the sound effects continued through Last Light and has even made it to Exodus. It doesn’t affect all sounds and it’s not really all that jarring, just a strange thing that I notice from time to time. Rusty hinges squeak a little too high pitched, all underground facilities make the same, odd noise before the lights come back on after twenty years of nothing, maybe it’s just me going crazy from too much time down in the tunnels, ruins, and military bases of the Moscow underground?

That aside, Metro Exodus really does have a pretty decent set of noises, voices and musical scores, almost there with any super polished, multi-million dollar triple A title.

Almost. The music is perfectly competent, keeping mainly out of the way until the action kicks in and then delivering pretty much what one would expect from a game of this type. By that I mean a grimy, pulsing, and rocky soundtrack that gets your frozen, Russian blood pumping and makes you want to fill the nearest Nosalis full of buckshot. The music also tends to flare up with big reveals, such as the initial sighting of a moving train amidst a Moscow blizzard or the massive front gates of the Yamantau bunker looming before our heroes. For the rest of the time it is pretty quiet, letting the sounds of a destroyed world wash over you and further immersing you into this grim narrative that is Artyom and company’s journey, whilst only occasionally playing the odd sombre, strings piece to keep you company.

The many unpleasant monsters of post-apocalyptic Russia are also gifted with some excellent sounds. The shrieking of diving Demons and that throaty, almost Jurassic Park Velociraptor sound that the Watchmen make as they call in the pack to destroy you are pretty intimidating, sounding very much like real-life animals. The scuttling sound made by the giant spiders is also up there with the scariest sounds in gaming, alongside such greats as Sonics’ drowning jingle and the Nemesis shouting “S.T.A.R.S!”.

Weapon sounds are a bit of a mixed bag in the Metro series as a whole and, as Exodus hasn’t fallen too far from the tree, the trend continues here. Whilst beefier weapons like the shotgun variants all have a satisfying boom to them, assault rifles and handguns seem to lack that certain something. They sound a little muted, like they’re lacking power even though they’re cutting down bad guys with efficiency only a Soviet-era Kalash could. Thankfully, any sensible player will be relying on silenced weapons anyway for the most part and this will never be an issue.

Never leave Moscow without your Anti-Mutant stick…

I have saved the best part of this games’ audio soundscape for last, however. The voice acting. I know what you’re thinking, “oh Bizzaro, are you going to pull that Resident Evil 2 trick again and reveal that the voice work is rubbish? How droll!”

But that, dearest reader, is not my intention. No, for the voice acting in Metro Exodus is actually very good. With a mixed international cast, it does a fantastic job of making the whole thing sound like a dubbed Russian language movie. What do I mean by this? Well, everybody speaks with a delightfully hammy Russian accent, occasionally going full Russian in parts, which sounds wonderfully immersive, even if you don’t understand it. Whilst I haven’t found any standout brilliant bits, such as Bourbons’ “singing pipes, what bull–!” from 2033 or Last Lights’ Pavel making funny noises whilst calling an elevator, there is still something wonderfully eccentric about each performance in this game. It was also a surprise to hear that one of Artyoms’ new friends, Sam, is an American, which is the first time we’ve encountered a western character in the series. No one actor is slumping, from the lowliest bandit to Artyom himself, every character puts in a fantastic performance, with special shoutouts to Jamieson Price as Miller and Anna Graves as her Russian namesake.

Despite some strange eccentricities, occasional off-kilter sound effects and merely serviceable music, Metro Exodus’ soundtrack is wholly redeemed by coming together into a strong whole, tied up neatly with some brilliant, authentic-sounding voice work.

Narrative: 8/10

Having read the book for the first entry in the series, Metro 2033, as well as the ever-excellent Night Watch saga by Sergei Lukyanenko, I have to say that Russian literature is, in my limited experience, dark, brutal, and occasionally bleakly funny.

One of my favourite ever reads, if you enjoyed Metro Exodus then you’ll dig this…

Metro Exodus follows this blueprint pretty loyally, just as its forebears did before it last gen. It also, like the aforementioned works of Russian literature, often waxes philosophical in places, it certainly made me stop to think once or twice about its bleak universe and the goings-on within it, that’s once or twice more than the average FPS these days (joking, I love FPS’s really!).

The story of Metro Exodus picks up after the events of Last Light, with the elite team of warriors known as the Spartans recovering from the incidents that rounded out that game. Whilst the other brave defenders of the Metro hide in their bunker and lick their wounds, returning protagonist Artyom stalks the deadly, irradiated surface of ruined Moscow, obsessed with trying to find proof of life beyond the dead city. Even after a good telling off from his commander and father-in-law, Colonel Miller, (not his real name) our hero sticks his neck out a little too far and, along with wife Anna, runs across an amazing sight, a real, moving, working train roaring through the city.

