What happens to humanity when the world they once knew is no longer their own…nothing but a distant memory of the past that brutally punishes their livelihood with out-of-this-world atrocities and mystical anomalies alike? Do they give in and succumb to inevitable defeat? Or do they start over, rebuild, and survive in a desperately bleak world?
Metro Redux – the definitive current-gen bundle of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light – explores humanity’s hopeless survival in a brilliantly realized post-apocalyptic Moscow. With over forty-thousand citizens reconstructing their lives deep within the metro stations of the city, there seems to remain at least a strand of hope for humanity’s stay on Earth.
There are times when elderly men and women recount tales to ignorant children, flashing post cards of a once beautiful and populated Moscow. Other times, mothers and fathers cradle their newborns, finding comfort in being able to continue their lives deep within the metro. Even the children, fearless and adventurous, travel all throughout the metro playing games and meeting new faces. And yet, well-trained soldiers will stumble into the infirmaries, begging for medical attention and rest. Citizens from neighboring stations will crowd the platforms of Riga, Polis, and Exhibition, seeking refuge and protection from the local military police. For you see, despite a cultured life existing in the metro of Moscow, humanity is not alone in rekindling what had been lost. The irradiated grounds of post-catastrophic Moscow now belong to savage mutants and an even greater threat to all humankind: The Dark Ones.
The narrative that spans both games involves player’s assuming the role of Artyom. Born just years before the nuclear fallout, our protagonist sees his journey begin immediately when his home station is attacked by the mysterious Dark Ones. With ammo doubling as currency, and armed with no more than makeshift weapons, a gas mask, a lighter, and a journal, Artyom will soon find himself on a life-changing mission as he traverses the darkest and most dangerous metro stations in an attempt to contact the Spartan Order located in Polis. In an overarching story that is riddled with morality, mysticism, survival, and even political grief, developer 4A Games finally does the series justice on console platforms. Generously added, all downloadable content for both games – be it Ranger difficulty mode or the four DLC packs for Last Light – comes snuggled with Metro Redux, ensuring fans heaps of content that will leave them satisfied for hours upon hours.
Metro 2033 receives the most attention here, being rebuilt using Last Light’s game engine. Graphically, 2033 boasts an incredible achievement. Rather than muddy textures, obscure skyboxes, and the overall depressingly grey environment we all experienced in 2010, Metro 2033 Redux slaps a brand new coat of paint onto each and every asset in the Campaign, making both the underground world of the Metro – as well as the dead city of Moscow – come to life with vividly realized detail. The lighting system has also been touched upon, allowing streams of radiant, golden sunlight to poke through the broken exterior of the metro tunnels, illuminating the darkest secrets within. Such improvements also help cast realistic shadows off Artyom as he passes by various light sources within an abandoned bandit camp deep within the metro. Furthermore, character models are redefined as well, allowing NPC allies and enemies alike to react more intelligently in combat whether that be in regard to smoother animations, reactions to accurate hit boxes, or the general aesthetics making them appear more realistic. Generally, mutants are now crafted with a level of detail that aids in demonstrating how truly menacing and savage they have become.
While this may all be brushed off as a simple “graphical upgrade,” 2033’s new game engine helps make the game an entirely different experience from its original counterpart. Between the new lighting system redefining the intensity of the underground metro and the vigor of new character animations transforming unintelligent AI into formidable threats and competent allies, my experience with 2033 remained just as eerie and traumatizing by the time I finished my third full playthrough of the game.
In addition to all this, it seems the developer paid special attention to seamlessly stitching certain levels together. This allows players to freely flow between transitional points within the game, rather than be forced to stare at a loading screen for thirty to sixty seconds. This doesn’t happen all too frequently throughout the game, but when it does, the transitions are almost invisible due to the near-perfect pacing of 2033’s narrative.
Unfortunately, Last Light’s visual upgrade is hardly noticeable and it doesn’t help that the game was released only a year ago. Character and weapon models, character animations, and even set pieces remain mostly untouched. With the only noticeable upgrade being the ambient lighting system, it’s a shame 4A Games made no effort to at least brush up on facial animations for the NPCs, which still remain rather stiff and distracting when viewed up close.
Graphical fidelity and game engine refinements aside, Metro Redux features two new gameplay modifiers: Survival Mode and Spartan Mode. The former takes on a more survival-based role, making resources scarce throughout your journey and forcing enemies to react more aggressively than they normally would. On the other hand, Spartan Mode is a little more forgiving, essentially bringing Last Light’s more fast-paced, action-styled sequences alive when experienced in 2033.
The great thing about these two new modes is that Metro 2033 benefits from both. While the game is already dark and entirely exploration/survival-based, Survival Mode can make even the most experienced of players feel a bit disoriented when looking for resources and fighting off deranged Nosalis and Watchmam mutants. Likewise, Spartan Mode alleviates this sense of tension by allowing players to tackle these desperate, unforgiving sequences with plenty of ammunition and other resources.
The sad thing is that Last Light again fails to benefit from these gameplay modifiers. With the game already being a massive departure in tone from 2033, Spartan Mode does nothing at all to make players feel more invincible when fighting for their lives against the mutants of Moscow because quite frankly, they’re already too strong to begin with. Similarly, Survival Mode doesn’t seem to demonstrate any effect in changing the experience of Last Light from an action-oriented shooter to a slow-paced, gritty survival shooter. I cannot recall a single moment during my Survival Mode playthrough of Last Light where I felt overwhelmed by my opponents. This is mainly because I was always given the upper hand one way or another. Resources were still plentiful and I always had the advantage in every situation somehow. Part of me believes another factor could entirely be due to the fact of Last Light’s general level design. Although I loved the Moscow levels from Metro 2033, I felt as though there were too many levels that took place above ground (or simply outside the Metro) in Last Light there is the levels Echoes, Sundown, Nightfall, Undercity, The Crossing, The Bridge, or Red Square. Even so, I cannot fault the developers for failing to essentially “remake” the entirety of Last Light just to suit the new game modes.
What is impressive in comparing 2033 and Last Light together is how well they play. For two titles that were developed four years apart, the idea of revamping 2033’s control scheme and user interface to match that of Last Light’s is a brilliant move. Whereas most sequels may sometimes feel completely foreign to their predecessors, the transition between both games feels genuinely perfect.
Unfortunately, although no major complaint, Metro Redux is far from pefect performance wise. During the course of my four playthroughs between both games, Metro Redux had crashed on me three different times. While I generally do not get too caught up in a few bugs/freezes, these bugs all seemed to have occurred during climatic moments within the game. This generally just completely ruined the immersion as I was forced to reboot my console and redo the entire sequence leading up to these intense moments. What’s more, there would often time be a rare audio hiccup during both games, where all speech audio would be inaudible. The only things I could hear were the faint ambient sounds of Arytom’s footsteps, water dripping from the ceiling, or the scurrying of mice. This only occurred once or twice during my playthroughs, but it was quite distracting until the issue resolved itself.
To bring this full circle, the narrative that spans both games plays a massive role in helping players easily move from one game to the other and enjoy the entirety of Metro Redux. Metro 2033 sees our young Arytom set out on a perilous and almost hopeless journey; one that no sane young adult would dare consider due to its end goal: decide the fate of all humankind. And even though the game offers two vastly distinct endings, the cannon ending is one that will immediately capture the attention of its audience and almost immediately force them into experiencing the narrative that Last Light covers.
Is humankind worth saving? Are the Dark Ones truly the threat that we perceive them to be? As the mysterious character Khan echoes within the game, “It all depends on your point of view. Try to get a better understanding of things before you make your judgment.”
