A few days ago I reviewed Metro 2033, a game I quite liked but had a lot of rough edges to it. The atmosphere was immersive and the world of Metro was intriguing, but there were numerous ideas and gameplay aspects that could have used more time in the oven for improvement. Still, it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the books and one of the more unique first person shooters to come out at the time. Metro 2033 may haven’t done well at release, but I guess it did well enough for the developers to make a sequel. At the time though, 4A Games covered most of the plot that was found in the books so they had to jump ahead alongside Dmitry Glukhovsky and create what was basically the unwritten sequel to Metro 2033. Well there was a written sequel to the novel version of Metro 2033 called Metro 2034, but 4A Games decided to not follow along with the book and create something that would fit the events of the video game adaption. They pulled a Game of Thrones and went off the rails, pun intended, but this time it worked because they had the author helping them write the story so it would fit his vision. The video game sequel titled Metro: Last Light spent three years in the works as 4A Games wanted to drastically improve upon what they had learned with Metro 2033. Make a huge technical leap forward, create a more ambitious story, and develop a better video game in general. It was a daring move and they tried to push the technical capabilities of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as they were slowly starting to reach the end of their life cycle in 2013, but it was a good risk as Last Light turned out well.
Metro: Last Light came out midway through 2013 and reception for it was much better than the first game. It seemed like 4A’s ideas were finally coming together and they released a confident enough first person shooter. The combat was much better, the environments were brilliant to gaze at, and Last Light was just a meatier package overall. There were some criticisms aimed towards the performance, mainly on consoles, and how Metro: Last Light should have waited for the next generation consoles to roll around. As a matter of fact, 4A did listen to the criticism and one year later after the release of the Playstation 4 and Xbox One they released Redux versions of both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. Making use of next generation tech and improving the performance of both games so that they would run faster and smoother. The Redux version is the version I’m using for this review, as it’s the definitive version of the game and comes packed with the DLC. Metro: Last Light turned 10 years old this year. 4A are currently celebrating the ten year anniversary by putting the game on sale and quite few people have probably picked it up as I believe a week ago they allowed people to download it for free using the Epic Games Store. Almost ten years later, does Metro: Last Light hold up? The answer is “yes,” of course.
I started up Metro: Last Light a few hours after I had beaten Metro 2033. Wanting to keep the Metro ball rolling and see how big of improvements 4A Games made with their next big game. They are a trustworthy game studio, and you see how much passion they have as developers as they put more effort into their games and address the criticisms thrown at them. It’s no wonder Metro Exodus took so long to make compared to the previous games, as that was their big outing before they moved away from this franchise. Metro: Last Light has a couple of the same flaws and problems Metro 2033 had, but it is a much better video game and I happily prefer more than the last. The Metro series is just awesome in general and it may be one of the favorite shooter franchises in a while. Anyways, today we’ll be talking about why I really enjoyed Metro: Last Light and why it deserves your attention. Follow the tunnel to the end....
Story
The game takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033. There were two endings to the last game, but the canonical one is the basic ending where Arytom and his Spartan comrades blow up the nest of the Dark Ones and bring peace to the Metro. Hoping they had saved what is left of mankind and that they can all live in peace. Or that’s what they thought as war is about to spring throughout the Metro. There are three political factions within the tunnels of the Metro. There is the neutral faction, the Spartan Order, who don’t really care about enforcing their beliefs as long as the streets are well protected. Then you have the extremist parties, the Soviet Red Line and the Nazi Fourth Reich. Two dictatorships who fight over who gets to control what within the Metro. Harshly training their soldiers, building weapons of destruction, torturing any captives they take in, and murdering everything that stands in their way. The Council, the higher ups of the Order, plan to set up a meeting between the other parties. Wanting to make peace and not start up a war.
