Metro Exodus Diaries Part Fifteen

This is my ongoing exploration of the Metro series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I continue Metro Exodus.

Dosed in high levels of radiation, back in a Metro system and surrounded by mutants, I was on my way to find the medicine to save Anna…

Looting as I went, and shooting a few nosalis with my crossbow, I found myself in the remains of civilisation. Metro civilisation, but it was civilisation nonetheless. There was a brothel and a public area of some sort with a few supplies, but the next area had been torched. A floodlight lit up the area as I went along a wooden gantry - which nosalis decided to begin tearing down around me. After shooting several, the floodlight gave out, leaving me in darkness as more mutants attacked. It was tense, but I got through it and opened a door to the next area, which was thankfully free of mutants.

However, as I looked around I found a series of bells and a boat. Ringing the bell, I waited to hear for a return - but instead heard the roar of a mutant. Reminding myself that this was to save my wife, I got in the boat…

This is fine

Apart from some kind of long worm thing gliding through the water far ahead, things were fine. Reaching a gantry, I got out and went exploring. There were some small spitting worms attached to walls, but I ignored them. Entering a caged off room, I found a diary talking about the first days of living in the Metro, before skipping ahead to rationing the radioprotector and giving their stockpile of five flasks to a lady with a child. A nosalis came after me, but couldn’t get into the cage, so I shot it before exiting through another door and returning to the boat.

Before I could set off, something happened in the room and several nosalis came out, but I had loaded exploding darts in my crossbow, so they didn’t get past the door. Pushing off, the tunnel started to be coated in something that definitely looked unsanitary. Donning my gasmask I continued rowing through the tunnel, with this putrid slime dripping down on me from tendrils on the ceiling, and small worms spitting. I had to take a health jab before I exited into what was presumably a station of some kind, before it got completely flooded. My boat was bashed by something, which made itself known by rising out of the water to spit at me. It was the long worm, and it had buddies! So it may not have actually been the original worm, who knows?

Stupid GeForce green box...

After shooting them a bit, they left me alone, and I disembarked onto a train, where I worked my way around gathering supplies and trying to avoid spitting worms both large and small. Everything was coated in this unsanitary slime which, according to the diary I had found earlier, could eat through wood. Having to go up and around, I lowered a staircase and went down to get attacked by more big worms. Following the obvious route, I saw a corpse get dragged into the water through a grating, and had to walk on some more grating - the whole time gritting my teeth.

At the end was a slime-coated hole that I had to squeeze through, before heading up some stairs to another lever. This one lowered a boat into the water, so I hopped down onto the train just below, and went to it. A worm destroyed part of the dock in front of me, but I shot it and another one, then got into the boat, rowing for presumed freedom. A few worms joined me on the trip, of course turning and attacking before I could get too far. After a brief fight, I rowed to safety.

Safe!

Safety was, of course, a tunnel with large sections open to the surface, and teeming with radiation! I took another health syringe, but as a hallucinated train went by I blacked out. Anna’s voice roused me, and there she was - without a gas mask. Climbing onto the surface, I took the large dose of radioprotector - AKA green stuff - and quickly felt better. Anna, who had changed and walked off, disappeared and I got up, heading that way.

Of course, the radiation was still incredibly high, and I could see suitcases floating around in mid-air, along with light hallucinations. I went deeper into the station I was now in, finding a room with a safe full of supplies. Miller came over the radio, calling Kirill - the child we had found. Miller had the map, and was heading to the Institute to meet with me. Of course, being a mute, I did not respond, I continued on my way up some stairs. The radiation started to spike and I went into a room where I heard a voice ask “What is it?” and “Is it alive?”. Obviously freaked, and possibly dying from radiation poisoning, I hurried through a door and up some stone stairs. The radiation levels dipped, ironically as I reached a hole in the wall leading to the surface.

The radiation spiked again, and I could hear voices over a radio - but they weren’t Spartans. As I approached some assembled tanks, I was suddenly taken back to the day the bombs dropped. Stood in the turret position of the tank, we fired a sabot shell at the Metro entrance, collapsing it and killing civilians moments before the bombs finished the rest - and us.

It was the end of the road before you fired, so... yes?

Coming back to modern day, I caught my breath and saw that I was stood in a really big footprint. It looked like it belonged to a gorilla, because it was definitely hand-shaped. I didn’t have time to worry about that, I was being bombarded with radiation and blacking out. I managed to drop down into a tunnel. As I went to the left, I heard the voice from earlier, referring to - presumably me - as food.

