If you’ve been to the dark tunnels of the Metro franchise, you know it’s not safe to move above the ground. The surface used to be a toxic wasteland in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Metro: Exodus marks an important change in the franchise. No longer do you have to spend your time in the dark network of metro tunnels, it’s time to see what has become of Russia. It’s time to survive the biggest challenge you’ll ever face.
Don’t give up
The beginning of our demo immediately sets the tone. It started with Artyom (the main character of the franchise) nearly drowning in a river. If it wasn’t for the friendly pirate who saved him, this game would be over rather fast. Artyom survived and starts his quest in the outside world. The first thing I noticed was just how good the game looks. It’s already known that Exodus will take you through the four seasons while playing, this demo was set during Autumn. My first steps in Russia were worth remembering thanks to the strong atmosphere set in the first mere seconds of it. Russia looked good in the Autumn sunlight but there was something off about it too. The world was filled with danger. From giant mutated animals to multiple enemies opening fire at first sight. If I wanted to survive, I needed to adapt to this new world, I needed to improvise.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
If you’ve played the Metro games before, forget everything you know, this is something entirely new. The world of Metro: Exodus is a lot bigger and offers new threats you haven’t faced before. While playing it, it reminded me more of games like Fallout than it did remind me of the past Metro games. Of course, the Russian theme is still going strong but that doesn’t take away the fact that Exodus feels like an entirely new game, and that’s something good! I never felt safe during my session and I constantly had to improvise if I wished to survive. My first big encounter happened in the first Pirate village I encountered. The chief warned me that entering this village would be considered as an act of war and that they would attack me. I had to decide what I wanted to do. Do I start the war or sneak around the town, trying to reach the bridge at the end of it? Needless to say, I went to the village and tried to kill them all.
It’s a playstyle I like most but I must say, surviving is hard in the world of Metro: Exodus. Ammo is scarce and your weapons get dirty while using them. In this demo, I got access to three different weapons. The first one being the bastard gun (a submachine gun), the second was the Ashot (a pistol shotgun), and then we had the crossbow. The crossbow offered the most economical solution to my problem since I could always retrace my arrow and reuse it on my next target. The problem here was that the more I used it, the dirtier my crossbow became. Without the right cleaning tools, it will eventually lose power and accuracy. In order to survive, I switched it with the crossbows of my enemies multiple times. Staying alive was hard, next to dodging the smart enemies, I needed to tune my weapons on the go if I wanted to stand a chance.
Decide your faith
Metro: Exodus steps away from the linear approach and clearly gives you a lot of freedom. This goes way further than just decide how you tackle a certain mission. At first sight, there aren’t really main or side missions, everything unfolds right in front of your eyes and it’s your job to act appropriately. During my session for example, I think I shot down one of the good guys who would actually help me out later in the game, but I’ll discover this when the game release in February next year.
I really liked this freedom, the game puts a lot of responsibilities in the hands of the gamer, ranging from weapon modifications to sparing the lives of certain characters. Metro: Exodus got you covered if you’re looking for a total immersion in a post-nuclear warzone.
Early Conclusion:
Metro: Exodus truly impresses. The scale of the game is amazing and I’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg. The franchise evolved and this new entry is the perfect example of doing it right. The feeling that you can truly play your story and alter every outcome is amazing and it’s something I haven’t seen before, at least not on this scale. I was pleasantly surprised by it and I simply can’t wait to play more of it.
