WEBVTT 00:00:03.199 --> 00:00:09.290 When people talk about Metro Exodus, they often use the term “immersive”. 00:00:09.290 --> 00:00:12.630 But what do we actually mean when we use that word? 00:00:12.630 --> 00:00:16.170 Because, this is a term that is not very well defined. 00:00:16.170 --> 00:00:21.760 I’ve seen it used to describe games with hyper realistic graphics. Survival horror games. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.660 VR titles. Immersive sims. 00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:28.980 And I’ve seen people call a game immersive if it’s so captivating, you end up ignoring 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:30.200 the world around you. 00:00:30.200 --> 00:00:36.460 It’s just a super vague term, and it's more often used as a marketing buzzword than serious game 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:37.570 design lingo. 00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:43.750 And yet, I totally get what people mean when they say that Metro Exodus is immersive. 00:00:43.750 --> 00:00:48.050 Because this game achieves something I don’t see very often in games - which is where I 00:00:48.050 --> 00:00:52.250 genuinely feel a sense of existing in the game’s world. 00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:58.079 In fact, i’ve only felt it a few times before, in games like Subnautica, STALKER: Shadow 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:01.260 of Chernobyl, Event[0], and Far Cry 2. 00:01:01.260 --> 00:01:06.299 And it’s not to the extent where I forget that I’m sitting in front of a TV, and genuinely 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:09.710 think I’m wandering around Africa or post apocalyptic Russia. 00:01:09.710 --> 00:01:12.320 I’m not a complete idiot. 00:01:12.320 --> 00:01:17.639 But it just sells me on the feeling of being in a place - with much more effectiveness 00:01:17.639 --> 00:01:19.880 than most other games. 00:01:19.880 --> 00:01:25.659 And in a year that is already jam-packed with post-apocalyptic, open world shooters with 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:31.899 crafting systems and drivable vehicles - Metro Exodus is the only one that really captures 00:01:31.899 --> 00:01:35.549 that feeling of being in a nuclear wasteland. 00:01:35.549 --> 00:01:40.819 And so, in this video, I want to bust apart the buzzwords and look at some super specific, 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:46.490 totally tangible design decisions that are employed by developer 4A Games, to draw us 00:01:46.490 --> 00:01:50.840 into the world of Metro Exodus. 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:59.579 Now, for some background, the first two Metro games - Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light, take 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:04.359 place in the ruins of a Moscow that has been ravaged by nuclear war. 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:09.560 The surface is a deadly, irradiated hell-scape that’s crawling with mutated creatures - but 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:14.069 the underground Metro tunnels are safe, warm, and full of life. 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:16.940 These games are primarily linear shooters. 00:02:16.940 --> 00:02:19.370 But Exodus is something quite different. 00:02:19.370 --> 00:02:24.890 In this one, hero Artyom and his pals decide to leave the Metro behind, and travel across 00:02:24.890 --> 00:02:29.530 post-war Russia to look for a safe place to live, overground. 00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:33.630 They travel first on foot, and then later by train. 00:02:33.630 --> 00:02:36.780 Along your journey, you’ll stop off at various locations. 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:41.269 Sometimes that’s for linear levels that harken back to the original games. 00:02:41.269 --> 00:02:46.000 But at other-times you get dropped off in miniature open world maps, like the icy banks 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.579 of the Volga river, or a sparse sandy desert: which is actually the dried out Caspian sea. 00:02:51.579 --> 00:02:58.630 And it’s in these tiny open worlds that Metro Exodus is at its most immersive. 00:02:58.630 --> 00:03:04.090 So the first, and most obvious way that Metro Exodus achieves immersion is the way the game 00:03:04.090 --> 00:03:07.000 rarely takes you out of the in-game world. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.080 So your map is sellotaped to a leather binder, and your quest marker is on a compass that’s 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:13.489 strapped to your wrist. 00:03:13.489 --> 00:03:17.390 And when you’re crafting something, you’ve got to sling your backpack on the ground to 00:03:17.390 --> 00:03:19.349 get your materials out. 00:03:19.349 --> 00:03:24.299 Where other games would definitely make this stuff into menu screens or HUD elements, Metro 00:03:24.299 --> 00:03:29.629 makes them physical and tangible parts of the world, meaning the only time you disconnect 00:03:29.629 --> 00:03:34.670 from the world around you is when you pause the game, or hit a rare loading screen. 00:03:34.670 --> 00:03:38.180 And there’s an interesting byproduct of this decision - and thats how you are left 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:40.569 vulnerable when performing these actions. 