i’ll always love/value assassin’s creed 1 for the foundation that it laid for the franchise and for just being an awesome game in general. it’s narratively rich and thematically cogent in a way that very few games can claim to be.

yeah I always thought that it was strange how artyom doesn't talk in the actual game despite doing so in the loading screens. i think the halo series despite being wildly different tonally, mechanically, and narratively struck a great balance between having master chief be a stoic, mostly silent protagonist while still having appropriate dialogue for him between the characters when it would be necessary for the story. metro could’ve easily done that or at least something similar. instead they try to make artyom a complex, fleshed out, multifaceted character while also having his development feel very truncated in the process by the game’s staunch adherence to not having him speak in game or interact with the npcs in any meaningful way. it’s just very strange like i said. it feels like a very misguided way to attempt to immerse you into the role of the player character. i’m still a big fan of the metro games overall (last light in particular is practically a masterpiece and I think exodus is a flagrantly underrated gem that didn’t get anywhere near the love that it deserves) but this hiccup always kept me from completely embracing the games from a narrative/character writing perspective. anyway… great review man! i always enjoy reading your detailed thoughts on games and i’m beyond fucking excited to see what you think about the rest of the games in the series.

yeah I always thought that it was strange how artyom doesn't talk in the actual game despite doing so in the loading screens. i think the halo series despite being wildly different tonally, mechanically, and narratively struck a great balance between having master chief be a stoic, mostly silent protagonist while still having appropriate dialogue for him between the characters when it would be necessary for the story. metro could’ve easily done that or at least something similar. instead they try to make artyom a complex, fleshed out, multifaceted character while also having his development feel very truncated in the process by the game’s staunch adherence to not having him speak in game or interact with the npcs in any meaningful way. it’s just very strange like i said. it feels like a very misguided way to attempt to immerse you into the role of the player character. i’m still a big fan of the metro games overall (last light in particular is practically a masterpiece and I think exodus is a flagrantly underrated gem that didn’t get anywhere near the love that it deserves) but this hiccup always kept me from completely embracing the games from a narrative/writing perspective. anyway… great review man! i always enjoy reading your detailed thoughts on games and i’m beyond fucking excited to see what you think about the rest of the games in the series.

yeah I always thought that it was strange how artyom doesn't talk in the actual game despite doing so in the loading screens. i think the halo series despite being wildly different tonally, mechanically, and narratively struck a great balance between having master chief be a stoic, mostly silent protagonist while still having appropriate dialogue for him between the characters when it would be necessary for the story. metro could’ve easily done that or at least something similar. instead they try to make artyom a complex, fleshed out, multifaceted character while also having his development feel very truncated in the process by the game’s staunch adherence to not having him speak in game or interact with the npcs in any meaningful way. it’s just very strange like i said. it feels like a very misguided way to attempt to immerse you into the role of the player character. i’m still a big fan of the metro games overall (last light in particular is practically a masterpiece and I think exodus is a flagrantly underrated gem that didn’t get anywhere near the love that it deserves) but this hiccup always kept me from completely embracing the games from a narrative/writing perspective. anyway… great review as always man! i always enjoy reading your detailed thoughts on games and frankly i’m beyond fucking excited to see what you think about the rest of the games in the series.