“Metro Exodus” is a fresh take on an old series; it transitions from the Moscow Metro systems that defined the old games and into the legendary Russian Hinterlands. While the game leaves many of its supernatural encounters in its past, it shines in its new, open world concepts. In an artistic style and gameplay execution, Exodus features Romanticism art in a post-apocalyptic world. This game with, its slower pace and lack of overt direction, leaves you in this beautiful open world and exposed to the elements.

The game pushes the player to feel that the character is truly in this post-apocalyptic world. The physical body is pushed to its limits by fighting the various elements of weather and radiation and navigating a broken landscape in a mad struggle for survival. You will not feel like a floating character that can do anything or move anywhere; the character has real limitations that you have to keep in mind. Seeing many diverse mutants and the ruins of a mighty civilization, the sense of vulnerability and somberness weighs heavy on you. If you take the time and explore the many landscapes, you will find various characters and unmarked, untracked quests that lead you to fully experience the game.

Metro Exodus does disappoint in some areas, however. The stability of the game isn’t stellar. In my 15 hours with the game, I experienced multiple crashes and freezes. Stability has been a popular topic and I am sure the first patch from 4A Games, the video game developer, will address the issue. Interacting with the environment can also be frustrating; jumping and other aspects of terrain navigation can be clumsy and uncoordinated. The “open world” elements, although beautiful, can feel linear at times. You can feel yourself being pulled in a certain direction by the designers. The first 40 minutes of the game are painfully linear, but it does open up after that, so stay with it!

The game brings a delightful change of pace to the first-person shooter genre. Slowing down the game lets you take in all the different details of the world that most video games would simply skip over. The game has a wonderful story arc of redemption and marriage. The main character is in a committed relationship; the affection between them is heartwarming. Rarely, and especially in FPS games, do we see such a positive view and example of marriage. Selfless love is a strong and powerful theme for the game, and the overall series.

Metro Exodus has a “Manifest Destiny” vibe to it as well, a divine mission to cross this land to an end goal that promises to be better then the old one. The train, which is central to the plot, is a mighty symbol of hope and providence crossing the desolate wasteland on a preordained mission of hope and prosperity. The crafting system that utilizes a mobile workbench as a backpack is quick to pick up and easy to use in the field while you are exploring. This makes on the fly adjustments to your playstyle smooth and quick.

The game’s artistic style and slower pace flow makes for a great, captivating and rewarding experience. 4A Games truly utilizes the 4K ability of the Xbox One and presents you with breathtaking visuals. Hope and love are overtly present in the game and speak to the good of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world that seems so absent in both. The stability issues and terrain navigation faults bring the game down and will take you out of the experience. I’m eagerly awaiting a patch to resolve these “easy-to-fix” issues that will make the game smoother.

If you’re new to the series, this will be a great gateway into other games in this series and hopefully inspires you to play the whole series. This game will be a great addition to any gamer’s library.

Peer Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars