Metro 2033, Redux and LL/Redux are well-paced, atmospheric FPS adventures. I cannot say the same about Exodus which is a bloated mess of some good ideas and some very, very bad ones. The open-world sections are good for the most part, rewarding exploration and offering up some superbly atmospheric scripted and unscripted encounters/scenarios. Most of linear shooting galleries are good fun, boasting excellent sound design, animation and particle effects but the good pretty much stops there. The sheer amount of unskippable cutscenes full of terrible writing and awful voice acting drag the pace down to a crawl. This is not helped by Artyom being a mute which makes most of the interactions utterly ridiculous. Gordon Freeman was a mute but he also was not being asked direct questions and just standing there like a dunce not saying anything. The cutscene problem is particularly annoying on repeat playthroughs. The DLCs are also pretty middling, Sam's Story being particularly dull and Two Colonels ends just as it gets going. Really, really disappointing.
I have put a lot of hours into this game and I have really loved some moments and utterly despised others. I am a huge fan of the series but this one is a real swing and a miss. Ranger Hardcore in this is fun in the open world and linear shooting gallery sections but completely falls apart during boss fights and arenas. The AI is atrocious when fighting human enemies and this is especially egregious on RHC. The mutants' AI and animation is clunky and the overuse of zombies is really disappointing. It is worth pointing out that several game breaking bugs still have not been fixed which will really ruin your day on RHC (no manual saves). Expect to get trapped in geometry or get stuck when a scripted NPC trigger doesn't trigger. This can lose you A LOT of progress and is honestly rage inducing. The Two Colonels DLC is fantastic but Sam's Story is hot garbage, way too many zombies and a really, really terrible boss monster and story. I have tried to love this game, I have put 90 hours in! I simply cannot recommend it if you loved the first two, it is not the same kind of vibe. I haven't even mentioned the atrocious script, story and voice acting (trust me, it is badly done in more than just one language). It is often on sale for really cheap though so give it a shot but temper your expectations. It is not like OG STALKER or any of the cool modded versions. It feels like a budget title from the early 00ies that is imitating its influences and wearing a shiny coat of paint. This review is nearly as long and meandering as one of the many, many unskippable expositions scenes in the game. Nearly. I will say in its defense that it looks fantastic, sounds great (when the NPCS aren't yapping) and runs very nicely even on lower end hardware.