 After a series or rather crazy, adrenaline fueled events, Artyom and Anna seize the locomotive for themselves, along with its engineer, the charming Yermak. As they escape a battle ensues, with the rest of the Spartans coming to their rescue last second and boarding the train as it roars out into the countryside. Truths are revealed, arguments are had and the future is set, the Spartans will take their new vehicle, christened the Aurora, to find a new home, free of mutants, radiation and really unpleasant, smelly Metro dwellers. What follows is a year long journey, through all four seasons and all manner of different places. We laugh, we cry, there’s even a wedding. But in the end, as anyone who has played previous Metro games will attest to, there will also be loss, nihilism and some good old fashioned Russian soapbox philosophy.

The Aurora was never invited to live on Sodor…

The strongest card in Exodus’ storytelling deck is how it involves the player in the action. Most of the events that play out in the game are shown through Artyoms’ eyes as you are controlling him. Therefore every punch, tumble and nearby event is delivered straight to you, the player, through his eyes. You essentially are Artyom in these scenes and it works wonders to build a sense of immersion. Take the below video, for example, in which dangerous levels of radiation and cold send Artyom on a little trip.

But what good would all of this immersion do if there was nobody in the game for Artyom to bounce off? To care for?

Well, thankfully, 4A have continued their streak of creating memorable characters from the previous Metro games. Series mainstays Miller and Anna are both very well written and, on some of the slower, non-combat oriented Aurora sections of the game, have tons of interesting dialogue that can be listened to. They, and the other members of the crew, can go on for a long time about the current situation, their lives back in Moscow, childhood memories or even just their favourite drink. It’s a testament to the voice actors in this game that so much dialogue was recorded when most impatient players will just leave them yammering on to themselves and head off to find the next thing to shoot at.

The world is also brought to life by many varied, interesting and oft-times funny conversations between enemies out in the field. They boast to each other, lament their situations, and quite regularly worry about what the “train gang” are up to, not knowing that one of them is currently hiding in shadow right behind them. Exodus went above and beyond to fill its grim world with interesting conversation, actually making it feel more alive to me than Fallouts’ more populated world.

Miller’s crew turn out to be a really lovable gang of goofballs by the end.

But there is a drawback to this, for some at least.

Apart from the loading screens, Artyom is a mute character. It’s an argument as old as time: if a mute character helps the player to better identify with them, essentially giving them whatever voice they want in their minds’ eye (minds’ ear?). I admit, it has always worked for me. Gordon Freeman, Corvo Attano (first time around), and Isaac Clarke (also first time around) did not ruin my experience of playing as them just because they didn’t have a voice of their own. I knew what they would say, if they could, and that was good enough for me. I guess what makes it weird with Artyom is that the people around him acknowledge the fact that he is silent, often having a good, long monologue at him before ending with “what, nothing to say? Oh well!”, to paraphrase. I have friends who found Artyoms’ extreme vow of silence a little too much, actually ruining the immersion for them as they wondered “why is he being so ignorant? His wife is talking to him!”

 It’s not just dialogue and world-building that gives Metro Exodus its storytelling charm though, the game is laced with more intimate, unusual segments that force you to slow down, take a seat, have a smoke or a cup of vodka, maybe even play the guitar. It is cleverly done, forcing the player to slow down, put those guns away and actually listen to what is happening in the world around them.

Metro Exodus has a straightforward, robust story set in a well-realized post-apocalyptic world. Using memorable characters, plenty of dialogue and a real sense of immersion, this game is bound to draw in those gamers who enjoy a good tale.

Themes: 9/10

The Metro games have always been interesting thematically. The first game saw a fresh-faced, younger Artyom fighting through miles of Metro tunnels, often alone, to deliver a warning about a new mutant enemy, the psychic, incredibly dangerous Dark Ones. The first games’ plot turned this on its head however and, by the end, I was left with a rather unsettling feeling that humanity, in their narrow-minded fear, were the bad guys all along. Whilst Last Light played it a little safer on the thematic front, going for a more political conspiracy plot, it did also address Artyoms’ redemption for his role in destroying the Dark Ones, bringing them back for the finale if the player was able to spread enough good deeds throughout the story.

“Sorry humans, we don’t do trains!”

