#EGX2018 Hands-On: Metro Exodus Preview
Ever since playing Metro 2033 on the PlayStation 3 via a Love Film rental, I was hooked into its universe based upon the novels from Dmitry Glukhovsky. A unique post-apocalyptic world located within the motherland of Russia. Dangers so severe, that those humans who survived were forced to hideaway beneath the Metro stations undergrounds from the mutated monsters that lurked upon the surface, and that’s not even taken into the account the deadly toxic levels, and the human bandits that would kill you for loot! The sequel that followed, Metro: Last Light was equally as immersive that expanded upon the original game, before both were remastered for the new generation in the Metro Redux Collection. So in 2019, the long-awaited third instalment is to arrive with Metro Exodus.
The third title promises a larger, semi-open world with even more freedom then before and new deadly creatures to encounter. While I never got to explore its open-world during the EGX demo, I was able to get a glimpse of its surface courtesy of an abandoned village filled with relics of those that lived there before the war. However, I was to soon find out that this village wasn’t as abandoned as I thought, because I was warned or should I say threatened with my life to stay away by a group of bandits. So I reacted in the only way I knew how, to put an arrow in the bandits head, obviously.
This sparked a raging gun fight, well I say gun fight, but I was very scarce on ammo, which made the battle with the bandits all that more tense. Switching between my SMG and shotgun depending on the distance of the bandit that stood before me, I slowly attempted to pick them off one by one. As their numbers became less, I could hear the bandits talk amongst each other as they knew they were in a losing battle. As I ran out of traditional ammo, I was relying on long-distance arrow sniping with my crossbow. But when I came to the final bandit, he surrendered dropping his weapon. Now knowing how cruel humans can be in these kinds of games, I knocked the bandit out with as swift punch to the face, you know, just to be safe.
Finally I was able to leave this abandoned village, with even less ammo then I came in with, reminding me how much I needed to be careful with my resources with a series such as Metro. Yet just when I thought my battles were over with, I witnessed a group of rather large wolves (probably mutated in some way) being hunted by an incredibly larger beast. My time with the demo ended shortly after this encounter, but it left me with the feeling of dread knowing what I was to come face to face with in the full game.
Even without knowing much of the narrative in the demo, I was fully immersed with the moments that I had, and just with the burnt out buildings and relics found in the village, that alone gave you a strong indication of its harsh world. On top of the enthralling battle, Metro Exodus was also a beautiful game visually with some quite stunning shading and lighting effects. So just when I thought I couldn’t get more excited before the demo, my experience at EGX has left me wanting more as I anticipate the 2019 release.
Metro Exodus will release for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 22nd, 2019.