Skip to main content

Contrary to speculation, ‘Metro: Exodus’ will not be an open world game

metro exodus not open world
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Everything we’ve seen so far from Metro: Exodus suggested the upcoming entry in the post-apocalyptic shooter franchise would open the game world up for exploration. That’s true to an extent, but Exodus will not be a traditional open world game, according to Game Informer.

As illustrated in each trailer so far, Exodus will abandon the claustrophobic underground tunnels featured in both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light in favor of above-ground open spaces. There will be four sandbox areas, each one representing a specific season. The sandbox areas will feature linear missions, exploration, and side missions. Once you finish an area, you will move onto the next, much like linear level-based games. Interestingly, you won’t be able to go back and explore an area once you make the decision to move on.

The Aurora, a train shown in multiple trailers, will replace the stations that served as a place to recharge and converse in 2033 and Last Light. Although we don’t know much about the train so far, 4A Games revealed that it will change throughout the story. It also seems like a safe bet that the train serves as your means of transportation between each section of the game.

Perhaps due to the greater emphasis on exploration, the weapons systems will be different in Exodus.A new crafting system will rely on scavenging. Throughout the game, you’ll come across materials and chemicals that can be turned into tools and ammo at workstations. This is a big change from previous entries, which pressured you into conserving ammunition since it also served as the in-game currency for weapons and upgrades.

Even though you won’t have to worry as much about ammo, that doesn’t mean you need to shoot without reservation. Exodus will feature both lethal and nonlethal takedowns for those who favor a cleaner approach. Your decisions in combat could have consequences later on. If you kill members of a certain faction, don’t be surprised to find that faction to be hostile towards you later in the game.

The game picks up two years after Last Light‘s “Enlightened” ending, and sees Artyom leading a group of Spartan Rangers to a better life far east of Moscow.

Metro: Exodus launches this fall on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Where to find planes in Fortnite OG
Fortnite characters on plane.

Fortnite has been raining nostalgia down on its millions of fans with Season OG, revisiting various points in the game's history and giving everyone a chance to see how far the game has come. In doing so, many areas, weapons, utility items, and vehicles from years past have made a return for a limited time, including the fan-favorite X-4 Stormwing plane. There are plenty of these vehicles scattered around the map for you to find, so we'll list out each spot for you so that you can land near one anytime you'd like.
All plane spawn locations in Fortnite OG
Plane spawn locations via fortnite.gg. Plane spawn locations via fortnite.gg / fortnite.gg

There are 16 spawn locations for planes on the current OG map, with a total of 21 planes available to pilot. Here is a list of all of them.

Read more
All status effects in Lies of P and how to cure them
Pinocchio in Lies of P.

Lies of P is a challenging role-playing game that will test your mettle at every turn with deadly enemies and dastardly environmental traps. But to make things even a bit more difficult, you'll have to contend with a collection of status effects that can majorly affect your character and make things much harder for you in battle. We've compiled a list of all status effects in Lies of P, as well as a list of ways to cure them.
All status effects
There are a total of seven status effects, with each either dealing damage or having a noticeable impact on your ability to perform in battle. Here are all of them and how they work.
Overheat
Overheat is caused by taking too much fire damage too quickly. When the Overheat bar fills entirely, you'll begin to burn and lose health until it is cured or wears off naturally. During this time, your Guard Regain recovery amount will also be reduced, which can drastically impact your survivability in fast-paced encounters.
Shock
When Shock is applied, your character's stamina recovery will be reduced significantly, which can have devastating consequences. Until this effect is cured or wears of naturally, you'll be stuck with very limited movement and attack opportunities due to your decreased stamina.
Electric Shock
Not to be confused with standard Shock, Electric Shock is caused by taking too much Electric Blitz damage in a short period of time. When this happens, you'll take increased Electric Blitz and physical damage for the duration of the effect, and your Fable meter will drain continuously, which can reduce your attack options in combat.
Decay
Decay is caused by taking too much Acid damage within a small time window. This will cause constant weapon and acid damage, both of which can make life difficult for you in battle since letting it go on for too long can result in needing to repair your weapon while also dodging your foes' attacks.
Corruption
Corruption is caused by a buildup of, well, Corruption. When this happens, you'll be afflicted with what is essentially your textbook poison effect, meaning your HP will drain continuously until it wears off or is healed with an item. This can be especially challenging to cope with when also fighting enemies, so avoiding sources of Corruption is highly advised when possible.
Break
Break is an annoying status effect to contend with, as letting its bar build up entirely will temporarily decrease how much health your Pulse Cells heal. This can be especially frustrating when you already find yourself at low health and don't have many Pulse Cells left, but it's usually best to wait until the effect wears off before healing so you can ensure you get the maximum amount of health possible.
Disruption
Disruption is perhaps the most concerning of all status effects in the game, as you'll be instantly killed when the Disruption bar fills up entirely. If you find yourself in a situation where a lot of Disruption damage is being doled out, it's best to back off until the bar depletes some or you'll soon be seeing a Game Over screen.
How to cure status effects
There are multiple items in the game designed to help you cure specific ailments, as well as items that can increase your resistance to them so that you can reduce your chance of becoming infected to begin with. You can find these cure and resistance items in various places while exploring throughout the game, or you can buy them with Ergo from Polendia at Hotel Krat.