After looting, and finding the last written words of one of the troops who had fired on the civilians. He lamented not being in the Metro sooner, complained about the civilians who had tried to run despite orders to go into the Metro, and accepted his fate after one more cigarette. Back down the tunnel, this time heading right, I was soon out in the open again and seemed to be following the gorilla.

Not that I had time to worry, I was being irradiated again and had to hurry inside a building. It was a hospital, or medical centre - perhaps even the Institute, which I had been needing to get to. There were gurneys abandoned all over the place, some with corpses on them. Going through a door, things went a little hallucination-y again. As the lights came on a couple of times, I could hear a human coughing, and a black shadow tried to grab me. I had encountered the shadows before, in Cursed Station back in the first game…

Phones started to ring, and I just wanted to get out of there, so I hurried up a flight of stairs - past some illuminated vending machines. Kirill came over the radio through the static, relaying a message that Miller had the maps and was heading my way. Having heard Miller give the message earlier, I knew that the kid had missed off the fact Miller was delayed, so this was entirely up to me.

Thanks for not giving me all the facts, jerk

Going through a door, I found a small auditorium in a room to the left, and activated a projector. It extolled the virtues of the radioprotector, even saying that 60% of badly irradiated people had full recoveries. At the end of the hallway, I began to hallucinate, seeing things float and hearing a piano start to play. As radiation levels climbed once more, I crawled into a gap in some rubble, and once more heard the voice asking what I was.

Climbing a slope, now in the open air again, I found a ladder and went up. That’s where I finally found the blind, psychic gorilla. It snatched me off of the ladder, and I cut it’s arm. It grabbed me again, so I cut its throat - which just pissed it off. It swung wildly, and I scrambled away. Going around to the right, I heard it say that it would find me soon, and I went in through a door.

Still not as scary as a spiderbug

Down some stairs, I burnt some cobwebs and found a corpse, then powered up something. So the gorilla came down to investigate. Luckily, there was plenty of room for me to go around to the right, as it searched for me to the left, and I went back upstairs, and activated a panel to open a locked gate. I hadn’t realised the gate was there, but it swung open to reveal a corpse that wore a jumper like Anna - and since the hallucinations were back, making me hear my wife, I also saw her there for a brief second.

On the next floor, I entered a large room where the windows had all been shattered, littering the floor with broken glass. Noisy broken glass, which the gorilla had heard and followed me, standing right in my way. I managed to get past by climbing over some tables, and imagined Anna trapped in a falling elevator. Up some more stairs, I almost blacked out again, giving the gorilla time to get ahead of me. Hallucinating Anna dying for air, I put a gas mask on a corpse before dropping down and entering the next building ahead of me.

The gorilla was waiting for me, and it smashed all of the furniture in the room, so I snuck through a door to the left and looted the place. As I went for the door, the gorilla was right there. Backing away to the door I had slipped through, I ran for another door to the right and dropped down. I found a shipping list, saying how Moscow had been awaiting thousands of packs of radioprotector - at least this proved that I was in the Institute.

I appeared to be in the morgue, but it was a small one and had little of value. However, the hallway leading out of it was literally packed with frozen corpses. And at the end, who should I see but Anna - except it was actually just another corpse. Unfortunately, this led me into what appeared to be the gorilla’s feeding room, as it was covered in skeletons. Also, it happened to have two gorillas inside, looking for me.

It never rains irradiated gorillas, it pours

Avoiding the glass on the floor, and walking on frozen skeletons where I could. I powered up a junction box and, I made it past one of them, only to be blocked by the second. I must have made some noise, as when I went to hide underneath the stairs, it came close to me and started swinging at me. Through a solid, unbroken wall, I might add. I hurried up some stairs and flicked on a breaker. Unfortunately, the gorilla had followed me upstairs, though it was still at the far end of the walkway. I threw a molotov cocktail - as I was out of cans - but instead of distracting them away, it brought the other gorilla right to me!

Dropping down, I raced around, and managed to go in a circle - the breaker seemingly opening the door below me. I ran back and up some stairs, being saved when a powered door shut behind me. Through a window I could see an anomaly was sparking outside, probably accounting for the increased radiation. I could hear Anna again as I walked through a hallway, with cables sparking overhead. At the end, I could see Anna in an elevator - she told me that she wasn’t mad that I didn’t find the medicine, she knew that I tried. Reaching her as she laid down, it turned out to be a skeleton - and the elevator dropped.