Exodus plays it even safer still, with no mention of the Dark Ones at all. Instead, it focuses on a new theme, that of companionship and discovery. As the Spartans travel across Russia, it is a rotten, dangerous and mysterious place that we see. Once innocent places like rail terminals, oil fields, and forested rivieras are now full of shadows and unspoken danger and the remains of the mundane become weird and wonderful. One of my favourite things about the Metro series as a whole is how it portrays Moscow, and later all of Russia, in the wake of unimaginable horror and destruction. Not only the decayed and twisted scenery, but also the almost supernatural element of human suffering left behind. At several points in the game, Artyom sees things that nobody should ever be able to, the ghosts of people past going about their lives just before the bombs hit. In one memorable scene, our hero even witnesses a few seconds of the past through the eyes of a tank commander, trying to clear the streets of a panicking Novosibirsk just before its fiery destruction. It adds an element of mysticism to the story, Artyom reaching out across the years, seeing what happened to the places he visits and those who used to live in them.

As I mentioned earlier on in this review, Exodus takes a page out of Dmitri Glukhovsky’s books (no pun intended) and quite often waxes philosophical. Even without Khan, the previous games’ warrior shaman/spirit guide, it manages to get pretty deep, through actions and dialogue, into the nature of human suffering, cruelty, and the futility of hope. Early on, Artyom is seen as a straight up weirdo for having hopes of life beyond Moscow. His peers talk about him as if he’s gone crazy, his commander chews him out for risking his life for nothing and even his wife begs for him to stop his pointless wanderings. Even once things get rolling (on the railroad), and Colonel Miller begins to hope to find the remnants of the old government, they are punished, their optimism leading them into a foul, deadly trap of the highest order. Again and again the gang tries to find their new home and, again and again, they are pushed back, divided and punished for their efforts. Perseverance plays a key role in this story, watching the tired, beaten crew keep getting up, dusting themselves off and soldiering on with true Russian grit is truly infectious and keeps you fighting along with them

Like many Eastern works, Metro Exodus keeps it dark and deep, like a Siberian forest. But under all of that grim musing lies a tale of hope and perseverance, laced through with a somber feeling of sadness for the world that once was before the bombs fell.

Gameplay: 7/10

2010s’ Metro 2033 was, among many things, hilariously janky. The stealth mechanics were totally broken, enemy AI often totally forgot what it was supposed to be doing and graphical muddiness occasionally reared its head. Sequel Last Light really cleaned this up, especially the stealth elements, but some strange clipping and graphical episodes did continue. The Redux remasters dragged them both to the modern generation of consoles (and really cleaned up 2033), and Exodus is built upon that very same engine, warts and all.

Whilst this doesn’t really do too much damage to the experience, it can be noticeable in the more open world areas, where traditional Fallout 3 fare such as slightly floating buildings and artifacts clipping through each other can be found.

Gripes aside, let’s take a deep dive into how this game plays and what one can expect whilst journeying across the wastes of Russia. First off the bat, it’s quite easy to see that Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter, and any shooter worth its vodka knows how to pull off its gunplay. Artyoms’ arsenal is a wide-ranging and certainly very intriguing mix. From scabby old revolvers and “Bastard” guns, jury-rigged death machines made from junk to bulky drum-barreled shotguns, crossbows and, of course, that legendary Russian creation, the humble AK47, Metro Exodus covers all bases. To spice things up further, Artyom can now customize his weaponry on the fly. Laser sights, extended magazines, and fancy reticles can all be stripped from enemy weapons and applied to our hero’s own, which essentially creates a whole extra layer of weapon combinations to match any play style. For example, my loadout of three weapons ended up being a bulky “Shambler” shotgun for mowing down mutants, a silenced AK47 for attacking from the shadows and a crossbow, incredibly useful for stealth takedowns. Incidentally, the Shambler and silenced AK were always my weapons of choice in the earlier titles as well.

Why run when you can Shamble?

As with any post-apocalyptic adventure, the good guys will be facing two distinct groups of enemies, the mutants and the far more deadly (yet fallible) humans.

The mutants are straightforward enough, be they rat-like Nosalises, roaming packs of Watchmen, or even a gigantic mutant bear, they all follow the same tactic, rush Artyom in a big furry wave, diving in and out of various tunnels and warrens to outflank and confuse. The flying Demons glide arrogantly above, occasionally sweeping down to have a go at grabbing Artyom and dropping him back to the ground like an owl with a mouse. Stealth does work to a degree against most mutants in the field, in the sense that if you keep away from them, they’ll keep away from you. In tight spaces it’s another story, however, running into mutants in tunnels or narrow streets is usually a scripted event and will have you parting company with some of your well-earned bullets.