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:45.069 You don’t pause the game to craft things in the safety of a menu screen, but you do 00:03:45.069 --> 00:03:47.750 it in real time, in the world. 00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:51.879 So if you quickly need to craft a medkit in the middle of battle, you need to find a safe 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:56.890 place and hastily get your bag out and patch together a box of Superdrug plasters. 00:03:56.890 --> 00:04:01.349 Of course, it’s possible to take this stuff too far. 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:07.799 A game like Red Dead Redemption 2 really focused on tangible and physical interactions with 00:04:07.799 --> 00:04:12.709 the world, with hyper detailed animations and menus that made you look through an authentic 00:04:12.709 --> 00:04:14.650 catalogue of cowboy hats. 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:20.790 But, at times, it tipped the balance into tedium, and it also very rarely led to actually 00:04:20.790 --> 00:04:22.870 interesting gameplay consequences. 00:04:22.870 --> 00:04:26.350 But there’s more to Exodus’s grounded design. 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:29.770 Something we see in a lot of open world games is upgrades. 00:04:29.770 --> 00:04:34.390 You grab currency as you play through the game, and then open a menu to unlock new skills 00:04:34.390 --> 00:04:37.690 - from basic actions to superhero powers. 00:04:37.690 --> 00:04:42.640 Again, Exodus keeps things in the game world: So the only upgrades you can make to your 00:04:42.640 --> 00:04:47.610 character are from things you can actually find - whether that’s scopes and silencers 00:04:47.610 --> 00:04:52.550 that you rip off discarded weapons, or handy objects that you find on your travels. 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:55.956 Metro Exodus actually feels like scavenging, 00:04:55.960 --> 00:04:59.900 while these other games are more akin to, well, shopping. 00:05:02.140 --> 00:05:07.800 Another key way that Metro Exodus achieves immersion is by forcing you to be more aware 00:05:07.810 --> 00:05:10.200 of your surroundings and your status. 00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:15.070 It does this, in part, by asking you to constantly fix stuff. 00:05:15.070 --> 00:05:18.930 So your gas mask needs its filter replaced every few minutes. 00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:22.010 And any cracks and holes in the glass have to be patched up. 00:05:22.010 --> 00:05:26.720 You’ve got a gas-powered rifle, and you need to physically pump it by hand to keep 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:27.740 using it. 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:31.810 Your guns have to be regularly cleaned, or else they’ll jam in the heat of battle. 00:05:31.810 --> 00:05:36.270 Your electrical gear, like your headlamp and night vision goggles, has to be charged by 00:05:36.270 --> 00:05:38.520 hand crank when the power runs low. 00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:42.310 And your health doesn’t regenerate, so you need to patch yourself up with medkits. 00:05:42.310 --> 00:05:47.340 It’s this sort of regular personal maintenance that means you must always be thinking about 00:05:47.340 --> 00:05:49.710 your character and your needs. 00:05:49.710 --> 00:05:53.880 We generally see this sort of gameplay in survival games, where you are constantly losing 00:05:53.880 --> 00:05:58.160 energy and becoming more hungry - and by having to always think where your next meal will 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.270 come from, you become more immersed in the situation. 00:06:01.270 --> 00:06:05.920 I’d argue, however, that a lot of these games do go too far. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:10.110 These meters bottom out so quickly that you end up just fretting about running out of 00:06:10.110 --> 00:06:11.510 energy all the time. 00:06:11.510 --> 00:06:15.500 And now you’re no longer thinking about the world as a real place, but a collection 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:19.930 of The Sims-style meters that always need to be topped up. 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:25.970 Exodus takes a much lighter touch: Artyom never needs to eat a sandwich or go to the toilet, and 00:06:25.970 --> 00:06:29.050 the only punishment for letting something break is a momentary setback. 00:06:29.050 --> 00:06:34.840 But it’s enough of a concern to occupy some space in your mind, and make you more aware 00:06:34.840 --> 00:06:36.540 of yourself. 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:39.190 Same goes for the harsh resource scarcity. 00:06:39.190 --> 00:06:42.970 You are regularly running out of ammo in this game, to the point where you count your bullets 00:06:42.970 --> 00:06:46.951 before every engagement because you need to be sure you have enough ammo to make it out 00:06:46.951 --> 00:06:47.951 alive. 00:06:47.951 --> 00:06:51.040 Maybe it’s better to just let the enemies walk past. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.630 You can craft stuff, as I said, but there are limitations here as well. 00:06:55.630 --> 00:06:59.760 This is not a game where you can sellotape together a helicopter, after all. 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:06.290 So, for one, Metro Exodus only has two crafting resources: metal and chemical. 