Metro Exodus Complete Edition

Metro Exodus Complete Edition is a version of the post-apocalyptic shooter built directly for the new consoles, and in many ways it's a textbook modernization. Artyom ventures out of the Moscow metro for the first time, into the contaminated land, and together with the crew of the steam locomotive Aurora travels across Russia over the course of a year. The structure alternates tight corridor chapters with sprawling semi-open areas, where you choose the order of objectives yourself, search for supplies, and decide whether to shoot your way through an enemy camp or slip past it.

The gameplay is uncompromisingly survival-focused. Ammunition is crafted from scavenged parts right in your backpack, gas mask filters have a limited lifespan, the mask cracks and gets dirty, the flashlight recharges with a hand dynamo, and weapons foul up until you clean and reassemble them at a workbench. The pace is governed by the day cycle and weather — night favors stealth but wakes more dangerous creatures. The game also quietly remembers how you treat people and changes the ending accordingly, without ever offering an explicit choice. On PlayStation 5 it gained full ray-traced global illumination, a sharper image, and smooth performance, making the exits from the tunnels into daylight feel exceptionally powerful. The package includes both story expansions, The Two Colonels and Sam's Story.

The atmosphere draws on Dmitry Glukhovsky's original novel and combines hopelessness with a strange nostalgia; the music is restrained, and the space is filled with wind, the crackle of a Geiger counter, and the voices of fellow travelers on the train. Reception was very positive, and the enhanced version is often cited as one of the first titles to fully showcase the possibilities of ray tracing on consoles. Today it ranks among the most atmospheric shooters you can play on PlayStation 5. The campaign runs about fifteen hours, considerably more with the expansions, and rewards slow, careful play — anyone who rushes ahead misses most of what's best, since a substantial part of the story unfolds in conversations by the fire and in small details scattered throughout the train cars.