Now the humans, those post-apocalyptic Russian belligerents, are a different kettle of fish. Just like in previous outings, most can be dealt with stealthily, which is the ideal way for reasons I shall go into later, or if you’d prefer to fill the local ruffians with lead, well you can do that too. Whilst all-out gun battles can be exciting, it is by no means the best option. Artyom can only take a couple of hits before he goes down (and medkits are sometimes a bit of a resource-sink to create), the enemy AI can be a bit unadventurous, a lot of enemy fighters just hide behind things and take pot shots ad nauseum until you finally clip them, and if one just rushes in guns-a-blazing then you can often miss interesting little tidbits of dialogue and even some rewards like interesting weapon parts. Whilst there are some portions of the game where you have no other choice, I found gunfights best avoided.

So, let’s go back to the art of the ninja, shall we? Good old stealth. Fans of Last Light will be glad to know that the formula remains much unchanged. As long as one is hiding in shadow, they cannot be seen by enemies, unless they are wearing head torches. From these shadows one can lurk around enemy bases, crouch walking to keep footsteps to a minimum and deactivating light sources such as candles and bulbs as you go, spreading that darkness. When using this playstyle, it is also possible to use melee takedowns on enemies, either lethal or non-lethal depending on how you feel (both have a range of satisfyingly violent animations). If things do get messy, Artyom cleans up with great efficiency, surviving enemies will often surrender, begging for mercy and taking a knee in the hope that they don’t get a Kalashnikov round to the face. These wise souls can then be looted, knocked out, or if you’re not the merciful type, shot in the face for your personal satisfaction.

The game is structured in such a way that you shouldn’t be repeating the same activities over and over again. One chapter might be a huge open map, full of quests, side quests, and opportunities to explore, then the next might be forcing you to fight through narrow tunnels, with no chance at stealth and the only hope of survival in fighting tooth and claw. It’s a good exercise in pacing from 4A. My initial concern was that a wholly open world Metro title would lose its spooky atmosphere, the Metro tunnels in this series are almost as much of a character as Artyom himself. Yet the more open areas still told some good stories and kept me invested in this universe. There were always new characters to meet, good and bad, and hearing how the locals had got along since the bombs fell was often interesting. In the Caucasus map, you even acquire a battered old van which, whilst a little janky to handle, certainly marks an improvement over traipsing back and forth across the sand dunes. It’s also great fun to run over mutants that are foolish enough to get into your path.

My first car looked a little like this…

Standout levels in terms of design and atmosphere would have to be the Yamantau bunker, where the surviving Russian government supposedly awaits, the huge and meandering forest level, and the final section of the game, a freezing cold, highly-irradiated jaunt through the skeletal remains of Novosibirsk that is highly reminiscent of the inhospitable Moscow that the gang left behind, the high radiation and low temperatures sending Artyom and the player on some seriously screwy trips before it’s all over.

So we’ve established so far that we have guns, we shoot humans and mutants (or don’t), and go to a variety of different places to do so. What else goes on in this mad, ruined world? Well, modern games are all about crafting and Exodus is no exception to the rule.

n previous outings, one would be able to find ammunition, gas mask filters, and other goodies littered strategically throughout the world, this time around one finds junk. Not as instantly satisfying, for sure, but this is where Artyoms’ MAGICAL BACKPACK comes into play! In this beast, our hero can hold a lifetime’s supply of screws, copper wiring, and random chemicals. Out in the field, he can rapidly craft things like first aid kits and filters, immensely useful supplies for the average mutant murderer. At several points in each level, one can also find workbenches, always easy to spot thanks to their handy desk lamps.

If Artyom pops his magical backpack up onto one of these bad boys then things get even craftier. Ammunition can be made here and suit upgrades found in the wild can be swapped in and out (think reinforced gas masks, motion sensors, that kind of thing). This new system does add a need to sponge up every single bit of junk you find and allows a lot of flexibility in on the fly weapons customization. There are, however, a couple of downsides to this.

Firstly, Metro Exodus has included, for some unfathomable reason, an arbitrary weapon cleaning mechanic. That assault rifle of yours losing effectiveness? Just pop to the workbench and hold a button and your gun will be all nice and shiny again. I feel that this addition didn’t really add much to the experience and could easily have been left by the wayside. The other casualty of the crafting system is the currency system of the older games now being totally redundant. Both 2033 and Last Light used premium, pre-war, weapons-grade ammunition as money. Every magazine you found could be traded in for better gear and supplies as the games went on and, if the player found themselves in a really sticky situation, they could load the better bullets into their own weapons and literally saw the enemy to pieces with a wall of cold, hard cash. This was a unique, memorable system that Exodus sadly eschewed in favour of the usual crafting system.

