Game: Metro Exodus

Though belated, I want to share my thoughts on the third part of the Metro game universe—Metro Exodus. But first, let’s dive into a historical overview of its origins and the earlier games.

The Metro series, developed by the Kyiv-based company 4A Games, is based on the works of Dmitry Glukhovsky. Glukhovsky wrote the first novel, Metro 2033, back in 2002, but it was not quite the novel we know today. It originally had only 13 chapters, and Glukhovsky published it online for free. Unexpectedly, the novel gained popularity, but readers didn’t like everything about it. So, in 2005, Dmitry made significant revisions to the book, expanding it to 20 chapters and altering the main character’s fate (in the original version, he dies). It was in this revised form that the novel first appeared in print.

The story is set in the year 2033, 20 years after a nuclear war that left few survivors, and Moscow itself became an almost uninhabitable place. To make matters worse, various mutants emerged, eager to finish off the last remaining humans. Only those who were lucky enough to be in the Moscow metro system during the attack managed to survive. The metro became their new home, eventually dividing into micro-states with their own authorities, rules, and even ideologies. The entire book is essentially a quest in which the main character, Artyom, must travel from one point in the metro to another. Along the way, he encounters various stations and faces both human adversaries and mutants, as well as supernatural elements.

In my opinion, the book doesn’t shine with brilliant language, but the concept and presentation are very engaging. The novel became so popular that in 2007, Dmitry Glukhovsky edited it once again, slightly changing the ending to pave the way for the sequel, Metro 2034, which was published in 2009. Around the same time, the multi-author series The Universe of Metro 2033 was launched. Today, this series includes several dozen works, where readers can learn about the fates of survivors in the St. Petersburg metro, as well as the not-so-deep Minsk metro.

Around this time, former employees of GSC Game World—the studio that created the legendary game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., inspired by the Strugatsky brothers’ Roadside Picnic—founded their own company, 4A Games. Their first project was an adaptation of Metro 2033, a genre they were already familiar with: post-apocalyptic fiction, this time based on another popular book (as of now, Metro 2033 has been translated into dozens of languages, so its success has extended far beyond a local audience, and a Hollywood adaptation is also in the works).

The first game wasn’t a massive success. It was a linear first-person shooter with stealth elements, rewarding players for “good” behavior (when trying to avoid killing enemies and moving quietly) as well as for more aggressive approaches. Depending on the “karma” accumulated, players could achieve different endings. However, in terms of controls, the game was far from competing titles. I remember starting it twice and abandoning it near the beginning each time because of the awkward controls. But the story was intriguing, so on my third attempt, I managed to finish the game. In terms of plot, it closely followed the first book. There were deviations, but overall, the quest-like storyline of the novel adapted well to a linear shooter. Dmitry Glukhovsky actively assisted the developers with the script and character dialogues.

Despite its flaws, the game was successful enough that the developers considered a sequel. Especially since the second book, Metro 2034, was released the same year as the first game. Glukhovsky assisted with this game as well, but with the second part, the storylines of the book and the game began to diverge significantly.

The second book personally felt very derivative and significantly weaker than the first. I couldn’t see how it could serve as the foundation for an interesting game sequel. But the game developers took a different approach, choosing to further develop the story of Artyom and the special unit “Sparta.” Moreover, they addressed the issues of the first game, significantly improving the engine, which made the sequel both visually richer and much closer to other shooters in terms of mechanics and user-friendliness.

Metro: Last Light (known as Metro: Ray of Hope in Russian) turned out, in my opinion, to be much better than the first game. The developers retained the original’s strong points, allowing players to choose between a stealthy approach, trying to avoid drawing attention, and a more aggressive, brutal path, unrestrained in taking lives. The scarcity of ammunition remained the only limitation. In a post-apocalyptic world, finding bullets (let alone producing them) isn’t easy. So, despite being a shooter, the game constantly made players think carefully about whether to shoot and use up precious ammo or attempt a challenging stealth approach to conserve it. Additionally, new monsters and mechanics for dealing with them were introduced. There were more missions on the surface of contaminated Moscow, and the controls were substantially reworked, making the game feel much less cumbersome than the first part.

A little later, the studio slightly reworked the engine and improved the second game, also re-releasing the first game with the updated engine and mechanics of the second. This compilation was released under the title Metro Redux. Frankly, I didn’t notice major differences in the second game, but the first one essentially became a different game altogether. It was more visually appealing and had a completely different playthrough experience (I replayed it in this format).

The second part also received two expansions, which, overall, I found rather weak, though they did explore additional aspects of the story.

Finally, the third game was announced, once again coinciding with Dmitry Glukhovsky’s release of the third book in the universe. I had a tough time with the book—I managed about 70 pages before giving up, as it was almost unreadable for me. It even felt like some kind of rough draft by an unknown author. I found it impossible to read (though I might give it another chance later). But the game was eagerly awaited by many.

Of course, the third part continued from the “good” ending of the second game (the concept of “karma” and having two possible endings have become a signature feature of the series). Finally, Metro: Exodus (known as Metro: Iskhod in Russian) was released in early 2019. However, it didn’t come without controversy. The game’s publishers decided to release it exclusively on the newly launched Epic Games Store, which infuriated many players, especially those who had already pre-ordered it on Steam. Later, they promised that those who had already purchased the game would still receive it, but new buyers would either have to get it from EGS or wait a year for it to appear on Steam.