00:07:06.290 --> 00:07:09.930 And because everything comes from the same source, you’re constantly having to make 00:07:09.930 --> 00:07:12.480 decisions about where to spend your scrap. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.190 Do you make health packs? Or ammo? Or filters? Or grenades? You can’t have everything. 00:07:18.190 --> 00:07:23.320 And, also, Metro limits the things you can craft based on your location. 00:07:23.320 --> 00:07:27.321 Because while you can piece together bullets when you’re at a crafting workbench, the 00:07:27.321 --> 00:07:32.060 only ammo you can make when out and about is ball bearings for your pneumatic gun. 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:36.100 So you have to think ahead about what you’ll need to carry with you. 00:07:36.100 --> 00:07:40.890 The main way that Exodus makes you more aware of your surroundings, is by not doing what 00:07:40.890 --> 00:07:46.730 most open world games do - which is filling your map with icons and question marks and 00:07:46.730 --> 00:07:48.560 tiny points of interest. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:54.190 No. In Exodus, your map is empty (outside of your mission marker) and it’s up to you to fill 00:07:54.190 --> 00:07:55.260 it up. 00:07:55.260 --> 00:07:59.380 You can do this by getting somewhere high, pulling out your binoculars, and focusing 00:07:59.380 --> 00:08:02.590 the lens on curious locations. 00:08:02.590 --> 00:08:08.410 When you actually reach that location, though, Exodus is - again - very different to your usual 00:08:08.410 --> 00:08:10.090 open world game. 00:08:10.090 --> 00:08:16.340 So, the third way that Exodus lures you into its world, is by never giving you full information 00:08:16.340 --> 00:08:17.780 about what’s going on. 00:08:17.780 --> 00:08:23.100 You see, when you play something like Rage 2, it will tell you exactly what each area 00:08:23.100 --> 00:08:26.900 on the map is as soon as you get within 100 metres. 00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:29.010 In this case, it’s a bandit camp. 00:08:29.010 --> 00:08:34.169 And so, just like the 20-or-so other bandit camps in the world, you know that this location 00:08:34.169 --> 00:08:37.110 has a number of bad guys that you need to kill. 00:08:37.110 --> 00:08:42.690 It even tells you what resources you can find there, because who doesn’t like checklists? 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:49.150 But Metro Exodus gains a great deal by not telling you this information about its world. 00:08:49.150 --> 00:08:53.600 So, here, I came across a wrecked airplane hangar. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:59.600 Outside, I found and killed a flying gargoyle mutant. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.970 Then I went inside, and found a bunch of monsters - only to suddenly hear a bunch of bandits 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:07.030 pull up outside and start shouting at me. 00:09:07.030 --> 00:09:11.460 I then fought them off, until one gave up and surrended. 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:16.040 I didn’t know exactly what was happening and I didn’t know what to expect. 00:09:16.040 --> 00:09:18.510 And I didn’t know if I would be rewarded for my efforts. 00:09:18.510 --> 00:09:23.830 I just had to become fully immersed in the experience at hand. 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:28.890 Because when developers have systems in their game, it’s really up to them how much they 00:09:28.890 --> 00:09:30.770 reveal to the player. 00:09:30.770 --> 00:09:36.480 Games like Rage 2 and Far Cry New Dawn are extremely open - but more immersive games 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:41.020 can withhold that information, and keep you from ever being able to predict what will 00:09:41.020 --> 00:09:42.200 happen next. 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:47.360 Like, when enemies surrender, you’re left asking… what happens if you leave them? 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.300 Will they sneak up behind your back? Or run away? 00:09:50.300 --> 00:09:53.730 What happens if you kill them? You just don’t know. 00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:55.370 Here’s another story. 00:09:55.370 --> 00:10:00.790 There was a time in the Caspian area where I got ambushed by roving bandits in a truck, 00:10:00.790 --> 00:10:04.170 and was plunged into a frantic, dusty firefight. 00:10:04.170 --> 00:10:08.990 And then a short while later I slept in a safe house, only to be woken up by enemies 00:10:08.990 --> 00:10:10.740 surrounding me outside. 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:16.580 I genuinely still have no idea whether these were scripted events, or systemic moments 00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:17.680 driven by the AI. 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:23.670 But it doesn’t matter because the effect was the same: they were surprising, unpredictable, 00:10:23.670 --> 00:10:26.610 and anxiety-inducing moments. 00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:30.130 Compare that to something like a scavenger in Far Cry New Dawn. 00:10:30.130 --> 00:10:34.800 They’ve got an icon over their head, and a tool tip in the corner of the screen, and 00:10:34.800 --> 00:10:39.450 it’s immediately obvious that this is a distinct, authored chunk of content that will 00:10:39.450 --> 00:10:42.090 be repeated over and over again. 