Basically what I expected, in a good way. I had a great time. If you've played Last Light or 2033 Redux, this should be right up your alley.

Despite the open element, not much has changed. The core gameplay (stealth, gunplay) feels almost the same. You still have walking-simulator sections where you walk around and listen to people talk. Even the controls are almost identical. Going from the metro tunnels of Moscow to a desert or a dense forest may seems like a dramatic change but they've made it work and it doesn't feel out of place. Exploration feels organic and the maps are not overly cluttered with pointless objectives and side-missions. It's a bit like The Walking Dead now only the apocalyptic event is a nuclear war and it takes place in Soviet Russia. And there are still many indoor areas which feel like classic Metro. The crafting system is pretty basic and doesn't get in the way. The weapon-mod system is an evolution of what was already there in Last Light. They just let you do a lot of things on the fly now.

The plot is fine. For me it was always more about the overall vibe and atmosphere in these game, rather than the story. The mute protagonist thing never worked and still doesn't. They wrapped up the Dark Ones arc in Last Light and they don't make a comeback. You still get visions every now and again, but it's very sporadic and without the supernatural element in the plot, it felt a bit out of place to me. It's strongly suggested that it's the radiation that causes the visions, rather than any special senses that Artyom has. Regardless, I'd say it's a fitting finale.

Both DLCs are very much worth playing. The Two Colonels is pretty short – about 2 – 4h. It's a linear experience, more akin to the previous Metro titles. Sam's Story is more substantial at 6 – 10h and it's also more open like the main campaign of Exodus. I'd say it's long enough to be a standalone game. Both DLCs add to the main story. I'd even argue that Sam's Story is actually more engaging story-wise simply because the main character actually talks.

I'd definitely go back to this game when I get my hands on an RTX GPU eventually.

"Metro Exodus", like the series as a whole, frustrates me to no end. Parts of it are truly amazing (like the Volga, Yamantau, Dead City and Interlude chapters); but it fluctuates in quality, and as the game goes on, the cracks in level design and writing start becoming very noticable. The main problem it comes down to is a lack of polish: it is no doubt a step up from previous games, but it's still not quite there. Often, dialogue that is meant to feel snappy ends up being awkward, and moments that are meant to be immersive fall apart because of inconsistent mechanics.
I don't need every game to be polished to perfection, but a game that is going for this level of immersion desperately needs it. If "Exodus" had that, this would be a 10/10 for me. As it is, the game is solid, but it's also lesser than the sum of its great parts, and that...is a real shame.

"There is only Metro, nothing else!"

Maratonei a saga de FPS que acabou se tornando uma das minhas favoritas ao lado do Bioshock.

O Exodus foi um salto maravilhoso pra completar a trilogia. A ambientação única que já vinha dos outros jogos segue sendo destaque, agora mostrando a superfície em estações diferentes com cenários pós apocalíptico lindos. Gostei mto da adição das áreas abertas pra explorar, juntamente aos detalhes de mecânicas adicionados como a backpack para crafting, enriqueceram mto mais a exploração.
Pra melhorar, temos uma belíssima história de amor...

É, METRO é de tirar o fôlego!

The first time I played through Metro Exodus I didn't think all that much of it, but after playing it again I'm happy to say it finally clicked for me why this game is so beloved. Sure, it can be a little janky, the facial animations are stiff and puppet-like, some of the voice acting is not the greatest, none of the characters are fleshed-out enough for you to care about them (with the exception of both DLCs), and the design of the boss battles is sub-par, but damn if this game isn't immersive as hell despite of all of those things. I loved the atmosphere, the world itself, the sectional-but-still-open design of the game, and I especially loved the DLCs (Sam > Artyom)! Some of the moments in this game were spectacular, such as fighting your way tooth and nail through cannibals, encountering the spiders in the desert for the first time, or sneaking past the nightmare-inducing librarians in the final level. I can genuinely say that after playing through this game again I cannot wait for the next entry in this series given how much fun I had playing this one despite its flaws.

Eu amo essa estrutura de jogo, os mapas abertos com limitações, o design um pouco confuso, mas que de alguma forma funciona, a imersão do jogo, com menus quase sempre diegéticos e ações burocráticas que precisam ser feitas regularmente como troca de filtro, ou usar o gerador para recarregar sua lanterna, tudo isso colabora pra uma das experiências mais imersivas que já tive em jogos.

Eu não sei se a franquia Metro volta, ainda mais na bagunça que a Embracer fez com os estúdios que comprou, mas espero que sim, é o tipo de jogo que faz falta na indústria.

Um eurojunk de 2019 que impressiona com seus visuais até hoje, brinquei demais no modo câmera. Mas tenho que citar também os muitos bugs que atrapalharam não só a imersão, mas me fizeram resetar o save várias e várias vezes. Não deu pra dar 10/10 por causa disso. É de longe o mais bugado da franquia, mas também é o maior, com mais ideias e melhor em tudo!

Apesar dos escorregões, Metro Exodus está à frente de qualquer FPS Triple A. Fecha a trilogia com maestria, com uma excelente história, cheia de personagens cativantes e se tornando um marco na história dos games (pelo menos pra mim).

All of my Metro reviews are going to be a copy and paste.
My journey with Metro: My first Metro game last night on PC then it was Metro Redux on the Nintendo Switch and lastly Metro Exodus on PC. If i had to pick a favorite i would choose last night.

Its been interesting to see how each game evolved with the times in terms of game - play but as far as the story it never really interested me all that much its nor bad or good just average its an alright experience and non of the games for me were better then the last one.

There all average games for me.

The game takes what made Metro games great and makes it even greater but fails to add new stuff to the formula.
I really disliked the open world parts because I'm quite worn out of them always being the same and feeling like something the game would have benefited from NOT being in the game. But well there it is so I'll just have to bear with it. To be a little more honest, there are some parts I liked about the OW, like the fact you have to actually take out the map from your pocket and not just open an overlay that will pause the game. Also in Volga they made me want to do the side objectives by making the characters actually giving me a good reason to accomplish them like finding Nastia's teddy bear or a guitar for Stepan.
Aside of that it's impressive how the game is genuinely good when you go back to classic Metro with long corridors and cramped gunfights. This is basically what the first 2 games did good but even better thanks to the huge graphic update taking the ambiance even beyond what it was, especially with RTX on.
There are some gameplay issues like stealth is still not great and it's frustrating that you need to it to get to the good ending, Volga was easy but Taïga was horrendous. And the other major point is how floaty Artyom is, like sometimes you run in stairs and he will just start to stop being connected to the floor and you'll end up two floors down and just die.
And story-wise it's clearly the most well written one, I would have loved for every character on the Aurora to get screentime but well it's no big deal because the main characters are really good handled and that (good) ending...
So now that I'm up to date with this franchise I can highly recommend playing it just for its general ambiance and immersion.