Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: 4A Games
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release Date: February 15, 2019
Metro Exodus is a first person shooter developed by 4A Games. It serves as a director sequel to Metro: Last Light, and is the third instalment in the Metro series of games, which is based on the novels written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky.
Development
Development on Metro Exodus started in 2014 at 4A Games, shortly after the launch of Metro: Last Light. The game was officially unveiled at Microsoft’s E3 press event in 2017. Originally scheduled for a Fall 2018 launch, the game was delayed in May 2018 for a release on February 22, 2019. Eventually, once development on the title had wrapped up, publishers Deep Silver moved up the launch date by a week, announcing February 15, 2019 as the final release date.
The developers have stated on multiple occasions that Metro Exodus is a much larger project in scope and scale than any other previous Metro game. For instance, it was confirmed that the demo of the game that was playable at E3 2018 had a playable area that was 20 times larger than the largest level in Metro Last Light. Exodus is also more ambitious than its predecessors in terms of its story- its script is longer than both Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light put together.
The developers have also taken steps to make technological advancements with Metro Exodus, stating that they plan to use the full powers of the Xbox One X (though there will not be any content in the game that is exclusive to any single version), while also confirming that the game’s PC version will use Ray Tracing, Nvidia Hairworks, and Advanced PhysX. The PC version of the game will also use Denuvo’s anti-tampering DRM software.
Story
Metro Exodus follows from the Redemption ending of Last Light, taking place two years after it in the year 2036. The world reels from a post-nuclear apocalyptic winter while survivors struggle to get by in the underground metro systems, like in the previous games. Artyom returns once again as the protagonist, while Anna is another recurring characters, the two of them now being married to each other.
Unlike the previous entries in the series, Exodus does not take place primarily in the underground, with Artyom, Anna, and a group of Spartan Rangers flee from Moscow to head east in order to look for more hospitable environments where they can live their lives in relative peace. They journey across the continent aboard the train known as Aurora. The story of Metro Exodus will span an entire year, and will see the main characters surviving through four different seasons, starting with winter in the beginning of the game.
Gameplay
While past Metro games have been defined by claustrophobic and linear level design, Metro Exodus features much more open ended design. Each of the game’s levels will instead take place in large, open-ended sandbox areas that, according to the developers, can each take several hours of “critical path” gameplay to get through. That said, progression in the game will still be linear, and once players progress past a level, they won’t be able to go back to it.
As per the developers, the game’s open environments are completely open to exploration, but do not offer traditional side quests or fetch quests or other such busywork, so as to keep the game focused on the narrative, and not lose its tight storytelling focus that was part of the previous games. There are no waypoints, and whether or not players want to explore is left to the players themselves. While exploring, players can find better gear, resources, and equipment that they can use to buff up their arsenal and inventory. As such, according to 4A Games, though Metro Exodus features large, sandbox levels, they made the decision not to make it an open world title.
The game also introduces several other features, such as day and night cycles and dynamic weather systems, which can change things such as visibility, and have an impact on other factors that influence the way players approach objectives. As the story progresses over the course of the years, players will also experience changes in the seasons, which will lead to the environments changing as well. While there are larger, sandbox levels in the game, there will be linear levels as well, which will be more similar to previous entries in the series.
A huge focus of the game will also be on scavenging resources from the environments in order to facilitate survival, which will also impact weapons customization, which has been emphasized greatly in Metro Exodus. While previously in Metro games players could only customize their weapons at trading posts, in Exodus, customization is a much more central mechanic. Players can customize their weapons on the fly, by using parts that they might have scavenged from the environment, or by stripping guns for parts, or by combining attachments to guns already in their arsenal to turn them into different kinds of weapons. Players will also have access to limited resources, from health replenishing items, to ammunition, to parts that they might need to repair or customize their weapons or equipment. These have to be gathered by exploring the environments.
The Aurora, the train that Artyom and his companions use to traverse across Russia throughout the course of the game, will serve as a hub environment for players between missions. Though the train will begin the game as only an engine, throughout the course of the game, players will add more carriages to it. Characters players meet in the game can be recruited to join their party aboard the train, and players can witness or engage in conversations with these characters by returning to the train, similar to settlements in previous Metro games.
There will be several different kinds of enemies that players will be encountering throughout the game, in terms of humans, mutants, and animals. Human enemies will belong to several different factions, which will be introduced across different seasons in the story. The Hanza faction will be introduced in the beginning of the game during Winter, as the dominant faction on the surface. The Fanatics and the Bandits are two more factions that will be introduced in Spring. The faction that will emerge in Summer will be the Children of the Forest, a group of young children who live in the woods, and do not take kindly to those encroaching on their territory.
Animals such as wolves and bears will also be featured as enemies. Mutated humans and animals will also make appearances, including the likes of Watchers, the winged Demons, and the mutated aquatic creatures Shrimps.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.
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