Metro Exodus

Many players disliked the move from the tunnels and darkness from the previous installments to the new, open landscape of Exodus. I am one of them. I don't know if this was caused by the move to a different publisher, but I didn't like this game. They seemingly have transformed Metro Exodus into a competitor of Far Cry. In the beginning I was following a guide to get the best ending, but after the first moral point I just gave up and used a trainer to rush to the end. The fact that there are ten times more positive reviews than negative ones in steam more or less says that this game was a success.

In Metro 2033 and Last Light the game was primarily focused on the underground, with some levels taking place on the surface and forcing you to use the gas mask. In Exodus they inverted it, making most of the game take place outside on the surface, with some parts taking placing inside buildings and forcing you to use the gas mask. When I played Metro 2033 it was my first time experiencing a very slow paced FPS game. I didn't think it was bad. On the contrary, it made sense to have darkness, closed spaces and horror. On the other hand, Exodus moved to wide open spaces and it was a drag to walk long distances, visit abandoned buildings, fight many many monsters or bandits, just to collect something and backtrack to the base. They did offer much diverse environments this time around though: forests, desert, abandoned ships and decaying factories. The new tech enabled real time day and night cycle, with different conditions and enemies depending on the time of the day. However, it didn't cut it for me.

I must say that from all the games that I reviewed, Exodus has the best sky. It's at the level of Terragen in real time. Metro Exodus is the Crysis meme "Can it run?" from 2020. Unfortunately, I think that they made the real time weather system more about showcasing tech than adding more value to the gameplay. I say this because how can a tropical storm with heavy rain form in Russia? The whole land is frozen and then comes a downpour? Or a sandstorm that happens during a certain scripted combat, just to dissipate as soon as the combat is over. It felt forced and artificial.

The level design in Last Light was made more open than 2033 and because of this I got lost multiple times. The same happened with Exodus. There is a ruined factory that is filled with mutants and you have to traverse a long path to reach a train. With the whole place being dark I couldn't find the path to follow and walked in circles till I could finally notice it. Another mission took place in an abandoned bunker. Many passages, ventilation ducts, rooms, corridors, lots of monsters. All that to grab a map and then go back to the base. With the side quests offering little value for me I just skipped all of them. Too much travelling at a very slow pace for little benefit.

The boat is extremely slow. During the boat sequences I used a trainer to speed up the game by 250%. The side effect is that this gave me motion sickness. The vehicle during the desert part has a forced first person view, which combined with the irregular terrain also gave me motion sickness. I think that the fact that the DLC added an engine to the boat means that they understood that a faster way to travel was due.

One of the most noticeable details that seemed a strong sign of a game that wasn't meant to be made non linear are the dialogues. The engine wasn't designed with a non linear game in mind. There are dialogues that play on top of each other. For example: the NPC orders you to something, you sit on a chair, turn on the radio and the radio plays while at the same time the NPC is talking. This happens everywhere in the game. Not only that, the dialogues are excessively long and lots of players complain about this.

One of the most noticeable details that seemed a strong sign of a game that wasn't meant to be made non linear are the dialogues. The engine wasn't designed with a non linear game in mind. There are dialogues that play on top of each other. For example: the NPC orders you to do something, you sit on a chair, turn on the radio and the radio plays while at the same time the NPC is talking. This happens everywhere in the game.

Another thing that for me is a sign of decision that came from above, from executives, is that many assets were extensively reused. How is it possible that there is ice in the Caspian? Isn't that place a hot desert? Why are there some textures in the Caspian part covered with snow (when you fight that boss at the end of that part)? The bunker that you travel to after the Volga map is a copy of D6 from Metro 2033. In there I noticed that some enemies were reused dozens of times. It almost felt like a zombie horde game.

Controversial design (from my point of view)

I didn't like having to manage weapon's tidiness. It reminded me of Fallout 3 and Diablo. Weapon that wears out over time. It may contribute to the immersion, but I felt exhausted to have to clean the weapon again and again.

The ending was overextended. Why repeat the same scripted event 5 times? Why the same boss fight over and over? In the original Metro 2033 the ending sequence had a feeling of a spiritual journey coming to a closure. The ending sequence in Exodus felt like a soap opera drama.

Crafting gives the player more freedom to play differently, because they don't have to look for medkits, ammo, new masks and can craft those when they need it. I'm fine with it and even find it better this way. What I disliked was that they made a much larger, wide open landscape, that felt really like they were more focused on showcasing graphics and tech than proving deeper gameplay. Felt like some executive from above made this decision.

There is yet another controversial point which I don't fully support. Metro is a game that ties immersion to not giving icons, not presenting choices with dialogues, not explaining objectives, etc. For ex: when you find a power generator and it requires fuel, the main character doesn't say anything, but it does show and focus on things on screen. It's the player that is required to pay attention to such visual clues. Other times the clue is in the form of dialogues. The NPC says something along the lines of "try to avoid killing". The game doesn't tell you what to do or what to not do. It's the player who has to interpret the message. I don't really support this philosophy because there is one case in which I think the lack of voice acting for the main character or the lack of written text confuses the player. When a door is locked the game never makes it clear whether that door is locked forever or if there is a way around. How am I going to know it?

Some problems I've found

There is something wrong with this game's gravity. When the player uses the zip lines or slides down for example, the gravity feels weak, as if it's lower than the real world.

In the Volga map you have to reach a train and use it to bring another train, which serves as home for some NPCs. When you grab the train from the ruined factory and bring it to the other train. In the middle of the tracks there is a blockage of snow and ice preventing the train from passing. This mission felt bugged because the snow melted out of the blue after I killed all the bandits from a nearby location. The snow seemed to have melted after I activated a lever. This kind of thing confuses the player because I was lost for a while without knowing how to make the train pass through the blockage.