Exiting the elevator, I found a corpse and some looted boxes. I went through a door to see more looting - but two full cabinets! I took out a case of medicine, and opened it up to check inside. However, as soon as I did, a gorilla came down the hallway. It opened the doors and came for me, but I backed out through a hole in the wall with the case - and fell down a ventilation shaft. The gorilla followed me, so I knocked out the vent behind me and fell out onto the fire escape. The gorilla kept on after me (and due to my graphics settings it wasn’t very fluffy and I could see its genitals), sending me tumbling onto the level below us.

Suddenly, the gantry gave way, and I kicked it off when it tried to keep hold, sending it to the pavement where it was impaled on some metal. The gantry fell on top of it, as I fell close by, but icicles fell and skewered it in the head, killing it. I blacked out, holding the medicine case.

Git

As I woke, Miller was arriving in the car. He was coughing as he came to help me, telling me not to die. He called me son, and injected me with his radioprotector before dragging me to the car. When I awoke again, I was in the back of the car as Miller drove. It was mere moments before I blacked out again.

Kirill greeted me excitedly when I woke again. He was in the driver’s seat, and said that it was best to let people sleep when they got like “that” - how Miller currently was. Kirill didn’t know how to drive, so was happy that I did - I was just happy that the road was straight for the most part. The kid was excited to see the moon, but less excited that I kept almost blacking out. Eventually, though, I surrendered to it…

Honestly heartbreaking

It was daytime when I awoke again. Kirill wasn’t in the car, and Miller’s helmet was off. I reached out to shake him, but he was dead. Kirill came back to the car, exclaiming that he heard a noise - suspecting the train, I got out with the medicine case, but collapsed. The Aurora soon pulled up - we had stopped next to train tracks, and it had a massive snow plough attached to the front of the train. The Paladins jumped out and ran to me.

Waking again, I was being carried along the train carriage. I was highly radioactive, but apparently Miller was even worse. Katya didn’t sound too happy about my chances, and through fits and starts of consciousness, I heard her say that everyone had to give me blood. Being AB+, I could take blood from anyone.

Anna came to my side - she had been given the medicine and was going to live. However, as everyone gave what blood they could, it soon proved to not be enough…

Literally brought tears to my eyes

I woke in a train carriage to a knock. A man opened the door - it was Eugene, my best friend from Exhibition. He spoke shortly before leaving, allowing me to explore the dark train. In the dining area was Bourbon, who had led me to Dry Station so long ago. And died for his trouble. Clearly the candle-lit train, with its broken windows was a train of the dead. On the bridge, Khan awaited me, speaking cryptically as he often did. He seemed to think that he was heading back to the land of the living soon, and as Miller joined us Khan seemed to disappear.

That would make one of us...

Miller was unapologetic for my fate - I was a soldier after all. Though he seemed already acquainted with this place. He knew that the train wouldn’t stop - and yet he saw something ahead. He bid me to help him with the brake, and the train pulled to a stop - I was being allowed to disembark. I found a postcard on the platform - it was the one of the seaside, which Anna had shown to me in our carriage…

Anna’s voice began talking, saying how she was unhappy that I had to leave. She hated me for giving up everything for her - but she would stay here, by my graveside, as she loved me. The Paladins fired off their weapons in salute to Miller and I…

[/splitter]

Final Thoughts

That was a heart-wrenching ending. As of writing this, I haven’t looked into the other endings, and I’m left wondering if this one could have been avoided by not accidentally throwing a molotov onto a boat near the start… Then at least Duke would have been there, if not Damir.

On the whole, I loved this entry of the series. It’s absolutely one of my favourite games from 2019, and apart from starting the game taking an absolute age, I didn’t encounter any issues. If there were fewer spiderbugs (ie: none) I would have had no issue recommending this to anyone and everyone. There are jump scares, but none that had me terrified like in Metro Last Light. Bloody spiderbugs…

I enjoyed exploring the open areas, I had no problem with the crafting, the story was fantastic and even on low graphics settings the environments and mutants looked amazing. You know, apart from the gorilla penis. No, I did not screenshot it.

It was full of small touches that really enhanced the experience. For instance, the jiggle physics - no not those ones. Well, yes, the breasts do move, but so did the gorilla’s belly. The world is full of notes, tapes and diaries, as well as scenes that don’t tell the whole story. Just a hint at something is sometimes just as powerful a storytelling device.

I really enjoyed this as a send-off to Artyom. I thought that I still had a ways to go, but quickly realised that the main theme music was playing. That’s when it began pulling at my heartstrings, and I was hoping that I could somehow drive faster to get a better ending. So many games say that your choices matter - Metro, and especially Metro Exodus, is a game where your choices really do matter.

Thanks for reading, and take care around demons - or as I call them, bitches.