We follow Arytom yet again, protagonist of the last game who blew up the nest of the Dark Ones and worked his way up to being a Ranger amongst the Spartan Order. He helped the Order find an underground facility nicknamed D6, which the Order refashioned into a fully operational base of operations. Arythom is led by Colonel Miller and he does whatever he can to help out. Things have been bad as of lately with the potential upcoming war, and Arytom is starting to have thought of regret for killing an entire species. Kazan, one of many individuals who helped him on his last adventure, tells Arytom that one of the Dark Ones managed to survive the explosion. The last Dark One is currently scurrying around on the surface, and that it’s powers may be the key to stopping the upcoming war. Kazan and Arytom propose a plan to Miller to journey above and locate the Dark One, but Miller orders Arytom to find it and kill it. He has his daughter Anna come with you, and Kazan is locked up for a short period of time for treason. Kazan still begs you to make peace with the Dark One and you do once you and Anna find it. Turns out the last Dark One is a meer child who doesn’t even want to harm others. When it interacts with Arytom it gives him strange visions of the past, which then knocks both of them out. Arytom is then captured by Nazi soldiers and taken far away from the D6. He makes a brave escape alongside an new ally named Pavel, and along the way he discovers both the Reich and the Red Line are aware of the Dark One. Wanting it for themselves and experimentation. It’s all up to Arytom to regroup with his allies, find the little Dark One, and prevent a war from happening.
Gameplay
Metro: Last Light follows the exact formula the last game had. It’s a traditional linear driven first person shooter, but with light survival elements that get the player to play carefully. There is a good variety of guns you can pick up throughout the game and you can carry up to three of them. You can also pick up modified guns out in the field or mod them yourself to your liking by using weaponsmiths found in towns. Weapon mods can drastically change how a weapon works, like transforming a lowd revolver into a silenced pistol or a metal pellet pump action rifle into a good sniping rifle. Depending on how powerful the weapon is, getting the ammo for it can be tricky as they are either expensive when purchasing them from merchants or finding them in the field is quite hard. That’s where the survival elements come into play as mindlessly firing away every round you have may leave you defenseless during stressful situations. Carefully place each shot and make every single one count. Headshots are usually best as most of the time they instantly kill enemies. If you take damage then you can wait for your health to regenerate overtime, but the amount of time you have to wait can often be long. You have medkits and they can be used to refill your health instantly instead of waiting for it to automatically refill, which is incredibly useful especially during chaotic encounters. Last thing you should worry about is your gas mask and air filters. You need them in order to breathe in toxic places, as without them Arytom may start painfully coughing and die after a few seconds if he breathes in too much toxic air.
You have all this stuff you have to manage, and don’t even get me started on your flashlight. How it has to be pumped every so often or else the light goes out. The Metro games have always had a good sense of immersion at the cost of burdening elements, but these elements help make the game more exciting and force the player to play carefully. Returning from the last game is the ammo exchange economy. You’ll occasionally loot military grade bullets while exploring in the field. These bullets can be equipped to an assault rifle and do huge amounts of damage compared to normal ammunition. Piercing through armored foes and having the chance to light them up. However, these bullets can be used to purchase stuff from merchants. Whether those items be ammo refills, medkits, air filters, weapon mods, or even exchange your equipped guns for ones you may want instead. If you are low on military grade bullets then you can sell some of the stuff you have for more. This creates an economy where you exchange what you don’t want for what you want instead. If there are certain guns you don’t use then you can sell the ammo for them as you may never use it. Last element I should talk about is stealth and the deeper morality system, but we’ll address them in the next section. Hopefully you may save the Metro once again!
