Metro Exodus #2

I think it’s worth it to note that the last two games I’ve played about the post-apocalypse are about the collective effort to survive. 

The first game, Metro Exodus, functions as a single-player experience, but makes it continually known you’re operating as part of a whole family of survivors--your wife, her father, and your militia friends. But your band of survivors lacks the capacity to make the journey to eden. The Volga section of the game focuses on recruiting a medic and mechanic to your team. Your team has the whole ‘we carry and shoot a bunch of guns’ thing down. So seeing your team’s humility, acknowledging you need more than guns to survive only, is a welcome sight. This hasn’t come across in a mechanically satisfying way yet. Artyom’s only function is exploring and shooting. But I’m still really interested in this lore. 

Another thing I like about Metro Exodus; your missions in the open-world are one piece of a larger operation. Every mission is being completed alongside other characters doing their own work-- as you’re briefed on completing Mission A, so-and-so will start on Mission B. Mind you, you never see your support characters roaming around the game world, but this framing is still in the back of your mind. 

I’d compare this surviving-the-post-apocalypse-as-collective-endeavour to The Last of Us, and what I’m assuming will be true of Pt. II: games which lacks this interesting dynamic of Metro Exodus. The post-apocalypse in The Last of Us is individualistic. Your characters can snipe, kill in close quarters, repair vehicles, and patch up a zombie scratch or bullet wound. Joel and Ellie are the ideal self-sufficient post-apocalypse survivors.

The second game I’ve been playing, Umarangi Generation, is still great! And it really takes the dump on other games.