Game 68 - Metro: Exodus - Week 118 - Mar 22

etro 2033, what a journey…. I feel like this one ties in nicely with Metro 2035, unlike Last Light which was told before 2034 (as that book was not from Artyom POV). At the end of Metro 2033, all the way from the top of the tower, Artyom hears a signal. He never forgets this, in fact its origin relentlessly torments him during the conflict of D6. Once peace is attained he begins pursuing the signal again, risking his life to explore the surface for the source of the signal with his wife Anna, much like 2035. 

That opening sequence showing the bombs fall and mad dash into the Metro and life after through 2033, Last Light and to the start of Exodus is the best intro and recap I have ever seen. 

The Aurora is one of the best parts of the game. It feels like something I never knew was missing from Metro 2033/Last Light: a home. The games in essence are a roller coast, always moving forward. So you can never settle down with a hub in one metro as you need to push forward. They came up with the perfect solution, give you a home on a train and keep the metro, with a journey into the surface to boot. The locale Russian music and radio, the crew and conversation, the warm drinks and journaling as Artyom is so fond off, it genuinely does give a sense of belonging and family. Across the full game they do such a good job of keeping it mixed up. The mechanic Krest stays in the back and smokes. Stepan helps Katya and her daughter Nastya, the nurse rescued from religious zealots of Silantius technophobic cult. He plays guitar to entertain and you can join them. Anna shows affection as you cuddle and talk. Miller lays down plans and strategizes. Duke disappears as the thrill seeker. Sam, Idiot, Alyosha and Damir crowd around the kitchen, banter, tell stories and carouse. Yermark stays close to the helm and Tokarev the gun bench.  This comradery gives you both a sense of Eastern European culture, home and family – but also cements it in this world as a constant reminder of what you’re looking for – a safe place to foster this without constant fear of annihilation. To have a child without feeling guilting about cursing them into a cancerous world. The game does a good job constantly reminding you of this cancer. Bandits, laying traps on the radio and ambushing you in Volga. The Baron enslaving an entire people around the Caspian see and waging war against the one woman army Guil. Gotta give a quick mention to this character, I love her. Such an absolute badass. This section felt soooo Mad Max. The open dusty desert, blazing geysers and huge oil rigs with tyrant ideologues sitting upon the throne. So Stalker. Say goodbye to the claustrophobic Metro and hello to the Open Wasteland.

The gameplay is just great. It feels good. Like something out of a military simulator like Tarkov. Gun fights feel kinetic and immersive. You always feel one bullet away from darkness. They take cover and flank. Demons overwhelm and ambush. The mutants, rats, spiders, and apes were fantastic. But the sea mutants were a new threat and terrifying. I love their designs. Looking at any mutant you know what it was in its past life. A mutant humanoid that has reverted to some kind of monkey. The scavenge, collect and craft loop is fantastic. Resources are essential to survival but you can also find modifications that make all the difference. Like night vision or laser sights and scopes that you need to share around your weapons. All the weapons felt good and I had a great time exploring and upgrading each. My favourite of course being the Kalash, but the crossbow (especially when you get a revolving 6 chamber) and Shambler shotgun are still favourites. The Tikhar and revolver were also notably fun. Humans give plenty of extrinsic motivation to kill. Loot, weapons, ammo, modifications. While demons return nothing, no loot, in fact they only serve to waste ammo. But the reward you with the intrinsic value of cleaning the world of mutant beasts. 

Something as simple as adding binoculars really adds to the experience of being the team scout and a scavenging survivalist. 

Maybe it’s just the ranger hardcore experience, but by the end of every game you feel like a veteran of the Metro. Starting out in Exodus this carries over big time as you feel fully equipped and capable for any threat. A veteran of D6 twice over, extinguisher of the Dark Ones and saviour of humanity. Ready to lead the Metro inhabitants into a new world…

My baby.

