In a time of toxicity and falsity, how far are you willing to go for blue skies and fresh air? To find out, man up and play as Artyom, the laconic Russian hero who refuses to talk to anyone but himself as his own loading screen narrator.

Artyom doesn’t get enough credit for it, but I think he’s one of the scariest people in gaming. Think about this man: a grizzled Muscovite whose only exchange with other human beings involves gunfire, body language, and blood transfusions; often takes time, even during firefights, to pencil in a perspicacious journal entry; has the cajones to laser-guide tactical warheads into downtown Moscow after the city endured twenty years of nuclear winter; got paid for it all in the only currencies that matter to him, military grade bullets and intramuscular morphine. You do NOT mess with that man!

Arty’s pursuit of truth drives his loved ones nearly mad. His enemies: equally so. I totally relate. After thoroughly pissing off both those parties during the prologue mission, it is high time for him to leave his life of Geiger counters, vodka shots, and cigarettes in the metro under Moscow behind for a life of cigarettes, vodka shots, and Geiger counters on the railways of Mother Russia. Ladies and gents! I am proud to recommend to you a worthy entry in a marvelous franchise: Metro Exodus!

MEx picks up where Interview With The Vampire leaves off. A bled white Artyom gets a Type AB top-up on an intravenous drip after a near-fatal excursion in daylight while his woman winds herself tight with worriment. Colonel Miller, concerned father of concerned wife Anna and the top brass in the metro’s militant Spartan corps, drops in for a little Good Nurse/Bad Nurse interrogation over what they both view as Artyom’s death wish. A will to die is likely harboured by many a downtrodden metro dweller, but death is unfairly assigned as the ultimate aftermath of Artyom’s ambitions of finding life outside Moscow. Come on, Dad! Your son-in-law just wants to live! Rather than the use of words to convince deaf ears, Artyom instead relies on action to achieve his aspirations. And quadruple barrel shotguns. Show, don’t tell, but the Mother Russia Way.

As Arty quests to live hard or die trying, he ends up traveling toward a future beyond dark tunnels for his crew that is worth fighting for and, as some of his compatriots come to realize, worth dying for as well. Who dies? No spoilers; my fingertips are, um, sealed! I will say that the Grim Reaper’s shopping list changes if you play the game naughty or nice, thanks to the ingame karma system. Oh, and you will cry. It’s okay, Spartans: permission to cry granted! This story will overpower all but the most aloof.

MEx, like the rest of the franchise, is story driven with minor RPG elements that are centered on guns and whether or not you shoot people with them. You incrementally boost stats of weapons and equipment via scavenging and exploration. The level your character is known by the consecutive number of projectiles your boomstick can feed its breech before click-click-no-boom. There are only two character builds: Stealth Mode Humanitarian and Safety’s Off Kalashnikov. Also, you change between these roles at a whim, depending on how your coworkers treated you at work today.

The plot is the defining feature of MEx. The characters are an important part of it and an interesting aspect of them is how they live up to their names. They generally fall into one of two groups: either exemplifying the etymology of their name, or the opposite of it.

Alyosha: “lady killer,” and he does end up sweet talking his way into the heart of one of MEx’s beauties; Tokarev: “peacemaker,” the talented gunsmith… yeah that works; Krest means “traveller” and helps the crew obtain and/or maintain all of the vehicles used in the game; Damir: “iron,” a good name for one of the heaviest Spartans; Anna means “grace,” a definite match; Katya: a very fitting “pure”; Nastya, the name of Katya’s young daughter, means “resurrection” and the burden of her generation is indeed the revival of surface dwelling civilization; Artyom means “dedicated to Artemis” the Greek goddess of the hunt and, if not already, should be the patroness of the post-apocalyptic frontiersmen known as stalkers; Sam: the quintessential American uncle; the train, Aurora, is indeed their light guiding them through the darkness of a fallen world.

Alternately: Stepan means “crown,” and he’s big hearted but is the opposite of kingly material, and the first man on the DL due to health issues; Yermak: “warrior” but would rather watch effetely from the shadows as Artyom chokes out the Hansa bullies who tormented him than take physical action himself; Igor “Duke” Dukov: “high warrior” and he is a capable fighter, but his tough talk doesn’t align with his soft heart and would rather follow than lead; Idiot is in fact the leading intellectual of the Spartans.
Col. “Miller” Melnikov, oddly, falls into both categories; perhaps appropriate as his is the one character who displays growth. Melnikov means “one who mills grain” and although he is no peasant and proves himself throughout the franchise as a fierce warrior chief, his simplicity of thought causes him to lose sight of the bigger picture beyond adhering to the chain of command, a flaw that blinds him to broader truths and places the Spartans in their deadliest danger. This trait is fully redeemed by game’s end.

The levels have distinct characteristics about them as well.

The tutorial mission is fast paced to the point of incoherence. Arty and Anna take a picnic at the penthouse in Trump Tower Moscow. Anna, like my IRL wife, explains household responsibilities, such as changing my diaper after a flying demon rat whooshes by. Then a blizzard hits. Then we see a chugging surface train. Then I get my ass kicked by a jeepney driver who is about 8000km out of place. Awaken from that beating to learn from the passengers of settlements of people alive and well outside Moscow. Then the jeepney driver kills everyone and steals my wife—which may be an authentic jeepney experience for all I know. Against all odds, I crawl out of The Valley of the Shadow of Death and find the depot where the soon to be ganked Aurora is berthed and Anna is held captive. A very weak man, Yermak, watches as Anna and I dispatch dozens of his despised acquaintances and expose the Hansa for the greedy power-hungry cheats that they are, then meets us at the train. Miller’s Spartans drop in unexpectedly like HALO-jumping Delta Force operatives to rescue me from the last couples dudes whom I can’t kill myself for some reason. Then high-velocity diplomacy with Thomas the Tank Engine fails and Rev. Awdry would be quite cross at the outcome. Yeah it’s clunky. Too much plot progression squeezed in one mission. Things improve from there thankfully.

Volga grants that open world aspect advertised in the marketing. I don’t know who is worse among the inhabitants: the Amish-wannabe River Monsters fanatics, or the bandits who shoot on sight. Neither survive Artyom unscathed.

Yamantau is emotionally charged and has some of the best firefights and nail biting moments in MEx. You want the people there to die. Trust me.

Caspian explores the sorrows of Stockholm syndrome and the dark unity between slave and enslaver. I met the real Baron in an easter egg and I sorta get the guy. I don’t like him and don’t envy him, but I understand where he is coming from. I even think he will trounce Guil the way he plans to.

Taiga examines the original political divide: farmer v. raider. Be warned, there’s a bear who gets really angry in rectangular spaces.

Dead City is perhaps the best level in the whole franchise and a salute to the strong roots of the series.
Metro Exodus: Highly recommended. Must play for Metro fans.

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