Metro Exodus Complete Edition For PS5

4A Games is one of the most talented teams in the industry, but the PS4 version of Metro: Exodus – as noted in our original review – severely outpaced the technology of its time, even on the more powerful PS4 Pro. This next-gen version – available as a free PS4 to PS5 upgrade – feels like the experience that was intended in 2019. Running at 4K with a silky smooth 60 frames-per-second, Exodus also delivers 3D audio and ray tracing, which are all welcome improvements. The leap forward in performance is quite striking, similar in many ways to Remedy’s Control – another massively improved PS5 upgrade.

Minute-to-minute gameplay is obviously identical, although the added responsiveness offered by the DualSense is welcome. In a run-down, apocalyptic world, it makes a great deal of sense to have fluctuating trigger tension, and the nuance provided by the controller feels immaculate. Meanwhile, the gameplay and mechanics remain as they were: brilliant. The same goes for the level design and pacing, which are both unique and exquisite during protagonist Artyom’s 20-plus hour adventure.

All that said, the title’s most impressive accomplishment remains the writing. Exodus takes Artyom and Anna’s satirically under-developed “relationship” from Last Light and transforms it into not just something meaningful, but the most compelling facet of the entire game. Their relationship serves as the driving force for much of the title, and feels authentic in a way that exceedingly few games can pull off. The cast surrounding these two are no slouches either, providing a motley assortment of soldiers, mechanics, and refugees that live and grow alongside one another, across the title’s year-long journey.

The end result is a vastly improved version of what is by far the best title set in Dmitry Glukhovsky’s apocalyptic Russia – even if the voice work, in English at least, is uneven to put it kindly.

Metro Exodus is a post-apocalyptic open-world survival first-person shooter, and is extremely narrative-driven. After two games of being stuck in Moscow’s metro due to believing that the rest of humanity was extinct, as the surface of the world was too irradiated to be habitable. However, the cast soon discovers that this is not in fact the case. Out of fear of being killed for knowing truth, the cast flees Moscow via a train they call the Aurora, in the hopes that they can find the Russian government, and eventually a place to settle down.

Obviously, there is far more to this story than this extremely brief outline which I will not spoil. But one thing I will say is that as you play you will grow very attached to these characters. The cast are wonderful. Everyone has their own personality, things they’re good at, things they’re not so good at, et cetera. There are several moments where the game lets you roam around the Aurora, and you can partake in all these completely optional conversations and watch the characters all interact and grow with one another. It’s a wonderful way of pacing things.

The meat of the game though, are these open-world areas that are dotted with enemy encounters, resources, lush vistas, vehicles, and so on (though the game has a few linear acts too.) These encounters afford a huge amount of choice. You could tackle things by going in guns blazing, but due to being a survival game, you may not have the resources to do so. You could try going in stealthily – but do you want to try and reach your objective without harming anyone? Or take people out as you go?

There are also a myriad of different routes you can take, as well as a large selection of weapons. I usually roll my eyes whenever a game tacks on some shoddy crafting system, but in this game it works beautifully. Your reward for exploring the world and tackling optional encounters are resources for crafting, as well as new mods or types of guns which you can dismantle and attach to your own guns at a workbench. The beauty of this is that you can make your guns work however you want.

Do you want a silenced shotgun? An assault rifle which packs as much punch as a sniper rifle? Whatever you can dream up, you probably can do. This only fell apart on one boss where only one specific tool was effective, meaning I had to reload a save and craft said tool to progress. But that was an exception. Of course, the enemies you face are much more varied than just humans. You’ll also tackle frightening mutants, where stealth is not an option and ammo becomes a much bigger concern. But even different groups of humans behave differently from others. Cultists may surrender if you take out everyone else, meanwhile bandits may spring traps on you.

All the choices presented to you are all in favour of making the game immersive. That word likes to be thrown around a lot these days, but this is one of the most immersive games I have played. And it’s not just surface level stuff like adding adaptive triggers (though that is appreciated!) I knew I was sold when I was driving around, minding my own business, when suddenly a Molotov cocktail got thrown at me and some bandits came out of nowhere and started shooting me, completely unscripted!