Metro Exodus Diaries Part Three

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.

The truth of Moscow’s position as the sole survivor of nuclear war had been revealed, and I had rescued two people from a cult before being attacked by a whale, so far so good…

I was being sent to find a man named Krest, who was supposedly able to help Yermak fix the train. But first, I had to meet up with Tokarev, who had said that he had something to give me after my talk with Miller. It was a tihar - the Metro’s favourite pneumatic rifle with ball bearing ammo. With that in-hand, I headed out to find Krest.

Ah, non-irradiated snow

Down from the bridge which the Aurora was stuck upon, was a row boat to cross the river. I cautiously used it to row to the closest bit of land - which was ironically ice - because I didn’t want shrimps to come after me again. I cautiously made my way towards a building, trying to avoid watchers which were roaming. I managed to get inside without being attacked and looted the place. Then, I realised that there was a workbench, so I pulled out my backpack and got to work cleaning my weapons, and upgrading where appropriate.

As part of my upgrades, I added a compass to my gauntlet, which would point to my next objective. I was pretty pleased with it, so followed it the way that I had come. After a fight with some watchers, I checked my map which revealed that I was going the wrong way. It turned out that the pointy bit of the compass was the rear. Turning around, I hurried back past the small building and approached a larger building.

Avoiding some watchers, I went in through the open doorway. I almost crapped myself when a zombie-looking guy jumped on me and tried to eat my face. I fought it off and shot it, then worried that the noise (and my swearing) had alerted the watchers. I was very glad that it had not, so I went inside and began exploring - cautiously. I found some materials for crafting, and soon was out the back of the building. I could hear the whale shrimp in the nearby river, but I pushed on when I heard a man shouting and shooting.

These ugly...

As I began climbing some shipping containers, I saw another zombie. I shot it, then continued up onto a crane and went up the gantry. Krest, the man I was coming to see, called me over and said that I should head to the roof of a building. I decided to keep climbing the crane, finding some materials inside a booth, before reaching the top. Dropping down onto the roof, zombies started coming for me. Krest helped me fight them off before lowering the arm of another crane for me to walk up to safety.

He introduced himself and told me that the mutants - his name for the zombies - were tough and seemed riled up. He gave me some binoculars and said that he wanted to join the Aurora. He also seemed to have the same speech impediment as Pavel, wherein he kept saying "blyat" at the end of sentences. I had spoken to many people over the past couple of games, and only these two people used that word with regularity. I immediately distrusted him, despite him basically telling me to loot the place before we left.

At least now I knew where the "Tsar-Fish" was

After a brief chat, I grabbed a carabiner and hooked it onto a zipline to head back to the Aurora. I arrived in the building which the first mutant had jumped me in, and could hear something moving around. In fact, I could see one right ahead of me, so I sniped it, then one that was in a room behind it.

As I went through the building quietly killing mutants, Miller came on the radio and told me to return immediately, as Anna had gone missing on some errand. I jumped in the boat and got back as soon as I could, only to be chastised for returning without Anna. I turned right back around and went down to my boat, rowing over to the ice sheet once more.

 

Following the mark on my map, I headed straight for the bunker which I had spotted earlier - I couldn’t get in so I didn’t mention it. As I reached the top of the hill above it, I spotted a hole and walked over to it. I immediately fell down the hole, landing next to Anna who wasn’t wearing her gas mask - so I put on my own before helping her.

Shh... Seriously, I don't want your coughing to get me killed

With some filtered air in her lungs, and a bit of a nasty cough, she awoke and said that she had heard me calling and come to find me. Obvious madness, as I was almost completely silent except during loading times. I could see the wheel that I needed to turn to open the doors, so started making my way through the facility.

Katya had been talking about a waste dump when I was at the train, and a facility which housed said waste. As I wandered around the place, I could still hear Anna coughing, which somehow didn’t attract the mutants I started coming across. My rifle ammo was running low already, so I had to make do with the tihar, which was only good for a few rounds before it required pumping up again. Or, of course, my pistol which doubled as a sniper with the sight I installed on it - but the ammo it used was literally currency.

Despite lighting lamps as I went, the place was really dark and so required me to have my torch lit almost all of the time. It wasn’t the best sneaking aid, nor was having my lighter up to burn away cobwebs. As it was, I somehow managed to surprise several mutants - two who climbed out of holes in the wall and one which dropped through the ceiling right beside me. Before I knew it, I was at the wheel which I turned, and suddenly a couple of the other rangers were right outside waiting to get in. Great timing, guys…

Squeezing out through a door which wasn’t open earlier, I helped Anna to her feet and she radioed her father. I was ordered - by the wife - back to the Aurora to help Stepan convince Miller to let Nastya and Katya stay on the Aurora. So, after listening to Sam and Damir discuss American bases for a couple of minutes, I headed back to the row boat as night fell.

If not for the American accent we'd think you were Russian, Sam

Wanting to avoid a fight, I snuck past two watchers rather successfully, before I reached the boat and arrived at the train. Stepan was beside himself, worrying that Katya and Nastya would be left to fend for themselves, and asked me to talk to Miller. The woman seemed resigned to her family’s fate, though it was clear that Stepan wanted them to stay with us - she had told us the location of a passenger car which was in pristine condition after all. It was apparently the one she was aboard, before being captured by the cult, and it had been prepared for a long journey.

As I entered the train, Miller was welcoming Krest aboard. Miller bid me to sit, which I did, and he started going over the plan. We had no way forward with the bridge ahead raised, so we were to masquerade as part of a trade caravan, sneak in and lower it. The alternative was a full-frontal assault which could be costly.

Stepan barged in and demanded that we not leave Katya and Nastya here. Miller argued that we had no idea what we would be bringing them into if they came with us. Plus there was nowhere for them to sleep - until Anna came in and reminded Miller about the passenger carriage. Miller didn’t want to send the Aurora to get it - even if it was running - so Krest spoke up. He apparently had a railcar which could tow it. He would go with me to collect it.

More humans or more animals... Tough choice

Unfortunately, Yermak called from below that he still needed help to get the Aurora repaired by the morning. Krest gave me a breaker to get the railcar working once Miller gave his blessing, but the commander added one caveat. If the trade caravan was sighted, I was to rush the port immediately. I had the feeling that this was going to bite me in the arse…