Free Metro Exodus upgrades are on the way for next-generation consoles, but we now have details on the complete upgrade the 4A Engine is getting to support them. Metro Exodus — a somewhat under-appreciated first person shooter with elements of survivalism, stealth, and post-apocalyptic crafting — is getting some serious visual upgrades on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X consoles along with the freshly-announced Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition. A game that was already oozing with atmosphere and even visual story-telling to some degree, 4A games is completely overhauling its game engine to realize “a fully Ray Traced experience on next-gen. consoles and high-end PC.” Head below for more details.
Free Metro Exodus upgrades + ray tracing, more
The third installment in the unique post-apocalyptic Metro series, Exodus’ more open-world like formula initially released back in 2019. Players finally flee the confines of the Moscow Metro to set off on a “continent-spanning journey” aboard a locomotive known as the Aurora. The Aurora acts as your entry to various open-world like spaces and adds an interesting wrinkle to what was already a very compelling experience. However, everything is about to get even more immersive with the Free Metro Exodus upgrades and PC Enhanced Edition.
According to 4A, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the upgraded version of Metro Exodus will see a “number of optimizations, upgrades, and new features to the Ray Traced Global Illumination and Emissive Lighting that [it] pioneered with the original release.” The team has built an all-new “Fully Ray Traced Lighting Pipeline” to make this a reality while implementing an upgraded version of its “Temporal Reconstruction technology to further boost resolution, visual detail, and performance.”
What does that all mean? Well, the free Metro Exodus upgrades for PS5 and Series X will run at 4K 60 frames per second with “full Ray Traced lighting throughout.” And as you can see in the imagery above, it looks fantastic. But it’s not just visual upgrades we are getting here. Gamers can also expect to see what 4A calls dramatically reduced loading times by way of leveraging PS5 and Series X SSD storage optimizations, 4K texture packs, and some platform-specific enhancements:
Platform specific features including spatial audio and controller latency improvements on Xbox, and support for the haptic features of the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller – anyone who’s frantically tried to pump up the pressure on their Tikhar in the middle of a pitched battle will be able to imagine the kind of thing we’re aiming for!
The Series S version is, unsurprisingly, targeting 1080p with 60fps and ray tracing.
PC Enhanced Edition
Free Metro Exodus upgrades continue with the PC Enhanced Edition as well. 4A says it “needs to deliver this version as a separate product – it is not a simple ‘patch’ to the base game.” And instead will be offering it as “an extra entitlement” to all existing Metro Exodus PC players on the Epic Games Store, Steam, and GoG. It too makes use of full ray tracing technology, but takes things up a notch with “Advanced Ray Traced Reflections and support for DLSS 2.0 on NVIDIA hardware.”
There are no dates available here yet, but the free Metro Exodus upgrades will be available on consoles (Xbox Smart Delivery included) and PC via the Enhanced Edition sometime this year and “later this spring,” respectively.
9to5Toys’ Take
These free Metro Exodus upgrades are great for fans of the series who have upgraded to next – or what is now current-generation hardware. But the real win here is for new players who haven’t given the pneumatic weapons, terrifying nuclear monsters, and story arch a look just yet. Just keep in mind, it might make sense to score a last-generation version for cheap and then get the upgrade when it comes available later this year.
Be sure to dive into our games/apps deal hub for all of the best price drops across every platform, and don’t forget about the ongoing Steam Lunar New Year game sale.
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