Picking up some point after the events of Metro: Last Light, Metro: Exodus starts with Artyom, the same character you played as in the previous two games, searching for evidence of civilization beyond Metro. He finds it, but he wasn't supposed to, necessitating a hasty departure from the ruins of Moscow by Arytom, Anna the sniper (now married to Arytom), her dad (and Artyom's commander) Colonel Miller, and a small squad of the other "Spartans." They were called "Rangers" in the first two games, but whatever. They escape on an old train engine, and from there, the game takes you across what remains of post-nuclear holocaust Russia in the search for some peaceful, pleasant place to settle down.
Let's get this out of the way right off - Metro: Exodus has the longest load times I've ever seen in a video game. Any time you're getting ready to play, well, be prepared to sit 3-5 minutes before it loads whatever stage you happen to be in. The counter to that is, typically once a given location/stage/region loads, you won't have to deal with another load screen for the rest of that session. Unless you die. Which I did. Several times.
Which brings me to a confession, I did have to drop the difficulty level. I recovered a carriage car from a bunch of bandits, but the game glitched when I tried to pull it to the engine and the car disappeared. So I reloaded an earlier save, but kept dying trying to get through the bandits a second time. It was drop the difficulty or the game was getting hurled at the wall as hard as I could, so. . .
The basic gameplay is much the same as with Last Light. It's a first person shooter, you can only carry 3 three weapons, though you can collect others which you can swap in back on the train. There's the option to be stealthy and either kill or incapacitate enemies you encounter. You sometimes have to deal with air that's toxic to breathe, which requires you to keep an eye on how many filters you have for your gas mask (not to mention the condition of your gas mask.)
Since you aren't roaming the underground world of the Metros much, there's not merchants to buy things from. Instead, you collect mods, junk and various chemicals as you explore, which you use to craft or repair your gear as you go along. You will use the chemicals to clean your equipment, especially the guns. Otherwise they start jamming after every shot, which is really damn annoying when you're being attacked by a pack of what look like German Shepherd-sized naked mole rats.
The stages each encompass wildly different areas and people, although the people are almost uniformly hostile to outsiders. There's an anti-technology community living in the remains of a rail town along the Volga, the waters of which are patrolled by the Tsarfish (a catfish the size of a whale shark.) I was fond of the Caspian Sea level, which is mostly a desert, controlled by some doofus calling himself "The Baron." He even has a toady who starts all radio announcements with, 'The Baron is about to begin speaking!' *pause* 'The Baron is speaking!'
This led to high comedy after I freed a bunch of his slaves from a rusted-out freighter, and as I drove away in one of his crappy trucks, the Baron interrupts to toady to berate me for messing with his little fiefdom, and asking me if I felt like I was clever. Well, I certainly did after he lost his shit about it.
Each stage has some larger mission - usually boiling down to getting what you need to get out of there - but there are also subquests or side missions. Like attacking a rusted-out freighter to free slaves, or taking out a sniper in a bandit base that's got an eye on one of your guys. The missions are still all variations on "go here, kill these guys," and "go there, fetch that thing," but the diversity of habitats and specific threats help it feel less repetitive.
One thing the game does, before you enter each region, you spend some time on the train. As much or as little as you want. This can be time to ready your gear, but it's also a chance to hang out with the rest of the Spartans. You don't get dialogue options or anything, but you can listen in on their conversations, or if you pick up the guitar in the Volga, have a jam session with your comrades-in-arms. One of my complaints with Last Light was the game expected me to care about the other Rangers, or there being a traitor in their midst, but I didn't spend enough time with them for that.
It also gives Artyom the opportunity to just spend time with Anna. When she was introduced in Last Light, it felt tacked on. More an excuse for a poorly-done sex scene than something that develops organically and carries emotional weight. Here, the conversations they have (even though, again, Artyom never says anything) help them feel like a real couple. Anna talks about her dreams, her issues with her father, her fears about Artyom. Surprise! It helps her feel more like a real character, and in return, I actually give a shit about what happens to her. When she's in danger, I want to hurry and help her. I appreciate it when she snipes people that are trying to kill me.
Decisions you make during the game influence how things go at certain points, and ultimately which ending you get. Usually it boils down to whether you do the side missions, or special conditions in a mission. When you a hardcore lady in the Caspian helps you into a bunker to look for satellite maps showing radiation levels, do you take the time to search for an old photo of her mother? In the Taiga, can you get through the "pirate" camp without killing anyone, or will you ruin your buddy Alyosha's chance of scoring?
(There's more than that at stake, but also, not really.)
Continuing a tradition from the previous two games, I got the bad ending. Just not enough compassion in me for things to turn out better, I guess. The question is whether I want to try and play through the whole thing again for a better outcome. Overall, this may be the Metro game I enjoy most. The story and character beats are stronger than Last Light, but the gameplay's less frustrating than 2033. Yes, even before I lowered the difficulty.
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