Or it’s probably because I played on normal until after Capsian without realising it. Damn it. I felt cheated and like I wanted to start again but I’d come too far. It was still difficult but I’d finished every game on ranger hardcore including Last Light for the first time and wanted to continue the trend. Still I clawed back some of the experience by changing it in the last few sections. And oh man, the dead city…. First that climb through the metro, an irradiated city. You can feel it, frozen, Geiger’s ticking, death everywhere, both moving and still shadows. They speak of a clash between rioters and military, but no one lives. Just one boy as a survivor and his dad who disappeared weeks ago looking for maps to reveal safe zones. As you travel deeper and deeper into the heart of the city where the radiation is stronger you can feel the death, creeping inside you. That’s when you find it. A dark tunnel, worms slivering the water, leeches hanging from the walls spitting acid. You reach the other end to find a dock area. The walls, the docks, the boats, the water, everything is covered in mutated mucus. Giant worm creatures bump and jump your boat. They rear their heads in the water and spit leeches at you. It’s disgusting and unsettling in every way imaginable. As you make your way through the area to the other side you need to gun down the giant and small leeches alike. One was easily dealt with by my high calibre sniper, the others by the rail gun given to me by Miller. Then you final “escape” onto the surface. It’s only more death in the air. You continue and have irradiated delusions of the riots, tanks killing civilians en masse and panic. As you find the hospital you’re surrounded by ghosts. The skeletons come to life and represent Anna in every scenario. Dying on a bed, falling over dead. She’s calling to you, singing to you. You couldn’t save her, why weren’t you with her in her final moments, haunting you. Anna is every corner, and as you go to comfort her, she rolls over, another skeleton. As you press on and get passed a gang of mutated gorillas nested in the hospital. You find the cure and Miller finds you.

I loved the direction they took the story. Artyom trying to find the outside world. Miller chasing ghosts. They do an amazing job of making Anna likeable and fostering a connection between Artyom and her. Especially from a first person POV and silent protagonist, it could have felt very clunky, but it felt anything but. Tasteful and enjoyable. Anna supporting you at every turn, traveling with you on the surface and saving you countless times, always having your back as the crack shot sniper. Helping you in your dream so you can settle down on the beach and have a family. But more than that Artyom "remembers a time when we lived on the surface, we were the masters of the world" not mutants. He wants to return us all to that former glory. When she falls into the bunker chasing the “NATO enemies” and starts to cough, I knew all too well what direction it was going. It didn’t make it any easier. From the moment Colonel Miller laid his head down for the final time, I just bawled my eyes out. Seeing Anna again, alive and healthy, as I phase in and out of consciousness. The crew surrounding me and then that final gravestone… I’m didn’t cry, I just got a piece of radiation dust stuck in my eye. I’d been journeying with these characters for so long. From Exhibition to D6, to the red and black stricken lines of the warrior metro, to Yamantu, the Caspian Sea and the Dead City. Even as scary as that last one was compared to something like D6, or the spider infest tunnels of the Metro, I felt a sense of indestructibility. Literally surrounded by death in all directions, I waltzed through the valley with the confidence of a Spartan, built up over many entanglements. I left exhibition a nervous boy and found myself at the end of the journey a hardcore ranger. In the end no mutant nor man could kill Artyom, it was only the radiation of a dead world and his deep love for Anna that he could succumb to.

Lastly I have to mention hat final scene on the train. Travelling to your “final stop” and as Khan the messenger of death said you can’t get off. I still remember the lessons of Bourbon, his word carrying true in the form of each bullet that cracks a mutant’s skull. Lessons from the very start of Metro 2033. So I felt quite betrayed that Artyom never mentioned him in any of his journals. I was overjoyed to see him again in that final scene, his gruff loner personality, carefree outlook and back-alley words of wisdom ringing true once again as they bring you into your final moments.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. I actually loved the bad ending. Exploring the mortality of all these characters built up over several games that I’ve grown to know and love. It felt real. Though the good ending sounded much much nicer, Artyom and Anna settling down with a kid. To hear stories of how his courageous grandfather, led Spartans across the wasteland to find a home for him to grow up safe. But that leads to the ugly. In the original it was mostly don’t harm the Dark Ones (I think), in the second one it was don’t harm the dark ones and spare key people (I think), in the third one it was spare everyone (I think). And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Despite the first two allowing the good ending if you kill enemies, in this one you have to save your bullets and knock everyone out or avoid them. Well for starters how is this the “good ending”. Yes, you’re resorting to a degree of tribalism. But you’re also killing slavers, freeing slaves, and stopping them from ever doing so again. You’re securing the future of people for what might become the last sanctuary on Earth. Is it not worth taking the least risking route if it leads you to the greater good? Like the original I like the endings, but I don’t like how we got there. The good and bad endings have never been clear on how to achieve them, a problem in the games that’s basically a tradition at this point. Oh well, along with the DLC (which I’ll save for the exact reason that) it gives me a reason to come back and enjoy the Aurora’s journey in the enhanced definitive edition.

I’m not sure what else I have to say. This game is amazing. Tight and perfect. In the end I’ve never felt so strongly about a world and its characters. And that’s because Metro is the best immersive story experience on the market still. That’s because I lived Metro Exodus.