Metro Exodus: Sam's Story
I very much appreciate how the DLC has broken some traditions that were borrowed from Half-Life 2. The biggest tradition that was broken is that the protagonist is no longer silent. The simple line "this don't wont open" or "let's get back to the base" helps the player to understand what is happening and where to go. Without voice acting, without a list of goals or without NPCs giving you instructions, the player has to memorize things or write them down for the matter. I think that games are always open for multiple interpretations and this extends to knowing where to go and what to do. There is always margin for misunderstandings or misguidance when things aren't clearly stated or given.
One thing that didn't go unnoticed is that the beginning of Metro Exodus "arrests" the player's control, forcing them to watch very long dialogues in first person. The DLC still has some of these cutscenes. However, they've adopted Valve's way of letting the player walk freely most of the time. This is rather controversial, but I very much prefer cinematics than being forced to stay in a room or boat while the NPC talks about something. Sure I can walk around, but without anything to do is not that much different from being forced to stay put. Another controversial point is that there are scenes in which Sam is captured and there is no QTE at all. I don't see a reason to have QTE if the result is always going to be the same.
In the DLC I think they made the moral choices much more clearer without having to resort to prompts. In the first you have the choice to shoot the NPC or lower your gun. The context makes it clear and the NPC also warns you. An NPC talks to you by radio messages and says something such as "feel free to kill the bandits". This kind of statement is much clearer than "stay low", which was adopted in Metro Exodus. In Exodus I'd constantly question myself "should I kill or not?". What I didn't understand in the DLC though is why did they add prompts to choose between two actions?
I played Exodus with a trainer because I was annoyed by having to constantly clean up the weapons, the reload and overheating. For some reason the same things didn't bother me in the DLC. Maybe it was the addition of landmines and disarming them to obtain resources that made exploration more rewarding. The addition of a radar was welcomed. It's not intrusive on screen and it helped with the immersion. The motor powered boat made long journeys much more enjoyable and less dragged. Somehow the DLC made exploration enjoyable, whereas in Exodus I skipped all the side quests.
The map is open, but the game follows a linear structure. Once you get past some place there is no returning to the previous area. I've found the design of the landscape to be very good, because I could see where to go next. In contrast, the landscape in Exodus wasn't very good in directing the player.
The same boss encounter repeats 3x. I enjoyed each one because each time there was something different to avoid repetition of the same combat over and over.
I made it to the two endings. Both are equally beautiful. Both are amazing.
I really hope that the next Metro game follows on the same vein as Sam's Story and breaks free from some outdated traditions. I don't like them.
Goofs: The main character changes, but they reused the same Artyom's recording when he breathes. Why couldn't they record the breathing sound with a new actor?
Bugs:
- NPCs talking over each other, overlapping dialogues.
- In the ending part I was able to snipe all the enemies from far away. When the waves finally stopped, I could hear the villain speaking while I was walking towards him. This is certainly a sign of an engine that was designed with a linear game in mind. As I killed all the enemies from a static position, the lines from the villain played regardless of all the enemies having already being killed before I reached their positions.
Trivia. I don't think this is mere coincidence:
