Setting and characters Metro Exodus is set in 2035, one year after the events of
Metro: Last Light, on a post-apocalyptic Earth that has been devastated by a
nuclear war. Many parts of the world are uninhabitable due to radiation, forcing humans to create communities to survive, and split into factions both peaceful and hostile, who often fight against one another and against aggressive mutant creatures that roam the surface and underground. The game continues the story from
Metro: Last Lights "Redemption" ending. As in the two preceding games, the player assumes the role of Artyom, who flees the
Moscow Metro and sets off on a locomotive called the
Aurora with his allies on a journey to the Far East. The story takes place over one year, starting with a harsh
nuclear winter in the Metro. Anna, another major character in the preceding game and the book
Metro 2035, is now Artyom's wife. Miller, Anna's father and leader of the militaristic Spartan Order in previous games and novels, returns. Artyom's Spartan comrades include Alyosha, Damir, Duke, Idiot, Sam, Stepan, and Tokarev. Other characters who join the
Aurora crew during their journey include an engineer named Yermak, a nurse named Katya, Katya's daughter Nastya, and a mechanic named Krest.
Plot After
the battle at D6, Artyom leaves the Spartan Order, disillusioned with the constant infighting and corruption within the Metro. He obsesses with proving other humans outside of Moscow have survived and makes numerous expeditions to the surface, despite Anna and Miller insisting it is futile. During an expedition with Anna, they witness a train running on the surface. Before they can follow it, they are captured by Hansa soldiers, who shoot Artyom and take Anna hostage. Artyom survives the shooting; he follows the soldiers to rescue Anna and inadvertently destroys a signal
jammer that was blocking all radio communications between Moscow and the outside world. Radio transmissions begin to be received, and Artyom and Anna realize humanity has not gone extinct. They escape by stealing one of Hansa's locomotives that they later name
Aurora. As the train leaves, the Spartan Order moves in to retake it, and are shocked by Artyom's and Anna's presence. Knowing Hansa will kill all of them for knowing the truth, Miller concludes the Spartans' best chance of survival is to flee Moscow. Outside the city, Miller tells the others that while many of Russia's cities were bombed, the war did not end and
NATO has occupied the remains of the nation. To prevent NATO from attacking Moscow, the Russian leadership decided to secretly jam all communications to make the outside world believe nobody had survived. They receive a radio broadcast from Moscow Defense Command calling for survivors to rally at the "Ark", which is located at
Mount Yamantau. Miller decides to go there, believing it is where the Russian government has rebuilt itself. After crossing the
Volga River controlled by a technophobic cult, acquiring a passenger cart and a railcar in the process, the Spartans reach the Yamantau base, only to discover its service-and-construction crew have devolved into insane cannibals who lure survivors with the false promise of safety. Artyom and the Spartans fight their way out and escape. Using a map they recovered from Yamantau, they travel to a satellite communications center in the dried-out
Caspian Sea, which is now controlled by slavers, hoping to gain access to satellite scans and find habitable land to settle. After helping the local resistance fight the slavers and obtaining fuel and water supplies, the Spartans move on. As they continue their journey, Anna falls ill from previously breathing poisonous gas at the Volga. They scout a nearby
taiga forest valley to see if it is suitable to settle, encountering a tribe of local survivors called the "Children of the Forest". The Spartans find the dam protecting the valley from radiation is about to break, making the area uninhabitable. When Artyom returns to the train, he finds Anna's condition has worsened. The Spartans detour to the heavily-irradiated city of
Novosibirsk, where an antidote for Anna may be found. Despite the risk, Miller and Artyom head into the city alone. They enter the
Novosibirsk Metro and find a young boy named Kirill, the last Novosibirsk survivor, who explains his father left on a mission to obtain a map marking a clean, habitable area. Miller and Artyom split up; Miller goes to find the map and Artyom searches for the antidote. Artyom finds it, but a mutant gravely wounds him and he absorbs a heavy dose of radiation. Artyom, Miller, and Kirill head for the train with the map and the antidote; on the return journey, Miller uses a dose of anti-radiation serum meant for himself to save Artyom, and dies of radiation poisoning. The rest of the Spartans donate blood to give Artyom a critical transfusion. Anna is cured and with the map, the Spartans settle on the shores of
Lake Baikal, which is free from radiation. Artyom's fate depends on the choices the player made during the journey; In the bad ending Artyom dies, the Spartans and a grieving Anna hold a funeral for him, and Artyom and Miller's spirits awaken on a dilapidated version of the
Aurora, remaining for eternity in ghostly purgatory. In the good ending, Artyom survives, Miller is buried, and Artyom is selected to replace him as leader of the Spartan Order. Now with a radiation-free home, Artyom plans to return to Moscow and reveal the truth of the world to the people of the Metro.
