First time out of the Metro: Metro Exodus video game review as a noob

As a newcomer to the “Metro” game franchise, I tackled “Metro Exodus” to see how I would fare in post-apocalyptic Moscow.

What a hell of a year so far for video games. First Resident Evil 2, then Metro Exodus, World War Z, Mortal Kombat 11 and Days Gone and so many more. There are not enough hours in the day to be able to sit and play all of the games that I want to play and yet somehow it gets done.

This review took me a while because I had never played a Metro game before and stopped part way into Metro Exodus to watch gameplay of past games and get an idea of what was in store for me and for a little background. As a Metro noob, I had to ask myself how player friendly this game is for someone who has never played it before?

I love post-apocalyptic stories. With our current world always on the brink of war or extinction by our own hand, stories like Metro are that much scarier. The Metro game series is based on the books by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

All the games were developed by 4A Games and the titles include Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, Metro 2033 Redux, Metro: Last Light Redux, and the most recent release was my first foray into the Metro world, Metro Exodus.

More from Video Games

• Five Nights at Freddy’s is a real scream for fans
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game garners bloody good reviews
• Top three upcoming horror video games for 2023
• Nightmarish new trailer drops for Five Nights at Freddy’s movie
• Spooky thrills abound in Five Nights at Freddy’s movie trailer

Metro Exodus finds our protagonist, Artyom (who has been the protagonist throughout the entire series), still wanting to find more outside of the Moscow metro but the land is ravaged by nuclear fallout and mutated creatures that survived the radiation. When signs of life appear to Artyom, it becomes clear that he must leave the metro and brave the creatures and humans that are out to kill him in search of a new start.

As far as being a noob playing Metro Exodus, the controls have a big learning curve. It took me two hours into the game before I felt moderately comfortable enough to not keep dying all the time. The mapping leaves a little something to be desired but I’m kind of spoiled on my maps with games like Days Gone, Dying Light etc.

I’ll be honest, I struggled with this game. It took me a very long time to really get into it. The story is solid and the graphics are decent, especially the environmental ones. It is a pretty game, I just had trouble with it and I think it was just the gameplay mechanics that killed it for me.

Image courtesy of 4A Games/Deep Silver

There are two endings to this game: the good ending and the bad ending. It all depends on knocking out or killing the people you encounter. Well, I was screwed from the get-go because I didn’t know how the story would be impacted. When they say a bad ending, they sure as hell meant it.

It was totally unsatisfying and I guess I should have just been handing out concussions like candy at Halloween. I have experienced both endings at this point and I will say the concussions are worth it, albeit not as fun.

All in all, as someone who hasn’t experienced the Metro mechanics, gameplay or story in the past, Metro Exodus was a pretty good game but not my favorite. That may be more personal choice than anything, but a lot of people like this installment.

This action game had enough horror elements to keep me pulled in, but I had to take many breaks. It’s challenging and confusing at times, but definitely worth at least one play through. I’d give it a 7/10.

Have you played Metro Exodus yet? Let us know in the comments.