By: Maxwell Gawlick, Peak Associate

Artyom, Anna, and friends from the Order flee Moscow on the bullet-riddled Aurora locomotive, seeking a new life from the oppressive metro they once called home. Players explore life above ground in Metro Exodus, the newest instalment in the Metro series based on the books by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Exodus follows Artyom, a survivor from a nuclear fallout caused by “the War,” as he and his allies travel across the irradiated, war-stricken wasteland of Russia by train.

At first, I wasn’t too impressed with Exodus. The opening felt rushed; rather than hooking the player with an exciting action scene like the previous games, I was thrown into the middle of the story.  

I started Exodus on the highest difficulty, because it’s my favourite way to experience the previous games, however, it seems to be “fake difficulty,” and I found myself being easily discovered by enemies and immediately killed without a chance to react. I realised damage taken was increased and damage dealt was decreased, with few other changes.

I encountered many bugs, from random invisible walls to missing textures to graphical issues. The load times were also horrendous. Perhaps it’s because my console is old, but I was waiting minutes for Exodus to load. The controls felt sluggish — I boosted sensitivity to the max and it still felt like I was piloting a freighter.

After a day or so, I restarted on the second-highest difficulty and came at it from a different perspective. I recognized I played older titles on PC and was currently playing Exodus on PS4 and decided to consider Metro Exodus as a standalone game, at least with regard to mechanics.

With that mindset, I enjoyed the game a lot more. The new limited open-world style of Exodus worked well, allowing you to approach situations from multiple angles while maintaining the grounded, clear directionality of the previous titles. There are optional objectives scattered about the world that encourage you to explore in exchange for resources or upgrades. Players can expend these resources in a new immersive, logical, and rewarding crafting system that presents difficult decisions in choosing what to invest in. The game is challenging and difficult but completely playable.

Though I’ve only gotten about halfway through so far, I’m enjoying the story. It’s predictable and less interesting than the previous titles, but I’m having fun regardless. In Metro 2033 and Last Light, you make several moral choices which impact the ending of the game. Exodus provides more choices to make, including optional and hidden ones, which impact the whole game. Enemies in my current area know I will spare them if they surrender and that I do not kill innocents, and their behaviour has changed accordingly.

Despite loving the previous games, I found myself disappointed with my first impression of Metro Exodus. There are small problems that should have been polished out by a couple more months in development, but overall, I will continue to enjoy the game. While I would recommend it to any fan of the previous Metro titles, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, or anyone who likes the post-apocalyptic survival genre, I suggest waiting for the price to drop to get your money’s worth.

Due to a controversial, last-minute licensing change, Metro Exodus is no longer available on Steam. It is available on PS4 or XBox One. It is currently $79.99.