Thoughts
Metro: Last Light is honestly great. It’s a huge step forward from the last game and serves to be a grander experience. That isn’t to say it’s a perfect sequel, as a good chunk of the problems from the last game still exist and Last Light somehow manages to add a couple more. However, I do really like this game and I prefer over a majority of other FPS titles that follow a similar formula.The atmosphere is still amazing and the setting is still engagingly depressing. I think the plot focusing more on the conflicting political ideologies and an oncoming war show how bad things have gotten during the apocalypse. How Arytom and the friends he makes are just stuck in the middle of it all and just want a peaceful life. Yet, they can’t have a peaceful life, because of course humans will do terrible things to survive and get what they want. Biggest improvement for Metro: Last Light are probably the graphics and the environments. The last game had quite a bit of beauty in certain areas, but the graphics have definitely shown their age. With numerous areas lacking detail and variety, or at least in my opinion. In Metro: Last Light you’ll be seeing a variety of locales and landmarks as you traverse across Moscow. Traversing dangerously across ruined bridges, entering chapels, going underground said chapels, navigating the city ruins all of which are lit off and full of wildlife, and at one point you visit a town built on a river. The Metro games have always looked great and the fact this game is 10 years old and hasn’t shown its age is wondrous. Combat is much better as well as there’s more guns and enemy encounters feel much tougher. Forcing you to fight decisively, or play a game of cat & mouse.
The story is more ambitious than the first game and managed to keep me more engaged. Arytom trying to prevent war from breaking out, saving the Dark One, and protect his people. There’s actual antagonists to this story and the moments where you finally face them are exhilarating. The story is great, but I do think it’s flawed. One aspect I failed to mention in my Metro 2033 review are the paranormal elements. Anomalies, monsters that don’t seem from our world, etc. If you’ve played the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games then expect them to be similar to the anomalies seen in those games. I know a ton of fans like this element and it’s what made the first two Metro games so unique, but personally I’m not a really big fan of this aspect. Not saying it’s bad or it doesn’t add anything to the story, because down the line they try to explore Arytom’s last and how he is connected to the Dark Ones and it’s very cool. I just don’t think it fits in with the theme of the game very well. Metro is at its best when it’s exploring the cruelty caused by mankind. How evil we can be as individuals and how the world struggles to rebuild from nuclear warfare. Same goes for Fallout, The Last of Us, and plenty of other apocalyptic stories. It’s not good when they try to cram in this paranormal stuff and explore nuclear alien space wizard magic. I’m kind of glad that Exodus moved away from the paranormal stuff, because it allowed the universe of Metro to be more believable. Similar to how Uncharted became more beleivable too.
Last Light may have improved a lot gameplay-wise. The game is slightly harder, encounters feel more varied, more level variety, the arenas you fight in are much better, and there are even boss encounters which test your skills and what you brought into the fight. Like I said though, problems from the last game still exist here. Stealth is still poorly accommodated as many areas are not designed around in and you can probably take out like two or three guys before everyone notices you. The unique ammo economy is still broken as you can hoard a ton of military grade bullets, or never run out of ammo as looting ammunition tends to give you a ton. The biggest problem I have with Metro: Last Light and all the Metro games in general is how it handles the morality system.There is a good and a bad ending, and they both depend on how many polite or violent actions you commit throughout the game. Donating bullets to poor people, saving people, and getting through a majority of encounters without mindlessly killing will raise the chance of getting a good ending. Not doing acts of kindness and mindlessly killing people will raise the chance of getting the bad ending. It feels like the honor system from Dishonored, but compared to Dishonored it doesn’t work well.
I did a lot of good acts throughout my playthrough. Making donations, sparing surrendering enemies, attending an entertainment show, and even letting two key antagonists live. I still got the bad ending though because I killed a lot of people, which is fine, but it’s very unclear what encounters will affect getting the bad ending. Sometimes you can sneak by an entire room of enemies, and other times you will be forced into a fight. Actually I ended up getting forced into a fight every single time, because remember stealth is poorly accommodated and designed around. I could complain how it’s the apocalypse and we’re defending ourselves from killers who shot at us first, but I won’t because you could complain Arytom is gaining bloodlust from his actions. However, the writing does not signal Arytom changing much at all throughout the story and at times he seems pained by what he does. There’s a huge disconnect between what Arytom is thinking and what he is doing through the gameplay! Other than that, I loved Metro: Last Light and I recommend it more so than the first. I may even consider replaying Metro Exodus after this to see where 4A Games left off with their big grand ending. I give Metro: Last Light an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
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