METRO EXODUS
Sun, sand…and mutants. Escape to the surface this February
Anna is missing. And that’s just one more thing on our to-do list that has gone wrong since leaving Moscow, though it’s pretty close to the top of it. We’d say something about our sniper getting herself into trouble but given the number of times we very nearly had our own face chewed off by Watchers, or drowned in the irradiated water, or got rumbled by crazed cultists, we don’t really have a leg to stand on. The surface, specifically the patch by the Volga we’re now scouring, is no more welcoming than the Metro was. But there’s that much more space to retreat into… not that we’re ones to run, mind you, it’s just necessary sometimes. Artyom only has so many bullets on him and that’s why in our hands-on we currently have him hiding in a quaint little shack. Work benches are hard to come by and we’ll tear back out into the fray to put down that big, scary Watcher just as soon as we’ve crafted more bullets… and that Watcher has left our immediate area.
RUSSIAN TO THE TOP
The overworld areas we saw in Last Light have been massively expanded. While the land above the Metro is not a true open world, it’s presented as a number of contained sandboxes set in a range of diverse biomes. After we spend a number of hours scurrying along the irradiated shores of the Volga, 4A Games takes us to the arid sands of the Caspian. Every time
“IN THE DESERT WE REALLY FEEL THE DISTANCE FROM MOSCOW.”
the game saves, the distance we’ve travelled from Moscow is shown. It’s just numbers, usually, but here in the desert we really feel that distance.
Our party – we’re travelling with a bunch of NPCs – catches the leering eye of bandits. This puts everyone on edge. We could holster our guns and try the peaceful approach but initial interactions suggest these bandits may not be up for a chat. Those who can stand the heat set out to scout the area and investigate a nearby radio tower that sounds like it’s the stage for a drawn-out firefight.
In the Volga we found ourselves crawling through foliage in an attempt to avoid altercations with electrical anomalies and whatever else was desperate for us to waste our precious bullets. The Caspian’s dunes require a different approach. The area’s littered with corpses, and it’s easy to get complacent and think that whatever threat polished these chaps off has long since withered away in the heat. Trouncing through the dunes, we all but trip over a weathered corpse only for it to spring up and give chase. Frantically pumping the pneumatic Tihar as we make evasive manoeuvres, we backpedal over a few more lethargic Humanimals before finally blasting through the conga line we’ve collected.
There’s a radio tower up ahead of us; it’s absolutely crawling with Humanimals too, and we hope when you come to tackle it that you have the sense to craft a good stock of onthe-go Tihar bullets beforehand.
Eavesdropping on the bandits’ radio communications, it becomes crystal clear that an understanding reached peacefully is going to prove… elusive. Their leader, The Baron, is a pompous megalomaniac and especially hung up on a lone woman holding out at a lighthouse. We don’t have to help her, but ignoring her feels a little too much like helping the Baron.
A STAB IN THE DARK
We crawl through a network of shadowy tunnels swimming in natural gas and plenty of traps, which we learn were left by the lady in the lighthouse. We have night vision goggles to give us an edge in this area of the level, but it’s still far from a walk in the park: a hastily lobbed combat knife gives away our position and we scurry back into the shadows, desperately searching our backpack for something that will end things quickly as the Baron’s men call to each other about Artyom’s last-known position. A quickly crafted molotov cocktail makes the most of the especially explosive atmosphere found in these tunnels, revealing how, in Metro Exodus, there’s more than one way to escape from a dangerous predicament.
Emerging back into daylight, we happen across that lighthouse standoff. The lady at the top dishes defiant taunts to the Baron’s men just as well as she delivers sharp shots; we’re intent on becoming fast friends with her. After the nail-biting caverns before, we’re in for a little catharsis as we eliminate each of the Baron’s thoroughly distracted bandits with nowt but our trusty combat knife (though we’re given the option to subdue them non-lethally too).
Surrounded by corpses (and having collected each of our blades), the lady of the lighthouse makes it clear that the enemy of her enemy is her friend. Her name is Giul and we can’t help but feel this is only the beginning of a beautiful alliance.
“A HASTILY LOBBED COMBAT KNIFE GIVES AWAY OUR POSITION AND WE SCURRY BACK INTO THE SHADOWS.”