Metro exodus expansion pass: two colonels and sams story - review

In February 2020, the last addition to the game was released, so we decided to return to the world that survived the nuclear war, and tell how valuable the released Addons have become for fans.

"Two colonels" - the first of two additions - returns us to Novosibirsk and tells the story of Colonel OSKOM Khlebnikov. The game mentioned him during the passage of the last level – it was the son of this character - Kirill - who helped Artem and Melnik find satellite images.

The Supplement starts when Artyom goes in search of a cure for Anna, and Melnik briefly stays with Kirill while he tells him about his father. The story is gradually moved to a year, six months, and three months before the events of the original game. The story of the Supplement will allow you to get a little more familiar with the life of the inhabitants of the Novosibirsk metro, show what difficulties its residents face in comparison with the metro in Moscow, and shed light on the events that led to the death of the Novosibirsk subway.

After the release of “Metro: Exodus", many players noted that with access to open spaces, they lacked the cramped subway tunnels from the first two games. Obviously, the addition “Two colonels” is addressed to them - it is a kind of reference to Metro 2033 and Last Light, returning players to the ground. Fans of the series will be happy to ride a small trolley again, as well as hear the title theme from the first part. On the other hand, supporters of open Locations from Exodus may get bored in the cramped and dark dungeons that make up most of the expansion.

Unfortunately, the fun turned out to be very short – lived-the DLC passes at a slow pace in just two or three hours and offers very little really fresh content. Among the innovations here is a flamethrower used to burn out colonies of worms from the walls of tunnels and fight mutants. But the new enemies were not brought - they were all transferred here directly from the original game. Well, it should be noted that the main character, unlike Artem, can speak not only on loading screens, but also during the game.

In the Russian version, Khlebnikov speaks in the voice of Adam Jensen from the last two parts of Deus Ex. The voice acting turned out to be quite good, but occasionally the actor still overly dramatizes his speech.

The "Two colonels" Supplement is hardly a must-read, given the short duration and small number of innovations, but as a story about how Colonel Khlebnikov's last sortie ended, this couple of hours can be quite interesting.

To the production of the second Supplement called “Sam's Story” 4A Games came up more thoroughly. The story focuses on the adventures of Sam Taylor, a former US army marine who was the only American in the Miller's squad.

The plot begins immediately after the finale of Metro Exodus. Sam says goodbye to the Spartans and goes home alone, to the United States, hoping to find his father. His path lies in Vladivostok, where Sam hopes to find a ship that can take him home.

The add – on offers players a completely new location for free exploration-Vladivostok. Just don't wait for a reliable visualization of the city. Judging by the reviews of residents of real Vladivostok, the developers limited themselves to demonstrating several attractions, including the funicular and the Golden bridge.

The remaining locations are a free variation on how the coastal part of the city might look after flooding. Yes, here you will often have to travel by motor boat between land areas.

"Sam's story" adds about six hours of gameplay and offers several new weapons – a Colt 1911 semi-automatic pistol and a submachine gun, which, thanks to customization, can be both a rapid-fire melee weapon and a long-range sniper rifle.

The bestiary of opponents, however, was not replenished much. The only newcomer here was a rat - a demon-like monster from the original, which is accompanied by flocks of bats. However, his appearance is strictly scripted and represent a rather dull bossfayty, during which you have to perform monotonous actions - wait until he flutters out of the thicket, have time to shoot a couple of times and repeat to victory.

The plot turned out to be somewhat vague. The focus is on the confrontation between two captains who are fighting for the right to own a submarine with nuclear weapons on Board. Only the conflict itself is sucked out of the finger and not sufficiently disclosed, and the motivation of rivals raises questions. One of the characters tries to dictate terms by threatening to use nuclear weapons, but it is not clear to whom. The other is a complete alcoholic who for some reason does not care.

The graphics in the game are still great, and many views are literally begging for screenshots for the desktop. However, this time the new location loses to the levels from the original – Vladivostok is inferior to the Volga and the Caspian sea in atmosphere.

As for the sound, in General everything is good. New trunks are able to make quite a pleasant noise.

But the voice - over of the Americans disappointed. Sam is fully voiced and constantly chatters in the screensavers and during gameplay, but the actor does not give the impression of an American who somehow learned to speak Russian, but resembles a typical Russian who, according to his own ideas about Americans, will absurdly imitate the appropriate accent. Yes, this problem was relevant to the original, but there Sam was far from in the foreground.

All of the above is true for the second native of America, Tom, whom we will meet in the new Supplement. So if you are demanding the authenticity and quality of voice acting of characters, then long dialogues between Tom and Sam can cause pain.

Metro: Exodus - “Two colonels" and “Sam's story" are two good additions created specifically for fans. They do not bring anything really interesting to the series, but they will be pleasant for fans of the franchise who can't wait to return to the atmospheric world of Metro for at least a few hours. This is quite a good option, especially as part of the Expansion Pass, which will probably participate in the upcoming sales.