This Friday, our long-awaited PlayStation 5 update for Metro Exodus goes live, as a free update for all current PS4 version owners, or available for purchase on disc as a full edition. for newcomers.
At 4A Games, we’ve used every aspect of the PlayStation 5 hardware to dramatically improve the overall experience. We’ve doubled the frame rate from 30 to 60 FPS and quadrupled the resolution to 4K, while completely revamping our engine to deliver an all-ray-traced lighting experience that delivers unprecedented realism; we took advantage of the super-fast SSD to reduce load times; and we support 3D audio to further increase player immersion.
In this article, we’ll talk more about our support for the DualSense wireless controller and how these innovative new hardware features allow us to take gamer immersion even further.
As you might have guessed, creating that sense of immersion is one of our key goals for the Metro series. We’ve refined our craft over the past decade, using narrative, audio, and visual tricks to draw players deeper into the gaming world.
Emphasis was placed on how the player character, Artyom, feels connected and integrated into the game world; the world; and we put a tremendous amount of effort into our first-person animations, from complex weapon reloads to physical interactions with the environment such as opening doors and manipulating or picking up objects to make the world tactile and living.
The DualSense controller allowed us to take this tactile sensation even further. Advanced haptic feedback gives each weapon a unique feel when discharging, recoiling, reloading, or blocking. Players will even feel the subtle differences within a single weapon class as they adapt and customize them on the fly using our crafting and field customization mechanics; adding a heavier butt to increase stability, or a suppressor to reduce muzzle rise, it all changes the way the controller reacts in the player’s hands.
Some of Metro’s iconic weapons are the handcrafted Pneumatic Tikhar and Spring-loaded Helsing, and we have found the perfect use of the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers to simulate the pressure or increased resistance when priming / charging. of these unique guns. Maintaining high air pressure in the tank is essential to preserve the lethality of the Tikhar, and this must be completed manually by pumping the right trigger; As the pressure increases, the resistance to the action of the trigger also increases so that players can feel when maximum pressure has been reached.
We also use the adaptive triggers to mimic resistance when rowing, operating certain machines, or driving Metro’s all-terrain vehicle acquired in the Caspian Desert.
Of course, for Metro Exodus we have adapted this new functionality to our existing design, but as creatives we are excited to explore new game mechanics that can be enhanced with the DualSense controller from the get-go to better achieve our goal of complete immersion of the player. .
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy Metro Exodus with the added immersion of the DualSense controller when it hits PS5 on June 18th.
