Metro Exodus (2019) (PC) (4A Games)
0In the grand tradition of Russian apocalypse simulators, I've always been more of a STALKER than a Metro fan. I found the stealth mechanics of Metro 2033 and Last Light to be needlessly obscure and the shooting largely unsatisfying. The exploration of linear cramped environments was also rather dull, and the writing appeared to be either bad or lost in translation - or both.
With Metro Exodus, 4A Games continues its crusade against the FPS mainstream with another grim-faced Eastern European epic. Apart from its purely technical achievements (the game looks impressive and supports both raytracing and DLSS features), I'm particularly interested in exploring how the somewhat open-ended new approach to level design changes the overall gameplay experience. The first few combat and stealth sections were about as finicky and infuriating as I remember from the earlier games, but getting to traverse the gloomy Russian countryside definitely sounds more interesting than the endless underground corridors of earlier installments in the series.