Metro Exodus, or Russian Fallout with trains and snow, is getting its first major update. Dubbed the Ranger Update, this 6 GB patch will add some major features to the game. First and foremost is the inclusion of a New Game Plus mode. For those who are unfamiliar with the mode, it basically gives you the chance to start a new campaign run with the guns and attachments that you got from a previously completed campaign.
As an example, you normally don't get the Shambler shotgun until you reach the Caspian level. If you beat the campaign and start a New Game Plus run, you can equip the Shambler once the Aurora gets its Workbench. Unfortunately, armor upgrades do not carry over so you will have to find them again.
Interestingly enough, the Ranger Update will let you tweak certain campaign settings. One Weapon mode, as its name suggests, prevents you from carrying more than one weapon. You can also adjust the backpack so that you must use workbenches to craft ammo and supplies. If you want, you can grant yourself access to the crossbow during the opening levels of the game. You can even tweak the difficulty of your enemies by giving them more armor and more explosives.
For those who are looking for a different kind of challenge, you can increase the frequency of sand and snow storms and the number of radiation zones in the world. In addition, you can set the day/night cycle to 24 real hours if you're looking for extra immersion. If you really hate yourself, you can enable Iron Mode, which basically disables the save system until you beat a level.
If you wanted to know why the developers designed portions of Metro Exodus the way they did, there's a setting for that too. Turn the setting on and you'll find collectibles that will let you listen in on the discussions that the developers had for certain areas. Speaking of which, New Game Plus players might stumble upon some of the new collectibles that were created specifically for the mode.
The Ranger Update does contain a few other, less exciting features. Among these are the usual array of bug fixes and performance optimization tweaks and a volume slider for voices. In a bit of an ironic twist, Ukranian localization has been added, a bit of an oddity that it wasn't there originally Ukraine is where 4A Games was founded. The most notable of these behind the scenes changes is likely the addition of mouse and keyboard support for the Xbox One version of the game.
If you want to find out more about Metro: Exodus check out our review here where we called it an undeniable evolution of the franchise.
