Metro Exodus is really disappointing

[stroopwafel]

The 3 separate hub sections were a mistake. In their favor they weren't stuffed with the usual map markers and icons but it diluted what made the previous games so great; the claustrophobic atmosphere of the metro and the hostile, radiation-ridden world above. The game begins actually quite good, sure it's basically one scripted setpiece but it does feel like a Metro game. The world feels properly destroyed by nuclear weapons in a way the Fallout games never did. Even the first hub world has that trademark open area snow level, and I can see how this concept could have worked if they didn't relocate and combine it with the linear Metro sections.

What they did now is create 3 different maps that have very little consistency even introducing different factions and thematic elements. The second map now feels like a poor man's Mad Max game(or Rage though I never played that title) and the third map feels like a weaker Far Cry, including taking away your weapons to introduce the bow. There are only 3 scripted levels in the beginning, middle and end that are properly Metro but this experience is severely diminished by the lack of consistency or proper build-up.

Metro games were always full of jank but they could get away with this thanks to the focus on atmosphere and properly immersing the player through this guided tour of the post-apocalyptic Moscow metro tunnel. That immersion is now gone and the poor gunplay and janky animations subsequently stand out like a sore thumb.

Really disappointed in this game. Espescially since Last Light was so awesome at the time.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

I'm not treating this as a Metro game when I finally get round to playing it. More like STALKER 1.5 till STALKER 2 comes around. To me the Metro series is like a spin-off almost. Like if STALKER was set entirely in the underground labs so as to focus exclusively on the story.

From the start it felt like the semi-open world would screw up the story because open maps ruin any sense of tension or urgency. "Quick Artyom, we need to rescue that guy we don't have much time!" Then Artyom spends 3 hours exploring ruins and farting about with crafting menus. That kind of thing. Even in the first to Metro games exploratory sections above ground were basically on a time limit due to the gas mask filters being limited so careful distribution of them still keeps the pacing up as much as the designers needed it to.

I will say when I saw the Caspian stage I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. Desert settings are almost as bad as sewers.

Anyway, I don't plan on playing for a while. I only just downloaded STALKER: Anomoly

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I haven't played the game, so take this with a grain of salt: But I lost all interest in Exodus the moment they revealed it would be taking place outside of the Metro. What always appealed to me about the Metro-series, both books and games, was that it was essentially a sci-fi take on Muscovite folklore about the Moscow metro, with a post-apoc setting to justify people living in the metro and monsters being more common. A game that moves away from the really cool part of the Metro premise in favor of a more generic post-apoc wasteland full of scavengers is not something I am interested in, not even as a STALKER fan.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Is it true what Yahtzee said in his review? That the central premise of only Moscow survived was abandoned and the rest of the world just decided it was really funny not to let Moscow know everyone else was fine?

 

[Erttheking]

Is it true what Yahtzee said in his review? That the central premise of only Moscow survived was abandoned and the rest of the world just decided it was really funny not to let Moscow know everyone else was fine?

I would like to point out that the premise was never only that Moscow survived. It was that Moscow didn't know if anyone else had survived. Last Light has a Ranger talking about how he heard someone on the radio on how their fortress was being besieged by barbarians and that someone had sighted a plane, but the others write him off.

Also from what I can tell without playing it, the status of the world outside of Russia is left as a giant question mark. Someone claims that there's more stable civilization out there, but the person in question is a confirmed liar. We only see Russia, and Russia is very much post-apocalyptic, so everyone was too busy dealing with their own shit to check up on Russia to see if there even were survivors in the first place.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Im currently playing it. and its excellent game although story so far is worse than 2033 and last light and has even longer cut scene.

Im glad there are developers like 4A games who make lenghty SP FPS.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

More like STALKER 1.5 till STALKER 2 comes around.

STALKER never interrupt gameplay to show cutscene everytime. this is far from STALKER.

althought Metro is different breed. but its not fair to compare either two.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am just curious if we ever get to see STALKER 2 because I haven't heard anything about it since they confirmed its in development last year.

But as for Metro Exodus, I ain't touching it until its on either Steam or GOG.com

Not touching Epic Store.

 

[Zeraki]

Not touching Epic Store.

That's a good call.

I downloaded the client just to check it out and get the free games and I honestly can't believe how bare bones it is.

