Surviving in Metro Exodus is a near constant struggle. Between the mutants, bandits, toxic gasses and radiation, it often seems like everything on the surface world is out to kill you. But fear not, this guide will help you get through this unfamiliar world alive with the information you need to overcome challenges.
Maintain Your Weapons
The surface world is a big mess, filled with mud, slime, sand and more that will all jam up your weapons over time. Dirt will gradually decrease your gun’s accuracy, and filthy weapons may jam. Some guns, like the Bulldog, will get dirty faster than others. Worst of all, just carrying your weapons and crawling through mud will get them dirty. You don’t even need to fire them. Lifting a new weapon off a bandit won’t help because the grime somehow carries over.
It’s always a good idea to make sure your guns are well maintained. You can upgrade weapon attachments from your backpack but you can only clean them from workbenches. So, you’ll have to unlock safehouses whenever possible or else you’ll have to trek back-and-forth from the train. If you happen to find yourself back at home base, check in with your weaponsmith Tokarev from time-to-time to see if he has any new upgrades for your pneumatic rifle, Tikhar.
While you’re at workbenches, make sure you have the latest armor, gas mask, and gadget upgrades attached to your gear along with the necessary ammunition and explosives for your mission. I suggest stocking up on molotovs since they’re useful for blocking entryways and you have slightly lower chance of hurting yourself with them.
You’ll also want to leave precision weapons such as sniper rifles holstered for as long as possible to keep them clean while walking around with less accurate weapons like the A-Shot shotgun. That way, you’ll have clean rifles when you need them.
Keeping your main weapon holstered doesn’t do a lot to keep it clean. All it does is lower it for certain interactions. Also, lowering your weapon means that you will no longer be able to see your watch and compass.
Move At Night
Although there is decreased visibility and other possible hazards, the benefits of doing missions at night are simply too great to overlook. The darkness will make you harder to spot, so you can approach hostile encampments more easily. It will also be easier to see guards, since most of them have their headlamps on, giving you clear indications of where they are and where they’re looking. You might miss out on some of the gorgeous scenery, but there will be plenty of time for daylight exploration once you’ve cleared out all the bandit camps.
Locating safehouses should be a priority since they are the only places where you can rest and quickly switch between the day and night cycles. But switching to night may not be necessary if you plan on striking an indoor location, as bandits usually cover up all the windows and work in near total darkness anyway.
Lights Out
Sneaking around at night doesn’t mean much if you’re still spotted standing next to a lit candle. So, extinguish every fire, loosen every bulb, and pick every glowing mushroom you come across, but don’t take any unnecessary risks. If the guards are far enough away, you can use the Tikhar to safely shoot out lanterns from a distance. If there are overhead lights, then try looking for fuse boxes to shut them down. Ideally, all you should be left with are chemical lights, moonlight, and other small sources that should provide just enough ambient light for you to see where you’re going.
If you need to use your headlamp while raiding a bandit base, then try to quickly switch it on and off while no one is looking. If you’re in a mission where mutant creatures constantly leap out to ambush you, then go ahead and leave the headlamp on. Otherwise, it might be worthwhile to stick with the night vision goggles. It consumes more energy, so you’ll need to stop and recharge more frequently, and bright lights will blow out your vision, but it will give you the clearest view of your environment with no risk of detection. Plus, you can turn night vision on and off as necessary.
Sharpen Your Knife Throwing Skills
In Metro Exodus, silencers aren’t really silent. An enemy standing close enough to you will hear shots fired from the Tikhar. So, unless you’re shooting open a lock, it’s usually better to use throwing knives whenever you can. Although they don’t have much range and you’ll have to aim by sight alone, the list of advantages makes up for its shortcomings.
- They’re completely silent unless you miss.
- They can kill most targets with one hit.
- Knives can be retrieved from corpses and the ground and reused.
- You can make more from your backpack.
- They don’t require any cleaning.
Throwing knives and melee takedowns should hold you over until you pick up the Helsing crossbow, which also uses silent reusable ammunition, but has far better range and precision. You can even switch to explosive bolts when stealth is no longer a priority. Just remember that it has a slow rate of fire and, like all other guns, needs to be cleaned regularly.
Hoard Chemicals
Metro Exodus has two main resources, scrap and chemicals. They’re used to craft items such as ammunition, gas mask filters, health kits and more. But of the two, chemicals are by far the most important. You’re bound to find both during your journey, either inside boxes or by looting bodies. However, these resources may become scarcer at higher difficulty settings.
Chemicals are important because you need a ton of it for crafting and cleaning. You can only clean your weapons using scavenged chemicals. Ultimately, you’re left to decide whether bullets or gas mask filters and health packs are more important to have.
Fortunately, green glowing mushrooms are fairly ubiquitous, and picking them will give you one chemical each. Also, if you’re not making much use of an ammunition type, then you can dismantle them to recover some of their chemicals. It’s not a lot, but it builds over time. Otherwise, it might be worthwhile to different weapons to help conserve ammunition for your favorite ones during scripted fight sequences. Or… you know… use the throwing knife.
Try to avoid crafting too much and stick with the minimum supplies you need. Otherwise, you could be trapped in a toxic cave without enough health packs and filters to keep you going.
Check Filter
Depending on the environment and difficulty setting, each gas mask filter lasts 3 to 5 minutes before you start choking. That’s not a lot of time to explore, loot, and figure out puzzles, so it’s best to work quickly and always keep moving in these hazardous areas.
Another thing to keep in mind is that your timer will beep when you have one minute of filter time left, but it won’t anytime after that. To get the most out of your filters, don’t immediately change them once the beep sounds. Instead, use the sound as an indicator to keep a close eye on your watch and change out the filter once you have 5 or 10 seconds left on the clock.
However, there is a downside to this approach. You could get pulled into a scripted sequence where you lose control of your character before you have a chance to change the filter.
That’s all for now. Good luck out there and try not to die!