The Two Colonels While Artyom goes to find the cure for Anna's illness in Novosibirsk, Miller retraces the steps of Kirill's father Colonel Vyacheslav "Slava" Khlebnikov to find the satellite map. One year prior, Slava works as a soldier protecting the Novosibirsk Metro while raising Kirill. At the same time, the Novosibirsk Metro government (OSKOM) is planning to evacuate the Metro but there is insufficient anti-radiation serum to protect the entire population. OSKOM confiscates serum from civilians, causing unrest. Civil war breaks out in the Metro, forcing Slava to defend OSKOM headquarters from the rebels. Slava's superior, General Anatoliy "Tolya" Vinogradov, deploys poison gas during the battle. When Slava confronts him for this, Tolya reveals OSKOM leadership has already taken the remaining serum and fled, but not before flooding the Metro with poison gas to kill the rest of the population. Tolya, bitter at being left behind, destroys the OSKOM evacuation train before committing suicide upon learning of his son's death. With no other choice, Slava descends into a mutant-infested bunker to retrieve the map leading to Lake Baikal and escape the city with Kirill. He finds the map but succumbs to radiation poisoning after losing his dose of serum. In the present, Miller enters the bunker, and finds Slava's body and the map. He tells Slava he did not die in vain and promises to evacuate Kirill from Novosibirsk before leaving.
''Sam's Story'' After the Spartan Order settles in Lake Baikal, one of the Spartans, former
Marine Security Guard Samuel "Sam" Taylor, decides to return to his home in
San Diego to see if his father survived the nuclear war. Sam travels to the port city of
Vladivostok where he meets Captain Eduard "Ed" Baranov. Baranov directs Sam to an intact nuclear submarine named the
Mayflower, which can take Sam back to the United States. Sam is captured and brought to Tom, a fellow
American. Tom says he was an arms dealer left stranded in Russia after the nuclear attacks, and asks Sam to find Ed, who is the only person who knows how to refuel the
Mayflower. Ed does not trust Tom's intentions with the
Mayflower, especially because it is still armed with nuclear missiles and his crew is missing, but Sam persuades Ed to negotiate a deal with Tom. Sam and Ed travel to a nearby abandoned naval base to recover the fuel rods needed to power the
Mayflower. Ed, who is still mistrustful of Tom, asks Sam to sabotage the submarine, even if it means sacrificing his chance to return home. Tom's lieutenant Klim betrays him and attacks the
Mayflower, forcing Sam, Ed, and Tom to work together. Sam kills Klim and the
Mayflower sets sail from the port. Sam can choose whether to sabotage the
Mayflower or leave it intact. If Sam does not sabotage the
Mayflower, Tom takes him to San Diego as promised with the firepower of the vessel at his command. If Sam sabotages the
Mayflower, it explodes and sinks, killing both Ed and Tom. Sam remains in Vladivostok but is happy knowing nobody can use the nuclear weapons the
Mayflower was carrying and resolves to find another way to return home. ==Development==