Exodus is exactly how NOT to make a Metro game. It’s the furthest removed from the core gameplay of the Metro series to the point it is only a Metro game in name alone.
Comment on METRO 2039 | Gameplay Trailer - Renegade
Havatra@lemmy.zip 1 week agoTrue, though I was a bigger fan of Metro Exodus for the fact that they left the psychic stuff out honestly. Exodus is a good example of how you don’t have to follow the recipe exactly to get a good cake. Nevertheless, there has always been a big focus on the atmosphere and the people, regardless of the psychic part of the story, where they’re coping with survival while piecing together what has been going on before during and after the bombs.
However, I just read an article here that reassured me greatly: ign.com/…/metro-2039-developers-on-how-russias-in…
They still focus on the slow burn story, so all is good, I believe! :-)
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Personally my favorite is the first game, but I was overall disappointed with the second game. I felt it was a somewhat dramatic step down in writing quality, and though there were some amazing set pieces, the latter half of the game felt like a bit of a slog to me.
The 3rd game has even worse writing IMO (especially the colonel’s dialog), but I was surprised that, for the most part, I enjoyed the gameplay most of the way through, and found the travelling aspect to be quite neat. I had more fun with it than the 2nd game, at least.
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Agreed on all points.
As I said in my other comment, Exodus isn’t a bad game. It’s actually very enjoyable. It just didn’t feel like a METRO game.
The 2nd game did suffer from sequelitus. It was fun but the writing was not nearly as up to par with the first, and that lack of hook in the writing made the last half of the game drag cause you weren’t nearly as invested in what was going on half the time.
Havatra@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Furthest removed from the core gameplay? What is the core?
The difficult survival? Not knowing what next will try to kill you? The uncertainty of the future? Living in darkness both figuratively and literally? The longing for the life before the war? Exodus is just the least dark game, but the core is still very much there I feel like?
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Just gonna copy my comment from the last time this was discussed on this sub ——— Exodus wasn’t necessarily a bad game. It just didn’t feel like a Metro game.
The first two games in the Metro series exemplified a rich, linear story experience with intricate and interwoven characters, condensed level design, and strict resource management. They had a very specific and distinct atmosphere and experience. There was very little extra fluff outside of hidden secrets and logs. Everything was centered around telling the story it wanted to tell, even down to the gameplay mechanics themselves like using bullets for currency.
Exodus broke away from a lot of it to have a more open experience which unfortunately required a lot of fluff to fill the empty space of an open world design. The events in each region didn’t really have anything to make me care about it. Even if it does provide a much larger view of how society outside of the Metro had adapted, a lot of the content just didn’t feel any connection to Artyom and crew like it was in the older games.
The open world aspect also completely invalidated the resource management aspect of the Metro games. They were not able to pull it off in the way that Stalker’s very intricate economy systems do for making an open world with the feeling of limited resources. It was way too easy to farm stuff. I never worried about bullets after the first hours, in a series where bullets are supposed to be scarce enough for use as currency.As a long time fan of Metro, Exodus kinda felt like something “other” wearing the skin of the series rather than an actual Metro game. I feel they wanted to have a good, traditional Metro experience but it is everything else that feels added on to try and bring in a wider audience that resulted in a lot of older Metro fans, like me, feeling like the game was half-baked.
Havatra@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Good points; I’m convinced.
I’ve enjoyed all their works tbf, and I’ll likely get to enjoy yet another good game :-)
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
There is that. Artyom’s relationship with his communities and people is supposed to play off the games’ moral framework.
Maybe there’s something to be said about a personal arc that begins with learning to have empathy for your world/the alien arriving at having empathy for other humans. It’s not like the anthrosupremicist routes in the previous games brought him closer to other people
Havatra@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Good point! I’m confident that they’ll deliver some thought provoking elements to the story in this regard.