Also I accidentally missed a letter in my email address when signing up and it actually accepted an email address that ended with @gmai.com. I had to go through their customer support over the course of a week to get it straightened out.

 

[Elfgore]

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

Pity to see it kinda getting meh reviews from the fans though. Especially since most of them liked Last Light and I didn't. Sure this means good things for my opinions on Exodus.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Im currently playing it.

I bet you are.

So why did you wait so long? Why not make a topic about it sooner?

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

Pity to see it kinda getting meh reviews from the fans though. Especially since most of them liked Last Light and I didn't. Sure this means good things for my opinions on Exodus.

I got the first Metro game for free as part of a giveaway or something. It was boring as shit. I didn't even bother with the second one.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

How are games even purchases if they aren't worth your time to play?

I never got the whole such and such game is only worth $20 to buy (unless it has to do with being short) because it seems like if you really think you're going to like it, what does price really matter, because games are bigger time commitments than money commitments. It seems like you should just play something else instead at that point.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I'm not treating this as a Metro game when I finally get round to playing it. More like STALKER 1.5 till STALKER 2 comes around. To me the Metro series is like a spin-off almost. Like if STALKER was set entirely in the underground labs so as to focus exclusively on the story.

From the start it felt like the semi-open world would screw up the story because open maps ruin any sense of tension or urgency. "Quick Artyom, we need to rescue that guy we don't have much time!" Then Artyom spends 3 hours exploring ruins and farting about with crafting menus. That kind of thing. Even in the first to Metro games exploratory sections above ground were basically on a time limit due to the gas mask filters being limited so careful distribution of them still keeps the pacing up as much as the designers needed it to.

I will say when I saw the Caspian stage I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. Desert settings are almost as bad as sewers.

Anyway, I don't plan on playing for a while. I only just downloaded STALKER: Anomoly

I still regularly play Call of Chernobyl super-mod (warfare and weapons packs naturally) and honestly I found it more enjoyable than Metro Exodus. The fact that I don't feel like I'm playing a person with chronic asthma and actually have a decent range of movement and agility like a fit person should.

 

[stroopwafel]

I haven't played the game, so take this with a grain of salt: But I lost all interest in Exodus the moment they revealed it would be taking place outside of the Metro. What always appealed to me about the Metro-series, both books and games, was that it was essentially a sci-fi take on Muscovite folklore about the Moscow metro, with a post-apoc setting to justify people living in the metro and monsters being more common. A game that moves away from the really cool part of the Metro premise in favor of a more generic post-apoc wasteland full of scavengers is not something I am interested in, not even as a STALKER fan.

The first hub world in the game kinda worked as it was more or less an extrapolation of the snow levels in the previous games and it did still have that similair atmosphere. But take Metro out of the..well metro and snow and into the desert and spring forest and the game starts to resemble more of a cheap knock-off of far better games. Metro was always a heavily scripted linear game where even the relative open area snow levels were really oppressive due to the radiation and having to always watch your airfilters. Even outside you tried to make it back to the dark metro tunnels as fast as possible because of this. Metro Exodus does alway with all this and only seem to use radiation now as a kind of invisible wall for levels. The crafting system I kinda liked but it also sucked they got rid of the ammo vs money reward or being unable to pick up ready made airfilters. Espescially hub world 2 and 3 are really generic without trying to be generic.

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

How are games even purchases if they aren't worth your time to play?

I never got the whole such and such game is only worth $20 to buy (unless it has to do with being short) because it seems like if you really think you're going to like it, what does price really matter, because games are bigger time commitments than money commitments. It seems like you should just play something else instead at that point.

Definitely agree. It's the reason why I dropped AC Odyssey as that game seems to be made to waste your time. Way too bloated and repetitive for my taste and the whole GaaS thing probably put me off Ubisoft for good. When a game which content is already spread way too thin also introduces daily radial quests to dilute the 100+ hour grind even further it just sinks the whole thing. The game feels like it's made by a robot. AC Origins was also a big game but never had this amount of insane bloat.