Just some items from the Magical Backpack…

To round this out, let’s mention the game’s (and series’) morality system. Just like the first two games, Exodus has two endings, a good and a bad. Performing good deeds, like rescuing people, being non-lethal when possible, and looking for teddy bears in Demons’ nests, Artyom can drip feed a morality meter that the player never sees. Good deeds are rewarded instead by a tiny flash of the screen and a strange sound, so if you encounter this then well done, you have done a good thing! The existence of this system takes me back to my earlier point about stealth being the best way to play, each enemy human you belt into unconsciousness is one more point into your morality fund, so as to speak.

There’s a lot going on in Metro Exodus, it’s a deep, technical shooter that takes its protagonist across many different places and situations and, whilst there are drawbacks to the major changes this time around, they overall work toward keeping the series varied and fresh.

Challenge: 8/10

Metro Exodus was quite the challenge to critique when it came to, well, challenge.

Like the other games in the series, it comes with a range of difficulties to suit any gamer. There has been a trend in gaming this generation to make everything punishingly difficult (still chasing those Dark Souls dollars, I guess). This is fair enough, in and of itself; a game should be the vision of its creators and there are plenty of fans of tough games out there to enjoy these products. But along with this comes the society of gatekeeping, screaming horrors online telling those who struggle to “git gud” or “go back to your Viva Pinata”, desperate to keep the publishers of their favourite challenging games from pandering to the unskilled masses.

Ahem, well, that went a bit off track. What I will say is this: 4A and Deep Silver had no intention of turning people away at the gates due to difficulty. Metro Exodus has several difficulty modes ranging from “Reader”, which offers no real challenge, lots of items and a great way to enjoy the story, to the utterly menacing “Ranger Hardcore” mode, in which you’ll be scrabbling for supplies, nursing permanently knackered weaponry and fighting off some of the smartest, nastiest enemies you could possibly find in a video game. I played the game on the Normal setting for a nice balanced experience and, whilst there were a few tough gunfight sections, it was mostly just challenging enough to keep me on the edge of my seat whilst enjoying some Glukhovsky storytelling. It’s refreshing to see a game willing to both pander to the “git gud” brigade but, at the same time, make it an accessible experience for those who are perhaps unable to play on harder difficulties due to disabilities or other factors. That or they just enjoy the story more than the first-person shooting?

Replayability: 7/10

So, having played Metro Exodus through to completion a couple of months ago, could I go back to it again any time soon? The answer here is, I think, yes, for I intend to start out back at 2033 Redux and play all the way through to the end of Exodus, just to enjoy the immersive story that these games tell. Anyone who plays video games for the stories they tell and the characters they introduce you to will surely find a reason to blast back through this game once more. Maybe you felt a bit bummed out by that bad ending and want to be a nicer guy this time around, or perhaps all of that stealth bored you and you’d rather try out gunning down enemy humans in their masses instead? Perhaps you always wanted to try another kind of weapon loadout before but just didn’t seem to get the chance? I would say that there are always reasons to revisit games like this, especially when coupled with the varying difficulty modes. I’m honestly tempted to play back through the trilogy on easy mode, just to be Artyom one last time.

My Personal Grade: 9/10

I know. I know what you’re thinking, dear tovarisch. Isn’t that grading a tad high, considering the rest of the scores are predominantly sevens? Well, you’d be right to mention this, but Metro Exodus is, to me, greater than the sum of its parts. Individual pieces of a jigsaw don’t look like much but the finished thing will blow you away. For days after finishing this sprawling, atmospheric, janky and oft times infuriating game, all I could think about was the fate of the Aurora and its crew of sass-talking Muscovites. The events in the final hour or so of the game genuinely shook me, even after two other games in this series full of revelations, loss and euphoric victory. Yeah, Exodus isn’t perfect, or super original, but 4A used what they had and somehow bolted it all together to create a really solid experience and an absolute golden example of storytelling in a first-person shooter.

Aggregate Score: 7.8

Winst0lf is a blogger, reviewer and podcaster who began his internet journey thanks to the lovely people on this site. You can find his blog here, and his podcast, Shart Select, here. Every time you read one of his articles, he lets out a little cheer!