4 Mechanics From Exodus That Are Totally New to Metro

New Features in Metro Exodus

Open World Environments

Both of the Metro games have been quality survival shooters, sprinkled with some fantastic horror elements. Up until now, the series has been completely linear, but Metro Exodus changes that forever by introducing open world elements.

Elements is the key word here, of course, and don’t expect a massive Fallout-style world to explore. Metro Exodus essentially splits itself into a number of open world areas and linear segments. You’ll still be exploring the dark, terrifying tunnels of the Russian metro, but the story of Exodus has you journeying to the surface and seeing different locales.

Most of the game takes place in open-ended environments that give you a specific task complete or objective to get to, but lets you do that however you want. You can strike off on your own to find side-quests, scavenge for crafting materials, or take down bandit camps.

Luckily, you can use Artyom’s binoculars to get a lay of the land and mark points of interest, so you won’t just be wandering around blindly. Metro Exodus hopes to have the best of both worlds, and it’ll likely take fans a little while to get used to the game’s format, but at the end of the day, the core of the series is still there.

New Features in Metro Exodus

Detailed Crafting and Weapon Upgrading

There was minor upgrading in past Metro games, but Metro Exodus introduces a full crafting and upgrading system. Each weapon in the game can be altered and outfitted with different parts, increasing its stats and capabilities.

There are five different points you can edit on your weapons, letting you alter things like damage, accuracy, firing speed, and capacity. In order to put these upgrades on, however, you’ll need to find crafting tables scattered across various bases and abandoned buildings throughout the game.

The other part of crafting tables is keeping your weapons in working shape, as it’s the only place you can clean them. Over time, your weapons will degrade and get dirty, and certain areas, like the desert, will damage them even more. This provides another incentive for tracking down crafting tables, or making a trek back to one.

There’s another piece to all of this, of course, as you’ll also be using crafting to make valuable supplies like medkits, air filters, and ammo. With the new focus on open world environment, you’re encouraged even more to explore and find parts/supplies for crafting.

You’ll constantly need to play a balancing act about which items you want to craft, which parts you want to put on your guns, whether you want to craft ammo or medkits, and more.

New Features in Metro Exodus

Dynamic Weather and Day-Night Systems

Considering Metro 2033 and Last Light almost entirely took place underground, there was no need for any kind of day-night or weather systems. Making the change to an open world game in parts does require that, however.

These systems do much more than just change locations visually, they can actually affect gameplay and how you approach each situation. During the day, enemy groups will have more men out patrolling, meaning their numbers in the core base will be thinned out if you need to get into a firefight.

On the other hand, at night they’ll sit around campfires or sleep, making it easier to sneak in, however, mutants are more active at night so you’ll have that as an added danger.

Weather also affects your options for stealth and combat. For example, a thunderstorm will muffle the sounds of your footsteps and rain will reduce your range of vision.

Because of all this, you might need to change your strategy on the fly to account for whatever weather system might roll in.

New Features in Metro Exodus

Changing Seasons and an Original Story

Leapfrogging off the dynamic weather system, the story of Metro Exodus will take you through an entire year of Artyom’s life, and with that, all four seasons. The story in Metro Exodus is entirely original, a first for the series actually.

Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light were both based off of their respective books, and took place during the events of the books as well. Exodus, on the other hand, is set after the entire book series, and while it uses elements of Metro 2035, it’s an original story crafted by 4A Games, picking up from where 2035 left off.

As Artyom and the Rangers travel on the Aurora, time will pass and bring on different seasons. Winter presents huge snow drifts to wade through, making it more difficult to move, while summer takes you to an arid desert-like area.

On top of simply changing visually, each season will bring new enemies and threats to contend with as well. It’s yet another step 4A has taken to make this the most diverse Metro game to date.

For even more on Metro Exodus, check out the game’s making of video series, or the gorgeous cinematic trailer detailing Artyom’s Nightmare.