![]() In fact, the plot is probably the weakest part of Metro: Exodus. “Hold on, you’re saying that even with nuclear fire scorching the face of the earth and mutant crabs polluting the oceans, that NATO is somehow still a thing and it’s trying to conquer Russia? That sounds kind of stupid.” Why yes, it DOES sound stupid! While I don’t want to spoil anything, it’s quickly pretty obvious that this isn’t going to be Artyom and the Rangers vs. Guy’s I know we have all these mutant crabs to watch out for, but don’t you think the real conflict here is between differing economic and political philosophies? Their reasoning? The war never ended, and this is the only way to keep Moscow safe from NATO forces. We quickly realize that there is not only life beyond the metro, but that the powers that be are intentionally keeping this a secret. The rest of the Rangers are skeptical, but Artyom is soon proven right when a giant armored train roars by and they find two strangers who stumbled in from a nearby village. Having saved the underground from the Nazis and Communists, Artyom now passes his time by searching for signs of life beyond Moscow. Metro: Exodus starts sometime after the events of Metro: Last Light. I mean, other than “mutant bad.” That’s pretty black and white. At the same time, would the new tone and setting destroy the fundamental atmosphere that fans flocked to? Just like man’s ability to both appreciate the beauty of a poppy flower and then process it all into heroin, the duality of Metro: Exodus proves that things are never as easy as a simple black or white. Surely, the game needed to evolve past blowing out candles and tossing knives. So when I first saw that Metro: Exodus was focusing on expanding the gameplay and game world in one fell swoop, I was equal measures excited and skeptical. This is coming from a guy who holds Metro pretty damn close to the top of his horror franchises list, so know it’s with love that I say the actual shooter bits were subpar at best. It’s super badass that the game gives me a hardcore mode that takes away my HUD and forces me to count my shots, but when every engagement just boils down to picking off enemies in dark corners and keeping my air rifle pumped, it gets repetitive. However, despite all the praise that Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light earn in their visual storytelling and unique atmosphere, the gameplay never matched up. The only thing more dangerous than man’s unrelenting desire for more power. Contending with monsters, strange anomalies, actual ghosts, and even air that wants to kill you, it turns out that the greatest threat to mankind’s survival is still ourselves. Humanity is on the cusp of breathing its final breaths, and the last flicker of hope could be snuffed out by even the slightest wind of change. Set in the dark and monster infested tunnels of the Moscow underground railway, every inch of Metro is just dripping with atmosphere. ![]() Luckily, the source material lends itself beautifully to this noble goal. It’s a novel thought, having a scary game that actually focuses on the scares. While other franchises are in a race to see who can wank the biggest guns in the largest sandbox, the people at 4A Games got together and said, “What if we make our game actually scary?” You’ve got Left 4 Dead if you want to wank some guns with friends, Borderlands if you want to wank lots of colorful guns with friends, Mad Max if you want to wank guns while driving a car, Fallout if you want to wank some big laser guns solo, Fallout: 76 if you want to wank guns with friends but bad, etc. It might sound highly specific, but there are actually quite a few options. When it comes to the very specific genre of post-apocalyptic horror shooters, you’ll have trouble finding a franchise more beloved by hardcore nerds than Metro.
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