Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus pulls the series out of the Moscow underground and up to the surface, sending players across a devastated Russia aboard a steam locomotive named Aurora. The game's structure changes with the season and the location: some chapters are narrow and claustrophobic like the earlier entries, others open up into vast regions where the player chooses the order of tasks and the timing of raids. Equipment care is essential. Weapons are cleaned and modified on the go from scavenged parts, gas mask filters run out, and the mask itself cracks and must be wiped by hand when rain or blood gets on it.

Atmosphere is the game's greatest weapon. Empty villages, a frozen harbor with a stranded ship, a desert landscape by a dried-up sea, and nights full of mutants create the feeling that the world is simply waiting for the player to stop disturbing it. On PlayStation 4 it was a technically very ambitious title that occasionally stumbled with larger open areas at launch, but the lighting and weather effects ranked among the best of the generation. The music is restrained, often giving way entirely to the sound of wind, footsteps in the snow, and breathing through the mask. Encounters with people are also more complex than before, since the game tracks how much blood the player leaves behind and reflects it in the ending of the whole journey.

Reception was very good, praising above all how the story connects with the more open structure, and the fact that the game didn't slide into the usual open-world collectible grind. Criticism was aimed at the dialogue, at a silent protagonist in a story-driven game, and at technical issues. The influence on the genre can be seen in how it showed a middle path between a linear shooter and an open world. Today it's one of the most atmospheric action games of its era, well worth playing on a higher difficulty with limited resources. The train crew deserves special mention: between chapters, players can walk through the cars, listen to conversations, and watch people gradually change, making Aurora one of the most enjoyable home bases in the whole genre.