078
find workbenches to go deeper into the crafting,
your new backpack is a mobile bench that you
can use to strip and rebuild weapons in the field.
Fail to blast past a particularly tricky bandit
camp? Then strip back your revolver and craft a
powerful, one-shot, silenced pistol to go stealthy.
The downside to cramming so much game into
one package is the need to make use of every
button on the DualShock 4, and then some.
Most buttons have multiple functions, either
depending on how long you depress them or
modified with combinations of others. It can feel
like you’re thrown in at the deep end, particularly
when you’re juggling gas filter management to
stay alive while fending off a horde of mutants.
It doesn’t ultimately hold you back, though,
and actually enables you to experiment; it makes
switching styles of play and scavenging for ammo
and parts a must rather than a sideshow to the
shooting. The need to carefully manage gear and
resources in certain missions is used brilliantly
too. Mutated spiders in one bunker we visit can
only be killed by direct light, and keeping yourtorch powered while listening
for the scuttle of their tiny,
pincery feet in the gloom is
ridiculously tense.TRAVEL AND STRIFE
It also means the slow, almost
poetic moments aboard the
Aurora become an oasis of
calm; a chance to explore the
narrative and world without
the stress of repelling a hungry,
oversized mutant ‘Tsar fish’
worshipped as a god.
Life on the locomotive may
be the link between the game’s
new open world hubs but it’s
more than a McGuffin just
employed to shuffle you from
one themed area to the next.
Walking the corridors of this
train, your train, and dropping
into conversations to learn
more about your companions
or picking up a guitar and
playing some classic rock,
evokes the feel of a walking
simulator. It looks as if 4A
Games has actually found a new
genre to exploit.Although in the wilds you
can glimpse snippets of the
world via found notes and
cassette tapes, it’s not until
you’re sat at Artyom’s desk
reading his diary, tuning into
the radio, or listening to his
wife, Anna, pour her heart out
while cuddled against a warm
sunset that the game’s lore
really lands. And there’s a lot of
world-building in here; Metro
Exodus has more lore than
Judge Rinder.
That’s not to say each new
open world map isn’t layered
in narrative, because these
places are awash with stories
to uncover if you have the
time to hunt them out and
soak in the world around you.
But ultimately these new areas
are places to express yourself.
Some are large and need a
bouncy buggy to drive around,
others, such as a moonlit valley
that’s home to a lost summer
camp of somewhat killy Young
Pioneers, are more focused. Still
broad enough to offer multiple“THE POETIC MOMENTS
ABOARD THE AURORA
BECOME AN OASIS OF CALM.”
Right Use your
head in combat.
Some levels can
be weaponised,
such as these
flammable gas
geysers.The Humanimals play
dead till you’re on top
of them. Sneaky!Left Keep your
torch powered
and your lighter
at the ready
when going
underground.