| “ | Novosibirsk is, most probably, lethally radioactive. | „ |
— Idiot | ||
The Dead City is the eleventh level overall in Metro Exodus, and the final playable level within the game. The Culmination of the Aurora's journey brings the crew to the radioactive city of Novosibirsk in search of an experimental military drug.
Overview[]
 |
Attention! Spoiler ahead! This article contains plot information that may spoil major story aspects for the reader. Read at your own risk, or skip the spoiler by clicking HERE. |
Plot[]
Having left the lush greenery of the forest valley behind, the crew have moved further east to the highly radioactive city of Novosibirsk. Sam, Miller, and Artyom stand at the head of the train as it crosses the Novosibirsk rail bridge, and into the snow covered city. Miller remarks how the radiation is so high, yet the buildings are still standing, as well as the hundreds of cars blocking the roads, and the dozens of train carriages that can be seen along the railway.
Back inside the bridge, Miller tasks the crew with several objectives whilst he and Artyom search the city. Novosibirsk was home to the Akademgorodok district to the south, which contained the cities university, libraries and research institutes. It is here where Miller suspects the drug may have also been produced and as a backup Miller sends Stepan, Krest, Sam and Idiot to search the area. Also to the south is their secondary objective, the Novosibirsk Museum for Railway Technology, where Yermak knows the location of a snow plow for the Aurora.
Saying their farewells and good lucks, Miller and Artyom depart the Aurora in the heavily modified, and lead-lined van. Their plan is to avoid the high levels of radiation by diverting through the Metro, and coming out at Lenin Square, where the Institute is located right next to the Theater. However the first Metro station they come across is inaccessible due to the ice build up over the entrance. Artyom takes the wheel as Miller diverts them to an alternate entrance, a crater a few miles to the north. After the duo enter the Metro, they begin to see the familiar sights of mutants, which they easily fend off.
Travelling further into the Metro, and uncovering signs of battle, the pair run into a young boy, Kirill, who initially runs, but eventually leads them to his home. He explains that the Metro survived due to an experimental radiation drug, known as "green stuff", which was distributed by the OSKOM unit. Kirill and his father Slava Khlebnikov, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the OSKOM unit, are the only two survivors in the Metro, after dwindling supplies lead to riots and mutants overrunning the stations. Kirill reveals to the pair that his father had made several trips to the Satcom center in the city retrieving maps of clean areas including the Forest Valley the Aurora passed through. However, he has not returned since his most recent trip several weeks ago. Deciding this is not an opportunity to pass up, Miller and Artyom split up, with Miller heading to the SATCOM center, and Artyom continuing to the institute. Kirill gives Artyom and Miller two of the remaining three doses of Green Stuff to make it through the radiation.
Artyom makes his way through the tunnels fighting nosalises and giant worms along the way, and as he reaches the Lenin Square station, the radiation seeping through the cracks in the ceiling starts to affect him even after taking his dose of the green stuff. As he reaches the platform he begins to see a vision of Anna guiding him forward, as well as the bones of the dead coming to life. After crossing the square out in the open he begins to have a vivid vision of the final moments before the bombs fell, and a tank crew shooting at the Metro entrance as the war began. As he reaches the institute, he has several more visions such as Anna suffocating or talking to him through a door, however when Artyom interacts with her, he sees they are just the skeletons of the dead.
Reaching the roof of the Institute, Artyom encounters a fearsome new enemy; the blind ones. They are giant mutated apes, similar to that of the librarians from Moscow's Lenin Library. These beasts have no eyes, and rely on their other senses to hunt their prey. Artyom has several near misses with them throughout the facility, before arriving at the labs in the center of the building. Having found an intact case with the medicine, Artyom prepares to depart, before being chased through an air vent by a blind one. Artyom sustains several injuries fighting it off, and both fall from a fire escape on the side of the building, with the blind one impaling itself on a pipe as Artyom passes out.
Having been successful at the SATCOM center, Miller manages to find a gravely wounded Artyom outside the institute. Giving Artyom his dose of green stuff, Miller loads Artyom into the van and begins driving out of the city. Regaining consciousness an unspecified amount of time later, Artyom sees Miller slumped in the passenger seat of the van, and Kirill attempting to drive. Moving over, Artyom begins driving through the night, along a highway filled with abandoned vehicles before passing out once again.
The next morning Artyom wakes up and finds Miller's lifeless body in the passenger seat. After giving Artyom his shot, he succumbed to the radiation, but not before ensuring Artyom survived long enough to get the medicine to Anna. Kirill playing outside beckons to Artyom who collapses in the snow outside. The Aurora stops at the railway crossing in front of them, with the newly acquired snow plow being seen front and center. As Artyom is about to loose consciousness again, the crew jumps out and races towards Artyom. Going in and out of consciousness, Artyom is stretchered aboard the Aurora, where a worried crew turn to Katya to help them. She suggests a full blood transfusion may help Artyom to survive.
Outcomes[]
Depending on actions taken over the couse of the game, the ending can go two ways.