In this case, I decided to wait and not dive in immediately. I prefer to play when a game has been out for a while, the most severe bugs have been fixed, and all expansions have been released. So, I ended up playing it over a year after its release, but with all the expansions included.

This game continues the story of Artyom and “Sparta,” but this time the developers decided to break away from the traditional linear narrative. Furthermore, there’s hardly any Moscow metro in the game. The story begins with the heroes leaving Moscow in the first chapter, a prologue, and traveling across Russia in search of a peaceful, uncontaminated place where they can start living again.

Leaving the confines of the metro inevitably impacted the gameplay. Throughout the story, we visit several regions; in some, the game follows the original linear approach, while in others, the developers embraced the popular “open world” style, where there’s a main objective but players can also explore the map for additional adventures. Spoiler alert: overall, the game turned out well. It’s an engaging story with new mechanics. However, along with the strengths, there are also some drawbacks. Let’s discuss both sides of the coin.

What worked well? Leaving the metro allowed the game to showcase the post-apocalyptic world without the constraints of dark corridors. This made the visuals and character interactions with new locals far more diverse. The locations themselves are incredibly varied—the gloomy Volga, the sandy and sunny Caspian, the forested taiga… Each location has its own unique monsters, and their behavior can vary depending on their environment.

Familiar weapons from previous games are still present, but there are also new modifications. Crafting and resource gathering have become much more essential. A day-night cycle was introduced, adding a layer of strategy: there are fewer monsters on the surface during the day, but you’re more visible to bandits. At night, however, the number of monsters increases, while it’s harder for others to spot you—but navigating in the dark becomes more challenging.

The story itself is quite interesting. By visiting locations that are far apart, we see the world through the lives of the local residents, each adapting to this radically changed world in different ways. Conditions vary greatly across the country, making each storyline feel unique. Without giving away any spoilers, I’ll say the plot is engaging.

However, these changes inevitably brought some drawbacks.

The foray into an open world didn’t work out as well as hoped. There are no particularly interesting missions in this world; you can roam mainly to gather extra resources or uncover mini-stories from the tapes left behind by former inhabitants. Exploring these surroundings quickly becomes dull and repetitive. But when the developers bring you back to the familiar “on-rails” levels, everything feels right again—interesting and engaging. It makes you wish the next location didn’t involve so much backtracking.

The addition of an open world and crafting significantly altered the game’s feel. Previously, you had to save every bullet, but now you can treat it more like a shooting range, firing freely in every direction. Resources are plentiful if you’re smart about it, which removes the extra incentive for “stealth mode.”

The game still rewards quiet play and the desire not to kill enemies (even if you’re tempted). But herein lies the biggest issue: I aimed to play as humanely as possible, sparing even ruthless bandits unless absolutely necessary, as this is rewarded with the game’s good ending. However, the moment you try to pursue this goal, the weaknesses in the game’s mechanics become apparent. The game doesn’t support or encourage this approach at all.

Every weapon you find throughout the game is lethal. Absolutely everything. There are silencers, silent weapons, and throwing knives, but all of this weaponry kills the enemy. If you don’t want to take the path of a killer, you only have one option—sneak up and knock them out with a punch. And this leads to two consequences:

• Playing this way becomes MUCH more difficult and slower. You have no way to incapacitate enemies from a distance. You can only sneak up on them and knock them out one by one, hiding them in a corner.
• Most of the excellent weapons you fully upgrade throughout the game become unnecessary in this “canonical” playthrough. Sure, you can shoot monsters sometimes, as their deaths don’t count, but still. I fully upgraded a sniper rifle and didn’t use it a single time. They could have just created non-lethal ammunition.

On top of that, there are optimization issues. The game generally ran well, but on a few levels, the frame rate suddenly dropped dramatically, particularly in enclosed spaces, making it difficult even to aim at approaching enemies. It was very frustrating.

Nevertheless, I managed to achieve the good ending, remaining a human rather than a cold-blooded killer. After that, I decided to play the two released expansions.

The first—The Two Colonels—is more of an addition to the final level of the main story. Here, we get the backstory of everything that happened before Artyom and the Spartans arrived in the city. It’s a decent, fairly short story, and the gameplay closely resembles the original game, as it’s a typical linear shooter with no open world or deviations. You simply follow the story as it’s written for you. But there is new weaponry—a flamethrower.

The second expansion—Sam’s Story—is different. It’s the story of one of the Sparta fighters who, after the main story, decides to leave his comrades in search of his family. This expansion leans more toward the open world, essentially one large location that requires a fair amount of exploration. With new characters and a pretty good storyline, it also involves a choice at the end.

While this expansion initially feels “open,” it’s actually a “rail” level disguised as an open world. If you miss something (like failing to check all the caches in a building), you won’t be able to go back, no matter how much you’d like to. But this time, there’s less need to worry about avoiding kills. Any encounter is with outright bandits, and it feels justified to dispatch them.

Comparing these two expansions to those of the second game, I can say the developers made a huge step forward. The action and moral choices are genuinely engaging.

Despite some flaws, I still recommend the game. The first book in the series too, and the rest—well, that’s up to you.