If you were disappointed with Fallout 76 when it launched last year, then Metro Exodus might be the post-apocalyptic survival game you’ve been waiting for.
Fallout 76 felt directionless and thrown together, while Metro Exodus feels like a much tighter experience in a hand crafted game world.
It’s a survival game that delivers tension by the bucketload, as you agonise over every shot, count every bullet and loot every bit of scrap metal you can find.
The game takes place over the course of about a year, as lead character Artyom and his crew make an epic cross-country train journey in search of a new home.
Needless to say, it’s a journey fraught with danger, as you drop in to diverse locations populated by mutants and marauders.
Bathed in sunshine, the desert-themed Caspian stage is the biggest of the bunch, and on the surface at least, quite unlike anything we’ve seen in the Metro series so far.
A miniature sandbox that’s ripe for exploration, the Caspian features a combination of open-world exploration and claustrophobic corridor sections the series is famous for.
It’s this mixture of old and new, colossal and confined that makes Metro Exodus such an attractive game and appealing prospect.
On the one hand you have complete freedom to explore this visually stunning landscape in search of new materials and adventures to aid you on your quest.
Whether it’s a rusty shipwreck, an old lighthouse, or a heavily guarded settlement, every corner of the map has something new and interesting for you to discover.
But fear not long-time Metro fans, because Exodus still contains those oppressive corridor sections that are packed with scares.
Follow the story objectives and you’ll soon find yourself underground, stumbling your way through pitch black corridors blasting beastly spiders, scorpions and other bugs.
It’s tense, thrilling and just a little bit terrifying, especially if you haven’t been conserving your ammo and are starting to run low.
Even at this early stage, Metro Exodus is shaping up to be one of the better releases of 2019.
At the very least, this impressive post-apocalyptic powerhouse should be enough to make you forget about Fallout 76.
Metro Exodus has a February 15 release date on PS4, Xbox One and PC.