#postyapocalyptic

[arcticgraverobber]

I just finished: Metro Exodus!

Compared to the previous Metro games, this one sure is a whole lot different, which isn't necessarily worse - but if you liked the previous games you won't necessarily like this.

The game play is no way bad, though I didn't enjoy it as much as the other games - this is purely personal preference of course, as I enjoy Survival Horror style game play more. This one still has retains some elements of that, resource management is somewhat present, though it's more akin to a Fallout or Stalker game, instead of Resident Evil or F.E.A.R. Most of the horror themes have disappeared as well - whilst I'm not entirely sure if I would call the originals horror games, (if i need a single term I'd probably go for post-apocalyptic, the kind of thing I would think as being sterotypically Slavic) but they were certainly more so than this. Less fighting monsters, more fighting human 'survivors'. Most of the monsters you see are Zombies now, which I'm fairly sure weren't in the others, The game has a shockingly low number of mutants.

Along with horror, the sci-fi parts have also taken a hit, I almost forgot playing through this that the other games were mostly about psychic neohumans? The concept feels so at odds with the new direction they took this one. You might wonder, if it's not horror, not sci-fi, what is this new direction? Well of course it's still very much working within the Post-apocalyptic genre, focusing on disputes between various groups with differing political outlooks, as the survivors fight to stay alive - Exodus, however, focuses a lot more on that second part than the previous games, fleshing out the various characters far more and actually making me remember their names, or at least the fact they existed at all.

You have a small squad of characters that you stick with throughout the whole game, and each of them has at least something to distinguish them, even if it's fairly small (I'm pretty sure there's the staple one guy who likes food). I did find myself somewhat caring about them as the game went on, which is a huge change from the previous games where every character felt throwaway - I suppose part of this is a shift of the protagonist - Artyom's - perspective, previously no one in his life lasted long enough to get attached to, everyone almost immediately died or betrayed him -but now he has attained a stable social group, and a family. Speaking of which, Anna is the biggest change for the better, like many other games, now she and Arytom are married she has moved on from being the destined love interest, and she is allowed to be more of character in her own right.

It might seem odd that I haven't talked about the shooting or anything in what is primarily an FPS, but the characters storytelling was what really stood out to me in this game. Yes, it is fun to modify your guns to suit your play style and sneak around quietly shooting everyone - the Tikhar (air gun) is particularly cool in this one, and is given a lot of attention - but the how much the story moved me was kind of a shock. I'm not sure if other's will agree - I can see how people would just see it as stiff, or maybe tropey, but it hit me in a way I can't quite explain. - I actually almost cried at the end, even though it didn't come as any surprise.

Grade: B

Significance: 2/3