Metro Exodus seems a labor of love in comparison. Like I said it's a game that doesn't waste your time with meaningless side-quests or item fetching or tedious RPG stuff in a game where it doesn't belong. Every area can be cleared quite quickly and despite being mediocre the game doesn't overstay it's welcome. I actually feel kinda bad for the developers as it does seem they genuinely tried to make a game the fans would like but it just didn't really work out. By trying to broaden the concept the game just lost it's identity and has unfortunately very little else to compensate for.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Metro Exodus seems a labor of love in comparison. Like I said it's a game that doesn't waste your time with meaningless side-quests or item fetching or tedious RPG stuff in a game where it doesn't belong. Every area can be cleared quite quickly and despite being mediocre the game doesn't overstay it's welcome. I actually feel kinda bad for the developers as it does seem they genuinely tried to make a game the fans would like but it just didn't really work out. By trying to broaden the concept the game just lost it's identity and has unfortunately very little else to compensate for.

Only it does waste your time and it certainly tried my patience. I love my Monster Hunter, and in that game I can happily sink 80 hours plus into each one. Yet there is a reason I didn't like World so much. As Monster Hunter gives me an instant hit of something meaningful and 14 mechanically different ways of laying the smackdown, with easy co-op with my friends ... and all in the same room.

Exodus isn't a labour of love, it's a love of tedium. You feel slow, the vehicle of your agency feels lethargic, and it padded the game in the worst possible way. Making you slow and unresponsive, or making the environment feel cluttered in a way videogames yet will never handle well.

 

[Elfgore]

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

How are games even purchases if they aren't worth your time to play?

I never got the whole such and such game is only worth $20 to buy (unless it has to do with being short) because it seems like if you really think you're going to like it, what does price really matter, because games are bigger time commitments than money commitments. It seems like you should just play something else instead at that point.

In this case, I want to play the game because I think it will be better than Last Light. But I also don't want to gamble fifty bucks on it. I also don't necessarily want to download the Epic launcher either to play it. I usually only pay full price if I want to play the game right now and that's rarely the case for most releases.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I never got the whole such and such game is only worth $20 to buy (unless it has to do with being short) because it seems like if you really think you're going to like it, what does price really matter, because games are bigger time commitments than money commitments. It seems like you should just play something else instead at that point.

Ehhh... there is always the worry of money dumping and simply lying to yourself you like something. Ala Kingdom Death: Monster... whether people like it or not, whether due to a limitation of resources, or simply feeling ripped off, price matters.

I mean, in the end, you should feel like you're getting something at a pricepoint where pleasure to cost is worthwhile. Anything less is kind of madness.

I mean take your argument and compare it to fastfood. Just because you might like a burrito from a store does not mean the burrito experience should be no less enjoyable if it cost $100 rather than $12. Quite clearly the burrito experience, and part of its enjoyability, is reflective in the fact that you can then go from that burrito to still have $88 worth of other pleasures

 

[Mcgeezaks]

I'm mostly disappointed by the sound design yet again, it was always the weakest part of the previous games it still is, I never played a game where the sound design bothered me so much.

 

[Dalisclock]

Last Light was awesome? I had to cheat just to finish the damn thing. Bout' bored me to tears. Either way, I made a mistake of buying Metro 2033 for full-price, never again. They're not full price games for me. They're like buy when ten or fifteen dollar purchases.

How are games even purchases if they aren't worth your time to play?

I never got the whole such and such game is only worth $20 to buy (unless it has to do with being short) because it seems like if you really think you're going to like it, what does price really matter, because games are bigger time commitments than money commitments. It seems like you should just play something else instead at that point.

I usually won't buy a game(if I do) until the price tag matches what I think it's worth. If it's a $60 AAA Game with stellar reviews from everyone, I'll consider that worth the $60. If it's 5 hour indie game, I'll be more likely to pay $30-20. Or if it's a AAA I have some interest in but it's also getting raked over the coals for it's various flaws, that might be a $30 or less purchase right there. I would have been pissed if I'd paid $60 for MGSV but getting it far cheaper made me feel only somewhat disappointed(mostly for wasting my time in addition to my money).

The nice thing is, games drop in price fast enough that it's only a matter of waiting until the price drops low enough to consider it to be worth it. Waiting a year to play something can be the difference between feeling ripped off at $60 and getting it for a song at $20 and feeling "Well, that was worth the price".

Not to mention I don't think most of us can afford to pay $60 left and right. Cash is finite and pretty much everyone has bills to pay(unless you're lucky enough to be living off someone else generosity).

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Im currently playing it.

I bet you are.

So why did you wait so long? Why not make a topic about it sooner?

because game is not running smooth and struggling on my PC. getting FPS drop.