"Metro Exodus": Out of the tunnel

Spoiler Note: This text gives insights into the history of "Metro Exodus".

Under the shoes, the gravel crunches, shadows move in the flickering light of the torches, in the distance a scream sounds, a heavy breathing can be heard: "Metro Exodus" is always best when it can create a dense atmosphere.

If you do not want to go on, because the Geiger counter is ticking too loud and you would rather retire to his train to hear about the fears and hopes of the companions. But of course you have to continue - the journey to the east is long and arduous.

"Metro Exodus" is the latest installment in a series of shooters based on "Metro" novels by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky and developed by the originally based in Kiev Studio 4A Games.

In 2014, as part of the annexation of Crimea, this relocated part of the production to Malta, which was due to the uncertainty in Ukraine - as well as easier access to the Western European market. The studio has kept its style: Also "Metro Exodus" is a shooter, which is much stubborn and slower than the Western competition. And that's exactly what makes him so good, despite all the quirks.

A destroyed Russia

Protagonist Artyom and his wife Anna have to leave the Moscow metro and find a place in ruined Russia where they can stay. This is a big break in the "Metro" series, which has only played underground.

The survivors of a nuclear war have retreated to the metro and laboriously built a new life. The various stations have become small states, they are mirror images of social systems. There are fascists, communists, business believers: people have not become smart from the catastrophe and are also fighting each other in the tunnels of the metro.

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Artjom does not really want to participate. The young man dreams of one day returning to the surface to live there. He suspects that outside of Moscow life must exist, even if there is no radio connection to the outside, no sign of life from the outside world.

There are reasons for this, as Artyom and his wife Anna discover at the beginning of "Metro Exodus," when they discover a conspiracy and have to flee. On the way they are using a steam locomotive, which they steal from a depot and with which they want to reach the headquarters of the Russian government, a bunker in the Urals.

The plot is quickly forgotten

History over and over again stretches the benevolence that you bring to her. What is actually in the Urals, why you then travel on and take course to the east after a trip to the Caspian Sea, is at best questionable, only very rarely really convincing.

But that does not matter, the plot is quickly forgotten. "Metro Exodus" is brilliant and moving in many ways in its own brittle way. Even the train rides, where you can listen to the conversations of his colleagues, are touching. Hopes, fears and grief mingle with the small challenges of everyday life.

Someone plays a song on the guitar, others celebrate a little party. And in moments of silence, Artjom stands in front of the locomotive and smokes a cigarette in the wind as the desolate landscape passes by. It tells more than any story can do. It's about devastation, about war, and about the world continuing to turn - with other beings, hostile to humans, and with an environment from which man has said goodbye.

A journey through different social systems

If the train has to stop, Artjom not only encounters the mutated beings who populate the country, but also the scattered groups of people who have built a small life and defend it against outsiders. Bandits are God-fearing or survivors of a boarding school who split into two rival groups. "Metro Exodus" continues Glukhovsky's journey through various social systems, but hardly shows one in which people live in peace.

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Deep Silver:
Metro Exodus

PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One; 59.99 euros.

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And so the game not only draws a very pessimistic picture of a future world, but also provides pretexts for fighting. They can be very dynamic and require a lot of planning from the player.

Who does not maintain his rifles, shoots worse. Those who do not care for new ammunition soon will not have any more. And those who simply go into battle have worse maps than someone who tries to proceed in secret - also because the latter can generate benevolence of the opponents and it is easier to reach the goal.

Overall, "Metro Exodus" is a compelling new part of the series. He bravely explores new worlds, interestingly rewarding peaceful action and allowing players to easily parallels the current state of the world.

"Metro Exodus" is so insistent because it does not seem so far away from the current state of the world. It poses questions to the coexistence and opposition of humankind that will be carried out at the expense of the whole planet. The game is not a good testimony to people.

" Deep Expense " Metro Exodus , for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC, from 60 Euro; USK: From 18 years