Attribute Purification Ampoule - Cures Overheat, Electric Shock, Decay, and Corruption
Special Purification Ampoule - Cures Shock, Break, and Disruption
Attribute Resistance Ampoule - Enhances resistance to Overheat, Electric Shock, Decay, and Corruption
Special Resistance Ampoule - Enhances resistance to Shock, Break, and Disruption

Read more
The impending Xbox 360 Store closure makes me wary of Game Pass’ future
The Xbox logo.

I'm an avid Xbox Game Pass user, often trying almost every game that comes to the service and closely following the games coming to and leaving the service each month. Following some recent announcements by Microsoft, though, I've been thinking a lot more about something else about Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft's current digital-focused Xbox storefronts and ecosystem: what happens when it all goes away?
Microsoft announced last week that it will shut down the Xbox 360 Store in July 2024. After that day, it will be impossible to buy games, movies, or TV shows digitally on the Xbox 360 store; it's just like what happened with the 3DS and Wii U eShops earlier this year. That announcement also came not long after Microsoft revealed it would replace Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass Core in September. With these changes, Microsoft is stamping out any support or focus its giving to the Xbox 360's era as a platform. As someone who grew up mostly playing Xbox 360, seeing these things I grew up with go away is saddening. It's also making me think about the day this will eventually happen to Xbox Game Pass or the store on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Frankly, I'm not as concerned that Microsoft is going to do it anytime soon. Microsoft has given no indication that it plans on abandoning Xbox Game Pass. It's a really successful subscription service heavily integrated into all of its current platforms, there are titles confirmed to launch day one on it into 2024 and beyond, and Xbox initiatives like Play Anywhere and Smart Delivery ensure that at least some version of most Xbox games are available on other platforms. While I expect it to be the primary part of Microsoft's gaming strategy over the next decade, as someone who mainly played Xbox 360 growing up and is now seeing its storefront and subscription service go away, I'm now thinking about what the end of the Game Pass era will look like.
These recent actions have indicated that Microsoft will eventually be willing to do the same to the storefronts and subscription service we're currently using. Even after the backlash PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox all faced from these announcements, Sony is the only one that has backtracked its plans to close down older digital storefronts, at least temporarily. Xbox Game Pass is the current hotness for Microsoft, but what happens come the day it isn't? A lot more games are digital-only or tied to a subscription this generation, and those are the games most at risk of being lost if a digital storefront shuts down.
What happens to the Xbox console versions of games like Pentiment or Immortality on Xbox once Xbox Game Pass and the current iteration of the Xbox Store are shuttered? Yes, they can be played on PC, but the Xbox console version will be lost forever. And right now, it doesn't seem like Microsoft has any publicly shared plans to permanently preserve those experiences, nor has it done so for all of the Xbox 360 digital games going away. Game preservation is a significant problem facing the game industry, and Microsoft has just made a move showing that it's on the wrong side of that effort. 

Read more