Grizzlies got you down? The Metro Exodus bear fight is one of the game’s tougher encounters. You’ll first encounter the bear after moving through an open area positively crawling with massive mutated wolves. There’s always a bigger fish, however, and the burly Russian bear charges in to chase after the wolves, giving you a precious few moments to escape. You’ll next encounter the bear when some of the locals catch you in a net, although you won’t have to fight it just yet.
The bear seems nigh-invincible from what you’ve seen so far. Everything the locals throw at it seems to have no effect whatsoever. That’s some solid foreshadowing for what you can expect to see when you undertake the Metro Exodus bear fight yourself. The fight will happen in two parts, so read on for how to solve it!
Metro Exodus bear fight | The first real right
You lose most of your equipment when you begin playing The Taiga. You should be pretty well-equipped by the time that you have to actually fight the bear for the first time. The trigger is a seemingly innocuous area outside a church. You’ll see a rope holding a ladder in place. When you try to cut the rope, the bear will crash through the gate and begin fighting you.
One might be tempted to try to shoot the bear. This is not the way to win this portion of the Metro Exodus bear fight. You’re going to have to fight the bear again later on in the level, so it’s completely impossible to kill him here. Don’t waste your ammo trying to kill the bear. However, you will need to evade the bear. Expending a few shots and/or grenades to stun him will give you the precious moments you need to complete your objective.
Bait the bear into charging away from the gate. Although he’s a large and fearsome opponent, he has the turning radius of a city bus with three wheels. Once you get past him, run back to the rope you were trying to cut and attempt to cut it again. This time you’ll succeed and you’ll be able to scurry up the ladder, safe from the angry claws of Mr. Bear (for now, anyway). You can then safely continue onward until your next encounter.
How to kill the bear in Metro Exodus
After the first fight is over, you’ll be thrust back into the game world and free to explore the areas up ahead. You won’t see the bear for a while, but he will return at the end of the level to provide the penultimate boss fight for The Taiga. You should try to conserve at least a little of your ammo for the end just in case, although the same rules will largely apply: you cannot kill the bear through sheer force of arms.
However well you may have been equipped before, you’re probably carrying even more ammo if you’ve been playing conservatively. Once again, you need to keep in mind that you can’t win the Metro Exodus bear fight by shooting the bear. You’d think that pumping him full of sniper bullets, grenades, and explosive bolts would be enough to bring this big boy down, but alas you cannot. As before, it’s best to save your ammo for stunning the bear if he puts you in a dangerous situation.
The arena for the second fight is packed with many more obstacles. While they’ll certainly stop you in your tracks, the bear will simply plow through the various fences and shacks that are peppered throughout the arena. Be careful not to get caught up on one of these things or you’ll end up getting hurt very badly. (Thank goodness for Medkits!)
Killing the bear will involve triggering a cutscene at a specific point. If you look around the arena, you’ll notice a zip line by the cliff’s edge. You can’t use this during the fight, but this is the area you need to be in. If you stand near this zip line, the bear will fall off of the cliff once he charges you. Gravity will accomplish what your bullets could not—the deadly mutant bear will fall to the rocks far below and remain there, unmoving and very much dead.
After the bear is dead, you’ll be treated to a short cutscene talking with Olga before you leave the Taiga. The Aurora will come barreling along the train tracks on the other side of the zip line. Depending on your choices, you will either happily escape with Alyosha or you’ll have to flee while being shot at by the locals. The bear is no more and you’re back on the Aurora, heading off to your next destination.