- If Artyom had not retained the company of at least two of the three crew members whose fate can be determined by the player's choices (Duke, Damir and Alyosha), then there will not be enough crew members to give Artyom the blood needed. Artyom dies and has visions of Miller at the head of the Aurora, in an endless voyage against the occupation forces. On the banks of Lake Baikal, Anna stands over both Artyom's and Miller's graves, as the rest of the crew give a 21-gun salute to their fallen comrades.
- If Artyom had retained the entire crew, or only lost one crew member, then there will be enough blood for Artyom to survive. He has a vision of Miller, who explains that he is proud to have Artyom as his son, and thanks him for everything before passing on command of the Order to Artyom. Both Anna and Artyom stand over Miller's grave on Lake Baikal as they settle down and look forward to a brighter future together.
 |
Phew! That was close. While there may be minor spoilers in the sections below, the major spoilers have passed. Click HERE to go back to the beginning of the article. |
Objectives[]
Story Related[]
- Find A Subway Entrance
- Metro
- Dead City
- The Institute
Collectibles[]
On this level, there are a total of 8 diary notes and 2 postcards that can be collected. This is a very linear level, so they must be collected in the order presented.
- Postcard 20 - After you fight the nosalis for the first time, you will exit the tunnel through a side room. The postcard will be on the locker to your right.
- Radiogram Transcript - After you get out of the water, there will be a note on the desk next to a door to your right.
- Weathered Report - After climbing up the escalator, you will be forced to go through the door on the left. The report will be on the desk to your left in the third room, behind some lockers.
- Postcard 21 - In Kirill's safe-room, pinned to the middle column.
- Orders - Pinned on the large map in the same room.
- Notebook - Soon after you leave the safe-room, you will have to climb some wooden stairs and then go through a train. The notebook will be on the first seat to your right.
- Worn-out Diary - Once you reach the flooded tunnel, row down it until you see a door on your left. Get off the boat and go inside. The diary will be on the desk in the last room.
- Browned Note - As you climb towards the surface (after the Anna hallucinations), walk until you see an open door to your left. The note will be on the desk inside.
- Dusty Notebook - Once you're outside, you will come to a point where you will have to drop into a tunnel. Instead of going right, go left to the end of the tunnel. The notebook should be there on a half-burred corpse.
- Shipping List - After having the first vision at the Institute, go inside and down the staircase. The list will be on a trey right in front of you as you open the door.
Weapon Attachments[]
- In the beginning of the level, before leaving the Aurora. Visit the workbench to make any adjustments to your loadouts. The Pneumatic Bow System and the High Capacity Magazine for the Helsing are also available.
- Once you reach Kirill's room. Miller will leave his Tikhar with a Heavy Stock, Railgun, NV Scope, Horizontal Magazine, and No Gadget on a shelf near the workbench.
- In the downstairs section of the first area of Prospekt. On a corpse behind a pair of hiding nosalises there is a Shambler with a Light Grip, Standard Barrel and Duckbill Choke, Iron Sights, Small Cylinder, and No Gadget.
- While exploring Prospekt, at the start burned out section of the station. Next to a corpse, there is a Ashot with a Heavy Grip, Double Barrels, Iron Sights, and No Gadget
- In the middle of the burned out section, underneath a spotlight and a pile of burned corpses, there is a Kalash with a Light Grip, Standard Barrel and Compensator, Iron Sights, Magazine, No Gadget.
- Once you reach the flooded tunnel, use the rowboat to reach the way-station just before the putrid tunnel. In the partly flooded way-station follow the corridor to reach a set of fallen over metal lockers next to a hole in the wall. In the next room on a metal desk, there is a Shambler with Light Grip, Long Barrel, Iron sights, 20-Round Box Magazine, and No Gadget
- After reaching the frozen station, climbing the second set of stairs take the balcony over to the far corner. Buried in the snow, next to a corpse, there is a Ashot with a Hunting Stock, Double Barrels, Iron Sights, and No Gadget.
- After descending into the hole with crashed T-90, follow the underground hallway. On the right side of the hallway, there is a bulkhead door which is closed. Further down the hallway there is a cyan door. Inside the room, there is a junction box, jump it with Artyom's electrical equipment. There is a crawlspace on the left of the first room, in the second room there is a lever to open the bulkhead door. In the space between the now open bulkhead and the gated entrance to a station, on some bedding, there is a Kalash with a Light Grip, Short Barrel and Suppressor, x4 Scope, Magazine, and No Gadget.
- On the roof of the Institute, after the cut-scene with the Blind One. On the far right hand side, there is a corpse in a snowbank, next to the corpse is a Kalash w/ Light Grip, Short Barrel and Flash Suppressor, Iron Sights, Small Magazine, No Gadget.
- After dropping off of the broken crosswalk into a second building in the Institute. You will come to a central cross shaped room with four smaller rooms in each corner. In the far left room, in an open metal locker, there is a Shambler with Standard Stock and Grip, Short Barrel, Iron sights, 10-Round Shotgun Magazine, and No Gadget.
Related Achievements/Trophies[]
|
Putrification |  / 15 
|
| Pass the putrid tunnel. | ||
|
Guide |  / 40
|
| Pass the Research Facility without killing a Blind One on the DEAD CITY level. | ||
Gallery[]
| Campaign | |
|---|---|
| DLC Levels | |