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:44.020 It feels gamey and inauthentic. 00:10:44.020 --> 00:10:47.690 As always, there’s a balance to strike. 00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:53.440 some games end up being so withholding about their systems that they are completely impenetrable. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:58.400 And players need a certain amount of information and predicability to make effective plans 00:10:58.400 --> 00:11:00.670 and play with intentionality. 00:11:00.670 --> 00:11:04.910 So it’s not just about being completely random - it’s about stopping players from 00:11:04.910 --> 00:11:10.360 ever finding the edges of the simulation. 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:12.860 The final element, is player reactivity. 00:11:12.860 --> 00:11:18.430 I think the most believable and immersive game worlds, are the ones that most effectively 00:11:18.430 --> 00:11:21.450 react to your presence and decisions. 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:24.260 Metro Exodus certainly has a bunch of this. 00:11:24.260 --> 00:11:28.800 You can holster your gun as you approach people, and they’ll realise that - and some will 00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:30.070 appreciate it. 00:11:30.070 --> 00:11:34.490 And choosing to save characters, like slaves and captured prisoners, can have consequences 00:11:34.490 --> 00:11:35.610 later on. 00:11:35.610 --> 00:11:40.050 In one section in the Volga I saved some people, and got given a key. 00:11:40.050 --> 00:11:44.980 And then, later, I used that key to unlock a door in some flooded train station to find 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:47.140 a pair of night vision goggles. 00:11:47.140 --> 00:11:53.480 That felt amazing, and the goggles became a powerful reminder of one of my wasteland stories. 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:58.130 Exodus also has characters who ask you to find stuff for them, like a guitar or a lost 00:11:58.130 --> 00:11:59.220 teddy bear. 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:03.339 This doesn’t turn into a checklist in your quest log, and there’s rarely a tangible 00:12:03.339 --> 00:12:05.080 reward for your actions. 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:09.910 But the way the game reacts to your kindness with heartfelt character moments makes it 00:12:09.910 --> 00:12:12.779 totally worth going out of your way. 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:17.950 This all plays into the morality system, which is one of the weaker elements of Metro Exodus. 00:12:17.950 --> 00:12:23.560 It’s one of those systems where it weighs up your quote unquote good and bad actions, 00:12:23.560 --> 00:12:27.320 and then plays a good or bad ending cutscene depending. 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:32.540 And the bad ending will probably get canonically binned by the next game in the series. 00:12:32.540 --> 00:12:37.550 And so there are games that do player reactivity better than Metro, and I’ll come to them 00:12:37.550 --> 00:12:38.640 in the future. 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:43.910 But it’s an important part of immersion, and definitely worth talking about. 00:12:43.910 --> 00:12:48.400 So Metro Exodus shows four key ways to make a game feel immersive. 00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:54.110 It keeps things grounded by having all of your interactions be physical, tactile, and 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:55.460 in-world. 00:12:55.460 --> 00:13:00.370 It asks you to be hyper aware of your existence in the world, by asking you to maintain your 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:04.160 equipment, and scout ahead with your binoculars. 00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:08.290 It withholds information about the game’s underlying systems, so feel like you never 00:13:08.290 --> 00:13:11.120 quite know what will be around the next corner. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:16.660 And it reacts to you, by commenting on, rewarding, and remembering your actions. 00:13:16.660 --> 00:13:21.460 The immersive thrills of Metro are about more than just the realistic graphics, the cracking 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:25.940 sound design, or the fact that you can play with Russian voice acting turned on. 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:29.920 ANNA: *Speaking Russian* 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.760 And there’s more to it than the simple fact that the game is first person, and the main 00:13:33.770 --> 00:13:35.890 character doesn’t speak. 00:13:35.890 --> 00:13:40.470 Those are all important, but it’s these design decisions that - together - mean Metro 00:13:40.470 --> 00:13:43.810 Exodus feels like more than a game. 00:13:43.810 --> 00:13:49.700 It’s a harrowing, unknowable, uncharted place that you travel to. 00:13:52.260 --> 00:13:54.220 Hey, thanks for watching! 00:13:54.220 --> 00:14:01.220 Remember that the GMTK Game Jam begins in August - and full details will be coming next month. 00:14:01.220 --> 00:14:08.060 GMTK is paid for by fans who support the show on Patreon.com, and I massively appreciate 00:14:08.060 --> 00:14:13.380 everyone who supports the show - no matter how much, or how long they give for!