Metro Exodus Diaries Part Two

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.

Having almost died twice and received a concussion, we had stolen the Hansa’s train and were making our escape - until some flashbangs were thrown into the train…

They exploded, blinding us and giving some men the time to board us. We were surrounded and being held under guard when our vision and hearing returned, when Anna realised that it was spartans. She called out that we were friendly, which made them react - as Miller was right there.

Apparently Andrew made the prosthetic legs

An argument ensued as it transpired that Miller did actually know about the jammer, though it was clear the other rangers didn’t. However, as Hansa knew who we were, things were probably going to go poorly for Anna and I, so Miller had the engineer fire up the train again. He intended on depositing us somewhere outside of Moscow until the heat died down. Anna took me outside, obviously quite upset about this whole thing - she wanted to tell the people of the Metro what we had discovered, but Hansa had other plans.

Doors exploded outwards as a second train burst out, traveling on the line beside ours. We hurried back inside as a turret opened fire on our train, and the radio came to life telling us to stop - those were warning shots. After another “warning”, Miller agreed to slow down - but the train’s brakes were old, so it would have to be a gradual stop. The voice on the other end seemed happy with that, and we began to slow.

Miller, of course, had other plans as he didn’t want his daughter to be silenced. Volunteering me for the suicide mission, I was given plastic explosives and told to shove them into the other train’s fire box. With little ceremony, I leapt over to the other train. I knocked out the first two men that I came across, then went into the next car. I had planned to be stealthy, but as I approached the first of the bunch of blokes, they turned and started firing at me.

At least this guy went quietly...

With things getting decidedly more violent, I shot my way towards the engine, where someone shot down at me before locking themselves behind a door. With the firebox below it, I pushed the shoveler out of the way and set the charge before legging it. As my train caught up, I leapt aboard, and was pulled up by one of the rangers, before I pushed the button and blew the enemy train to pieces.

Later, once we were safely away, Miller argued that he had orders to keep this whole “the entire world isn’t dead” thing from us, and had only been read in on the jammers - Shield system - six months ago. He said that he would explain more, but first I had to find a specific radio signal, for “the Ark”.

A reasonable assumption?

As Miller and Anna got into it, I fiddled with the radio and happened to tune in just in time. A voice gave out a rendezvous grid, and Miller got excited as he marked it on the map. It wasn’t close by, but if we could get there we would be able to explain to some higher ups that Moscow wasn’t dead. In the process, we might be able to redeem ourselves in Hansa’s eyes, and eventually lead to the rebuilding of Moscow.

We all had a drink, and I was finally allowed to get up and explore the train. After going outside with Miller for a smoke, where he plead his case for having not told us, I spent over half an hour listening to people talk. I found out more about Yermak’s past as a Metro train engineer who wanted more before the bombs fell, and was now finally getting that. I even took a good five minutes to shovel coal into the fire box, before heading back to the map to move us on. Oh, I had also tuned the radio to some music at one point.

Later, while I chilled at the front of the train, Anna came up to give me a drink and see how things were going. Suddenly, a barrier appeared ahead in the fog, right in our way. We burst through it as the brakes eventually managed to stop us, but we also came under fire. I hurried back into the train with Anna, but Yermak reported that the bullets pierced "the cylinder", and we weren’t moving anywhere for at least a day. Miller said that the ones who had fired on us were old men, but Anna and I should go and check out the nearby village surrounding the church in the distance.

Allegedly

As we left, I was given a backpack which could turn into a mobile workbench - for upgrading weapons and crafting supplies. It was a weird idea, but I was sure it worked in some way.

Anna chatted as we headed down to a jetty, where a rowboat waited for me. Anna began to climb a pylon to cover me from, and I got in after scavenging crafting materials from the nearby derelict houses. I rowed over to a house that was mostly submerged, trying to avoid some mutants I saw diving into the water, when the church bell started to ring. Anna reported seeing a woman waving from a window in the spire, but I was too far away to make it out.

Getting back in the boat, I rowed for the church, where I met a man and boy who told me that they were peaceful, and that I should keep my weapons holstered. As I kept rowing into the church, I passed between a congregation, who were listening to the preacher give a sermon. It was quite anti-technology, even having a chant to that effect. It was interrupted by a child, who said that these people had killed her father before being chased off, but I had nowhere else to go but forwards.

Something about this guy just screams "trustworthy"

Reaching a place where I climbed out, suddenly the boat was shut in on all sides. It was a trap - it seemed the Metro wasn’t the only place you couldn’t trust people. However, the girl from before beckoned me upstairs, so I went. As I reached the top and entered the spire, I met Nastya and her mother Katya, who claimed to have been being held prisoner by Silantius for over a year. Luckily, Katya told me that I could escape out through the window, and Anna agreed that I should.

Dropping down, I carefully made my way around to knock out a man, and then found another to also knock out. I went downstairs, towards some voices, but found a single man who I also knocked out. Unfortunately, someone saw me and I got into a bit of a firefight. After killing half a dozen men, everyone else with a gun surrendered.

I had been surrendered to twice before now, and knocked them both out. The first was on purpose, the second was an accident when I tried to loot something. These ones I decided to leave alone and see what happened, so I began exploring and finding minimal loot. Katya and Nastya had disappeared, so I went and lowered a rowboat into the water. I had heard Silantius and some others whispering in a room, but it was locked so I couldn’t get inside. So I decided to get on the boat that I had dropped into the water.

Anna contacted me as I began rowing. She had picked up Katya and Nastya, and they were safe. Unfortunately, the shrimps that I had spotted on my way in had plucked up the nerve to have a closer look at me. Two of them tried to board my boat, so I shot them a bunch - which pissed off a whale-sized mutant that attacked my boat! I was thrown into the water, and managed to surface near to Duke, who had been sent down to check up on me.

OMGWTFBBQ

After helping me out, he said that he had to stay here, presumably to keep an eye on the cult, and that I should check out a downed plane for supplies. Having spotted a shack to the right, I went there first and grabbed a few crafting materials before heading to the plane wreck and clearing it out. On my way back to the Aurora, I came across a small camp which I raided, and read the journal of someone who had tried to hold the position against shrimps for about two weeks before succumbing to prior injuries.

Are you disappointed?!

At the top of the hill, Anna came down the track to meet me, saying that Miller was talking to Katya and Nastya. She hadn’t seen the giant mutant attack me, but Duke had apparently relayed the story… She escorted me to the train, where I heard the end of Miller’s conversation. Apparently Katya had no idea where enemy forces were - and I already assumed that they didn’t exist.

Miller pulled me off to the side after Katya and Nastya thanked me, and told me that he had learned of a mechanic named Krest, who lived a short distance away. I was to head over and convince him to join us…