Why Metro Exodus is so Immersive | Game Maker's Toolkit

When people talk about Metro Exodus, they
often use the term “immersive”.

But what do we actually mean when we use that
word?

Because, this is a term that is not very well
defined.

I’ve seen it used to describe games with
hyper realistic graphics. Survival horror games.

VR titles. Immersive sims.

And I’ve seen people call a game immersive
if it’s so captivating, you end up ignoring

the world around you.

It’s just a super vague term, and it's more
often used as a marketing buzzword than serious game

design lingo.

And yet, I totally get what people mean when
they say that Metro Exodus is immersive.

Because this game achieves something I don’t
see very often in games - which is where I

genuinely feel a sense of existing in the
game’s world.

In fact, i’ve only felt it a few times before,
in games like Subnautica, STALKER: Shadow

of Chernobyl, Event[0], and Far Cry 2.

And it’s not to the extent where I forget
that I’m sitting in front of a TV, and genuinely

think I’m wandering around Africa or post
apocalyptic Russia.

I’m not a complete idiot.

But it just sells me on the feeling of being
in a place - with much more effectiveness

than most other games.

And in a year that is already jam-packed with
post-apocalyptic, open world shooters with

crafting systems and drivable vehicles - Metro
Exodus is the only one that really captures

that feeling of being in a nuclear wasteland.

And so, in this video, I want to bust apart
the buzzwords and look at some super specific,

totally tangible design decisions that are
employed by developer 4A Games, to draw us

into the world of Metro Exodus.

Now, for some background, the first two Metro
games - Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light, take

place in the ruins of a Moscow that has been
ravaged by nuclear war.

The surface is a deadly, irradiated hell-scape
that’s crawling with mutated creatures - but

the underground Metro tunnels are safe, warm,
and full of life.

These games are primarily linear shooters.

But Exodus is something quite different.

In this one, hero Artyom and his pals decide
to leave the Metro behind, and travel across

post-war Russia to look for a safe place to
live, overground.

They travel first on foot, and then later
by train.

Along your journey, you’ll stop off at various
locations.

Sometimes that’s for linear levels that
harken back to the original games.

But at other-times you get dropped off in
miniature open world maps, like the icy banks

of the Volga river, or a sparse sandy desert:
which is actually the dried out Caspian sea.

And it’s in these tiny open worlds that
Metro Exodus is at its most immersive.

So the first, and most obvious way that Metro
Exodus achieves immersion is the way the game

rarely takes you out of the in-game world.

So your map is sellotaped to a leather binder,
and your quest marker is on a compass that’s

strapped to your wrist.

And when you’re crafting something, you’ve
got to sling your backpack on the ground to

get your materials out.

Where other games would definitely make this
stuff into menu screens or HUD elements, Metro

makes them physical and tangible parts of
the world, meaning the only time you disconnect

from the world around you is when you pause
the game, or hit a rare loading screen.

And there’s an interesting byproduct of
this decision - and thats how you are left

vulnerable when performing these actions.

You don’t pause the game to craft things
in the safety of a menu screen, but you do

it in real time, in the world.

So if you quickly need to craft a medkit in
the middle of battle, you need to find a safe

place and hastily get your bag out and patch
together a box of Superdrug plasters.

Of course, it’s possible to take this stuff
too far.

A game like Red Dead Redemption 2 really focused
on tangible and physical interactions with

the world, with hyper detailed animations
and menus that made you look through an authentic

catalogue of cowboy hats.

But, at times, it tipped the balance into
tedium, and it also very rarely led to actually

interesting gameplay consequences.

But there’s more to Exodus’s grounded
design.

Something we see in a lot of open world games
is upgrades.

You grab currency as you play through the
game, and then open a menu to unlock new skills

- from basic actions to superhero powers.

Again, Exodus keeps things in the game world:
So the only upgrades you can make to your

character are from things you can actually
find - whether that’s scopes and silencers

that you rip off discarded weapons, or handy
objects that you find on your travels.

Metro Exodus actually feels like scavenging,

while these other games are more akin to, well, shopping.

Another key way that Metro Exodus achieves
immersion is by forcing you to be more aware

of your surroundings and your status.

It does this, in part, by asking you to constantly
fix stuff.

So your gas mask needs its filter replaced
every few minutes.

And any cracks and holes in the glass have
to be patched up.

You’ve got a gas-powered rifle, and you
need to physically pump it by hand to keep

using it.

Your guns have to be regularly cleaned, or
else they’ll jam in the heat of battle.

Your electrical gear, like your headlamp and
night vision goggles, has to be charged by

hand crank when the power runs low.

And your health doesn’t regenerate, so you
need to patch yourself up with medkits.

It’s this sort of regular personal maintenance
that means you must always be thinking about

your character and your needs.

We generally see this sort of gameplay in
survival games, where you are constantly losing

energy and becoming more hungry - and by having
to always think where your next meal will

come from, you become more immersed in the
situation.

I’d argue, however, that a lot of these
games do go too far.

These meters bottom out so quickly that you
end up just fretting about running out of

energy all the time.

And now you’re no longer thinking about
the world as a real place, but a collection

of The Sims-style meters that always need
to be topped up.

Exodus takes a much lighter touch: Artyom
never needs to eat a sandwich or go to the toilet, and

the only punishment for letting something
break is a momentary setback.

But it’s enough of a concern to occupy some
space in your mind, and make you more aware

of yourself.

Same goes for the harsh resource scarcity.

You are regularly running out of ammo in this
game, to the point where you count your bullets

before every engagement because you need to
be sure you have enough ammo to make it out

alive.

