Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus took the series out of the Moscow metro for the first time and turned it into a journey across a devastated Russia. Artyom and his companions acquire an old locomotive and set out to find a place where life might be possible again, with each stop corresponding to a season and a major setting, from the dried-up Caspian Sea to a forested taiga. The game thus alternates between vast areas where the player chooses the order of objectives themselves, and classically tight, dark sections familiar to fans from earlier entries.

Survival remains front and center. Ammunition is crafted from scavenged materials right in the backpack, gas mask filters wear out and must be watched, the mask gets dirty and cracks, and the flashlight needs recharging with a hand-cranked dynamo. Weapons are built from parts that can be swapped both at workbenches and in the field, so a single rifle can become a silent stealth weapon or a rough assault variant. The game tracks how the player treats people they don't have to harm, and changes the ending accordingly, without ever making this explicit. On Xbox One the title looks exceptionally good, largely thanks to its handling of light, weather, and day-night transitions.

The atmosphere is held together by oppressive silence, the Russian voices of companions around a campfire, and music that appears only when it's meant to mean something. Contemporary reception was very favorable, praising the atmosphere, art direction, and the boldness of opening up the series' structure, with criticism aimed at some technical bugs and stiffer character animations. The game showed that a story-driven shooter can work even in a semi-open world. Today it ranks among the strongest titles released on Xbox One. Anyone who likes games that take their time, tell stories through silence, and let the player earn the ending through their own behavior will find one of the generation's highlights here. A playthrough takes many hours, and it's well worth exploring what the main storyline doesn't require.