Artyom's Map

Artyom holding the map.

Artyom's Map is a piece of equipment that appears in Metro Exodus. It replaces lighter & notepad from the previous games.

Overview

The base of this piece of equipment consists of a leather-covered tablet, similar to the notepad from Metro 2033 and Last Light. The front side of the tablet contains a map of the area, which is especially useful in the open-world levels, a compass which is always pointing towards the current main objective (similar to the compass mounted on the Notepad in previous games) and a small, battery-powered light bulb which illuminates the map in the dark. The tablet can also be flipped, the other side contains a list of current objectives, some writing accessories and a hand-held radio, although the latter two are unusable and only serve as a decoration.

The map is first picked up by Artyom at the beginning of the level "Volga". By default, it can be accessed by pressing M on PC, View Button on Xbox, or Touchpad Button on Playstation. Switching between the map and the list of objectives is performed by pressing the left mouse button on PC, or L2 on Playstation. The map/journal can no longer be used in conjunction with the lighter, but the built-in light bulb compensates for that by making it possible to see its contents even in dark areas.

The map only displays the player character's position and the location of the main objective by default. Interesting and important areas, like safehouses, enemy encampments or mutant nests can be tagged manually by climbing to a high spot and inspecting the area with binoculars. Once a place of interest is located, a "clicking" sound can be heard, looking in that direction through the binoculars for several seconds will mark the place on the map as a question mark in a circle. Visiting the area and discovering its nature changes the question mark to a more appropriate icon, such as a green house (safehouses) or a skull (enemy encampments and mutant nests). Areas otherwise important for the story sometimes have their own markers, for example, visiting the church inhabited by Cultists in the level Volga marks the building on the map as a black outline with a cross drawn in it.

Areas which can be marked on the map should be explored thoroughly, as they usually contain new weapons and attachments, suit upgrades or other valuable loot. Many of them also contain a workbench.

Trivia

• The small 9V battery which powers the light bulb has a word "батарейка" (Batareika) written on it. This simply means "battery" in Russian.
• The compass upgrade for Artyom's bracer has the same function as the compass on the map, making it unnecessary to open the map each time the player needs to know the direction of their next objective.
• The Volga map and Vladivostok map appear to be drawn on calendar pages. Upon turning on the flashlight, faint numbers and dates may appear.

Gallery

Map of the Volga level.

Map of the Caspian level.

Map of the Taiga level.

Map of Novosibirsk in "The Dead City" level.