Deep Silver and 4A Games have Metro: Exodus slated to launch on February 22nd, 2018, and although that’s quite a ways away, the Executive Producer, Jon Bloch, has no problem talking about the game’s beginning tone and side quests. Metro: Exodus will release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

If you’ve been following Metro: Exodus you probably know that the game opts for a more open experience compared to the previous installments in the series. But did you know the game’s beginning tone will start more hopeful than the others? And, it seems that Exodus won’t have fetch quests either.

According to publication site Newsweek, which published an interview with Bloch, we learn that the tone will be lighter at the start of Exodus, portraying a sense of hope when the Executive Producer was asked if the story will be more “hopeful”:

“I don’t want to comment too much on story that might give things away, but certainly in the beginning there is potentially more hope. The last two games were pretty damn bleak. Certainly the idea that Artyom, the main character, has been thinking there must be something out there and then the idea that he figures out there is. There’s all these possibilities, so the beginning of the game has more hope than the other games probably did.”

A question that remains unanswered is how fast will it be shattered?

Moreover, the website wanted to know how Exodus compels players to explore the new spacious world without side quests and what is there to entice people who wander off. Bloch’s answer lies below:

“Some of it is the balance between signposting things, like your main questline and your main missions that you need to do, and also potentially signposting things that are off the beaten path, like landmarks that look interesting from afar and you want to go investigate. Some of those survival-horror elements in the game, scavenging for resources and things like that. If you’re out of resources you’re gonna go wander into an area you haven’t been in yet to see if there’s stuff you need.

 

There are things you can find in the environment, or people you can talk to, that will maybe hint at things you can go find somewhere else. When you’re looking through the binoculars and you look at something in particular in the distance you haven’t been to yet, then you’ll make a little mark on your map you can go back and check out. So there are various ways to do that without saying, “hey we need 10 rabbit pelts, go over there that’s where the rabbits hang out and kill me 10.” Someone might say something idly that’s interesting about a particular area. Or if you help somebody out, they might give you a key that opens a door somewhere else. He doesn’t send you to do that, it’s optional, but it’s incentive. Not your typical fetch quests though, we didn’t want to do that kind of stuff. It feels really gamey to us.”

Sadly, we’ll only know how 4A Games executes all of the above either when a new gameplay trailer drops or the game itself. In the meantime, you can read over the full interview that Newsweek struck with Bloch by hitting up the given link.

Lastly, Metro: Exodus will release early 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.