PC Gamer

The first twoMetrogamesarestillsome

of the best-looking shooters ever made,

now Exodus will try to take that level of

detail out of the Moscow underground into

wide-open environments full of NPCs

and mutant monsters. Exodus still

has underground and corridor

sections, but they link together

Stalker-esque sandbox areas that

you can loot for gun parts. I played for a

few hours in a wintry marshland and got

shot, eaten and dropped from a great

height by a flying mutant dragon.

You play as Artyom in the aftermath of

Metro: Last Light’s good ending. Instead of

Artyom sacrificing himself to save the

Metro, he and a band of pals have bundled

onto a train to cross the wasteland. At the

start of the demo, the line is sabotaged

and Artyom is sent out to make contact

with survivors in a nearby church.

MAKING DO

Along the way I duck into some ruins and

manage to find some vital ammunition.

Resources are scarce and mutants take a

few bullets before they drop, so you have

to scrounge. To add to the rugged

survivalist tone, you can throw your

rucksack down at any time and start

slapping makeshift parts onto your guns.

By the end of the demo I had a modified

hand cannon and an assault rifle chassis

specced for long-range sniping. If you find

a workstation you can access heavier

modification options and even give your

gun a wash.

The church is partially flooded so I

have to take a boat, which is attacked by

some disgusting slugs and a mutant

whale. These waterways partition up the

land, which means exploring feels more

like picking a wide corridor than carving

out a route. Metro Exodus captures some

of Stalker’s tension, and it looks incredible,

but it’s not quite the free-roaming open

world experience you might expect when

you check the map for the first time.

ON RAILS

That’s not a bad thing, because the Metro

series has always worked so well as a

tightly directed shooter. I end up getting

locked in the church by a group of

anti-technology cultists and have to

blast my way out through a relatively

linear sequence of gantries and

corridors. You can move stealthily

and backstab enemies if you like, but

it seems a shame not to use Metro’s

rickety guns. The silenced pistol is as

powerful as ever, and Metro staple The

Bastard returns, complete with its unusual

clip that moves horizontally through the

gun as you fire.

Some of the old Metro clunkiness is

evident, though. The mutants are suitably

disgusting but move clumsily. At one point

a pack of wolf-like creatures wandered

right past me. When I announced my

presence with a gunshot they turned and

loped straight toward me like rabid

labradors – easy targets. My biggest

worry, however, is bugs. The developers

have delayed the game’s launch to get the

game in shape, and I hope the extra time

proves long enough. It shatters the mood

when you shoot an NPC and they splay

their arms wide and vanish backwards

intothefloor.If4Agetsthegameproperly

polished up, this could be the closest thing

we’ll get toStalkerin 2019.

Tom Senior

I

have a good sense of what Metro’s

post-apocalypse feels like to touch. It’s

greasy, it smells like oil, everything is

covered in radioactive grit. The game

sells its world beautifully with a thousand tiny

details. It’s in the squeak your glove makes when

you wipe your gas mask. It’s in the grainy paper of

your map. It’s in the improvised weapons, which

get dirtier as you carry them through a journey

that spans a year of your character’s life.

4A’s post-apocalyptic shooter goes

open world, sort of

METRO

EXODUS

THE METRO SERIES HAS

ALWAYS WORKED SO WELL AS

A TIGHTLY DIRECTED SHOOTER

RELEASE

2019

DEVELOPER

4A Games

PUBLISHER

Deep Silver

LINK

http://www.metrothegame.com

NEED TO KNOW

PLAYED

IT

The surface is grim

and full of dangers.

Metro Exodus

PREVIEW