Metro Exodus on Microsoft Store is broken

[Andytizer 269]

With the announcement of Metro Exodus on Microsoft Store excited you, then it might be because Metro has been broken free from its exclusivity from the Epic Games Store. It also helps that it's available for the princely sum of $1, contained within a 1 month trial in the newly branded Xbox Game Pass for PC.

This is where the good news ends. Even though Metro Exodus was released 4 entire months ago, its new release on the Microsoft Store reminds us more of rushed console port than a smooth launch you'd be expecting. It's a harsh reminder of the problems gamers faced with Games For Windows Live back in 2007. More painful is the realisation that many problems are probably the result of the restrictive Universal Windows Platform (UWP) that Microsoft Store applications must be contained within.

Firstly - not being able to install the damn thing - threads mention many people cannot install the game, giving error message 0x80070005 even with the above updates both installed. Make sure to install the latest Xbox beta and make sure to update to Windows version 1903 (the May update), then you'll need to buy the game or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for PC. Now this does not guarantee it'll work - in fact it hasn't been installable on one of my PCs and the issue still isn't fixed.

If you are one of the lucky people who can 'play' the game, you're likely to encounter one or all of the below issues:

• Game won't save - thread thread thread - even this poor chap losing 3 hours progress
• Settings won't save (e.g. resolution) - thread
• Config and save files are very hard to locate and edit - thread
• Cannot switch to DX11 despite it being a graphics option - thread
• After first cutscene, can't login to Xbox Live - thread thread (real GFWL flashbacks here)

My current working theory is that porting Metro Exodus to UWP has caused all sorts of issues with permissions, where normally the user files of the game are easily accessible, e.g. 

%AppData%\Saved Games\metro exodus\<user-id>\user.cfg

but are now contained within the locked down UWP format which is unwritable for whatever reason:

%AppData%\Local\Packages\DeepSilver.ProjectWindfall_hmv7qcest37me\SystemAppData\wgs\....someuniqueusernumber\ 

Another issue UWP may be causing is the 'blurry screen' as if the game is being rendered under a much lower resolution. This may be due to the fact that UWP forces borderless fullscreen windowed mode stretching the default 720p image. This combined with the fact that resolution changes aren't saving correctly are causing a lot of confusion. Apparently alt+tabbing will solve the issue but it's not a great first impression.

It's just conjecture at this point but it's a bad sign for future 3rd party AAA UWP games that are bound to come in droves to sign up for the Xbox Game Pass money pot. 

For more up to date issues, the Metro Exodus wiki page will contain more up to date fixes. Many thanks to contributor Anthraksi for bringing the issue to our attention.