Maybe it’s better to just let the enemies
walk past.

You can craft stuff, as I said, but there
are limitations here as well.

This is not a game where you can sellotape
together a helicopter, after all.

So, for one, Metro Exodus only has two crafting
resources: metal and chemical.

And because everything comes from the same
source, you’re constantly having to make

decisions about where to spend your scrap.

Do you make health packs? Or ammo? Or filters? Or grenades? You can’t have everything.

And, also, Metro limits the things you can
craft based on your location.

Because while you can piece together bullets
when you’re at a crafting workbench, the

only ammo you can make when out and about
is ball bearings for your pneumatic gun.

So you have to think ahead about what you’ll
need to carry with you.

The main way that Exodus makes you more aware
of your surroundings, is by not doing what

most open world games do - which is filling
your map with icons and question marks and

tiny points of interest.

No. In Exodus, your map is empty (outside of your
mission marker) and it’s up to you to fill

it up.

You can do this by getting somewhere high,
pulling out your binoculars, and focusing

the lens on curious locations.

When you actually reach that location, though, Exodus
is - again - very different to your usual

open world game.

So, the third way that Exodus lures you into
its world, is by never giving you full information

about what’s going on.

You see, when you play something like Rage
2, it will tell you exactly what each area

on the map is as soon as you get within 100
metres.

In this case, it’s a bandit camp.

And so, just like the 20-or-so other bandit
camps in the world, you know that this location

has a number of bad guys that you need to
kill.

It even tells you what resources you can find
there, because who doesn’t like checklists?

But Metro Exodus gains a great deal by not
telling you this information about its world.

So, here, I came across a wrecked airplane
hangar.

Outside, I found and killed a flying gargoyle
mutant.

Then I went inside, and found a bunch of monsters
- only to suddenly hear a bunch of bandits

pull up outside and start shouting at me.

I then fought them off, until one gave up
and surrended.

I didn’t know exactly what was happening and I didn’t know what to expect.

And I didn’t know if I would be rewarded
for my efforts.

I just had to become fully immersed in the experience
at hand.

Because when developers have systems in their
game, it’s really up to them how much they

reveal to the player.

Games like Rage 2 and Far Cry New Dawn are
extremely open - but more immersive games

can withhold that information, and keep you
from ever being able to predict what will

happen next.

Like, when enemies surrender, you’re left
asking… what happens if you leave them?

Will they sneak up behind your back? Or run away?

What happens if you kill them? You just don’t know.

Here’s another story.

There was a time in the Caspian area where
I got ambushed by roving bandits in a truck,

and was plunged into a frantic, dusty firefight.

And then a short while later I slept in a
safe house, only to be woken up by enemies

surrounding me outside.

I genuinely still have no idea whether these
were scripted events, or systemic moments

driven by the AI.

But it doesn’t matter because the effect
was the same: they were surprising, unpredictable,

and anxiety-inducing moments.

Compare that to something like a scavenger
in Far Cry New Dawn.

They’ve got an icon over their head, and
a tool tip in the corner of the screen, and

it’s immediately obvious that this is a
distinct, authored chunk of content that will

be repeated over and over again.

It feels gamey and inauthentic.

As always, there’s a balance to strike.

some games end up being so withholding about
their systems that they are completely impenetrable.

And players need a certain amount of information
and predicability to make effective plans

and play with intentionality.

So it’s not just about being completely
random - it’s about stopping players from

ever finding the edges of the simulation.

The final element, is player reactivity.

I think the most believable and immersive
game worlds, are the ones that most effectively

react to your presence and decisions.

Metro Exodus certainly has a bunch of this.

You can holster your gun as you approach people,
and they’ll realise that - and some will

appreciate it.

And choosing to save characters, like slaves
and captured prisoners, can have consequences

later on.

In one section in the Volga I saved some people,
and got given a key.

And then, later, I used that key to unlock
a door in some flooded train station to find

a pair of night vision goggles.

That felt amazing, and the goggles became
a powerful reminder of one of my wasteland stories.

Exodus also has characters who ask you to
find stuff for them, like a guitar or a lost

teddy bear.

This doesn’t turn into a checklist in your
quest log, and there’s rarely a tangible

reward for your actions.

But the way the game reacts to your kindness
with heartfelt character moments makes it

totally worth going out of your way.

This all plays into the morality system, which
is one of the weaker elements of Metro Exodus.

It’s one of those systems where it weighs
up your quote unquote good and bad actions,

and then plays a good or bad ending cutscene
depending.

And the bad ending will probably get canonically
binned by the next game in the series.

And so there are games that do player reactivity
better than Metro, and I’ll come to them

in the future.

But it’s an important part of immersion,
and definitely worth talking about.

So Metro Exodus shows four key ways to make
a game feel immersive.

It keeps things grounded by having all of
your interactions be physical, tactile, and

in-world.

It asks you to be hyper aware of your existence
in the world, by asking you to maintain your

equipment, and scout ahead with your binoculars.

It withholds information about the game’s
underlying systems, so feel like you never

quite know what will be around the next corner.

And it reacts to you, by commenting on, rewarding,
and remembering your actions.

The immersive thrills of Metro are about more
than just the realistic graphics, the cracking

sound design, or the fact that you can play
with Russian voice acting turned on.

ANNA: *Speaking Russian*

And there’s more to it than the simple fact
that the game is first person, and the main

character doesn’t speak.

Those are all important, but it’s these
design decisions that - together - mean Metro

Exodus feels like more than a game.

It’s a harrowing, unknowable, uncharted
place that you travel to.

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