We’ve known for a while that Metro Exodus will feature a changing day/night cycle, but now we know a little about what that will mean in terms of gameplay – apart from making things darker and scarier, that is. 4A Games said the time of day will have an impact on NPC behaviour, and open up new tactical options dealing with enemies.
Speaking to PC Gamer during the hands-on demo at E3, 4A’s creative director John Bloch explained that human NPCs will behave the way you’d expect real people to do: heading out on patrols during the day, and returning to camp at night to rest and spend time by the campfire.
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In some situations, he said, that means hitting the base during the day will mean facing less resistance, since you’ll have some guards away on patrol.
“Or, at night, they’re clustered around their campfires and sleeping and all of them are in there, but you have the cover of darkness to sneak around,” he said.
Naturally, night is when Metro Exodus’ scarier beasties come out to play, so that will have to be taken into consideration as well. Players can rest to pass time, too, so it’ll be possible to try one approach a couple times, and then wait until evening or morning if it’s not working out.
Here’s 18 minutes of juicy gameplay footage, straight from E3:
There’s also dynamic weather in Metro Exodus’ Russian wastelands, and Bloch says that will have gameplay effects as well – storms might muffle the sound of approaching footsteps and reduce visibility, making stealth easier, but making spotting enemies more difficult as well.
Check out everything we know about Metro Exodus for more details on the game. It’s set for release on February 22.