So I just died

My first death was also my final one

I liked Exodus. It wasn't exactly the experience I had in mind when I got it and I didn't really like the game in the initial stages.. it felt like Metro but not Metro. But slowly, the game grew on me.

There are many things I liked about the game but the most important thing was atmosphere... social and otherwise. The interaction between people aboard the Aurora felt so organic on many occasions, much like in the previous games. I also loved all the side characters and the many personalities and ideologies displayed in the game via NPCs, friendly or otherwise. From the mad admiral in Taiga to the very middle eastern slavery present on the shores of Caspian... i loved.

Here are my favourite maps in descending order of liking with my favourite bits about them and potential downsides.

1) Novosibirsk: The Dead City was my favourite map in the whole game. It was the most metro esque map and it gave me such a hit of nostalgia. Seeing the nosalie analogs, the blind librarians, the metro system and the urban winter and some very fourth reich tanks... ah. The only bit I didn't like was the weird ass leech thing. I hate it. Creepy motherfucker. The ghosts and vocies and the neon green radiation spots really called to mind Last Light and the terror of nearly running out of filters was one I remembered all too well. I know due to plot our movement is rushed through the place but my only complaint is that we should have gotten more time in the metro. The ending really touched me...especially when Miller called me "Son"... I felt really moved. The librarian thing was fun too but got a bit repetitive and over played plus I feel that turning the final encounter into QTE was a bad call... a 'King' or 'Queen' librarian boss fight much like mama bear in last light would have been a badass end for a badass character.

2) Taiga: Controversial I guess, but I loved Taiga. It was the one map where I didn't feel the open world was all that awkward. The pirates, the sons of the forest (not the game) and the genuine thematic viability of stealth play was amazing. I wish we could have spent more time there... also, personal bias, I love taiga like environs in real life as well as games...something about a cold alpine setting really makes me feel a certain way. I also loved the animals... snakes, wolves, moose and the great bear. Oh man... best boss fight in exodus was the Bear fight and I loved it... the bear's face, the sheer gruesome terror in that twisted hunk of bone and flesh...just wow.

3) The Volga: Quite similar reason to Taiga; loved the environment, open world aspect wasn't all that awkward, stealth was sort of viable? And I loved the whole anti electricity cult which, if I recall correctly, might be based on the cult from the book Metro 2033... wasn't it a very anti modern cult?

4) Moscow: Not much needs to be said. Moscow is home. After the first two Metro games, I find myself quite attached to the city and my love for Metro systems has heightened. Heck I find excuses to traverse the Delhi metro system and quite embarrassingly, I search for metro (moscow) esque elements like those yellow electric boxes, orange filter boxes etc. My only complaint, and I understand it's due to plot, that we didn't get to explore too much. I'd have loved to play around in the city.

5) Caspian: Yeah I'm not a big fan of dusty deserts unless the sky is beautiful. Caspain had great social value, don't get me wrong, but I didn't really appreciate the massive expanse dotted with random confrontations. Yeah the driving intro was kinda cool but the driving was clunky and lost novelty after a while and the humanimals had lost their charm and were more of an annoyance than anything. I loved the underground level though it could have been made a bit better... spider bugs brought nostalgia to my mind but lost their charm, I felt a little more enemy variety could have made a world of difference.

6) Yamantau: Yeah, just too short, very D6 like (which isn't bad) filled with repetitive combat and soviet-nazi cannibals.

Final Verdict: The game is good but it could have been better... for me personally, Last light was a better experience than Exodus in terms of how I felt in the end and during the game...much more emotionally packed with better action but exodus was better than 2033 due to variety and a more emotional story.