This is the first game of the Metro saga based off the books with (in this case) the same name and i simply cant explain how much i loved this game and all of the games that came after this.

I decided to play this one before the redux version due to the fact that i got this one on steam when they gave it for free and oh god what a surprise of a game.

From some of the people who made the stalker games we got this game with settled on a post apocaliptic moscow in the year 2033 where the world has been destroyed due to WW 3, as a consequence of this now the world is filled with monsters and the surface is so toxic and radioactive that the people had to go underground and make their lifes in the moscow metro system.

The first thing I want to talk about its his atmosphere which oh god how I loved it, every level tells you more about the world just by how it is done, the dirty and filthy metro tunnels where monster crawl and can attack you anytime, always told to maintain your guard up cuz you never know when you're going to get attacked by one of the monsters that walk around those same tunnels. How in every station you visit you can see the state people have to live and survive in, how in many occasions throughout the games we celebrate with our friends after surviving a trip through those tunnels and the surface cuz the fact that we're alive after facing those hazards is a real miracle..

[Spoilers] And moments like the mission where the kid we're rescuing is amazed by the sky, something he has never seen and talks about how he is going to tells his friends about it.

[Not more spoilers] The game is crafted in a way that you can inmerse yourself into his world in such an easy way that you're gonna find yourself cheering everytime you come alive of a trip in the surface, smilign with your commrades everytime you come out alive with them, feeling the death of some of them and feeling your heart beat faster everytime you're in a situation close to death. Fr the game is really helpfull with the autosaves, saving everytime you enter a new zone but still you dont feel fear cuz you're gonna have to go back and do everything again, you're gonna feel pain cuz you're going to be so inmerse that you're gonna do anything to survive like if that was the only life you had..

This is game is just awesome and deserves its rating...

The city of Moscow left scorched by nuclear holocaust was no longer a livable space, even if it was possible to deal with the hordes of deadly mutants the air itself turned toxic and forced everyone deep underground. And even in these underground Metro Tunnels of Moscow, the human spirit still perseveres, they want to live like they always did and bring with it all the good and bad. The hope for the future even in this irradiated wasteland not letting go of the very things that makes us human, and on the other hand reigniting a century old deadly conflict of ideologies. Stations putting up an united front against all the odds to protect everyone and people dedicating themselves to looting and senseless violence.

Seeing it all in our journey to protect our home station and by extension the entire Moscow underground Metro against the Dark ones who seem to be affecting our strongest asset our minds, but in all this comes a question of the human soul, in all that a need to go forward and a call to answer to maybe grasp something exceptional or maybe human nature will foil us again.

Metros atmosphere and story does an incredible job of putting forward these themes in a surprisingly complex system of internal politics underneath a hostile world.

And all this works despite the gameplay’s attempts to break my will to continue playing, it tries to be a cinematic linear experience but it doesn't have the chops to produce the cool moments and setpieces needed for that to work, it just breaks up the gameplay again and again for dull moments like turret sections, following someone for extended periods of time, or pressing switches. The cutscenes breaking up the flow is all the more weird because Artyom is a silent protagonist in cutscenes and dialogue but he speaks in chapter transition screens? Why give him a voice but notably voice him in sections where his input would have elevated the scenes, its a weird compromise that feels like the worst of both worlds. And I can say that for the game play as well, the gameplay has the jank of something more open, expansive and ambitious but wants it to feel like a curated linear experience.

There’s some good systems here and there. The guns feel nice to shoot and have instant impact, the enemies when placed in a well calibrated manner makes for a very fun and tense experience, if you play on Ranger Easy or Hardcore, otherwise it's kind of easy and the enemies bullet spongey . But that’s the issue, it's extremely poorly balanced, the ammo is meant to be rare but on some levels I would get a ton and other times I won't get any. Same for gas filters I was softlocked multiple times because I couldn't take off my mask during certain sections and when I actually needed it was empty, in fact there was a section where I died cause the game just wouldn’t let me put on the gas mask.

And the less said about the stealth the better, the game doesn’t have a stealth system, it just pretends it has one. Sometimes enemies will be alerted from far beyond and with random shit. It just doesn't work in any capacity beyond just hope you don’t run into the enemies, you have no stealth tools, environmental interaction is minimal and it’s just not enjoyable when enemies don't even have a cooldown.

The world does call to me, I will be back in the Metros to play Last Light but I would love to never face the amoebas ever again.

(Specifically, this is based on my experience with Redux)

There is something most endearing about Metro 2033 that makes it stand out in the endless ocean of post-apocalyptic video games.

For starters it does have a rather unique take on the genre, at least when it comes to its setting and perspective. Instead of a post-apocalyptic New York or another American concrete wilderness, Metro is set under Russian soil, within the titular rail system. Even now it feels like a very inspired setting, at least for video games. Coming from the Ukrainian studio 4A Games, this also brings a rather refreshing perspective. Yes, metro 2033 is as bleak and dark as some you'd expect from a post-apocalyptic work, but there is still something very subdued and restrained about its approach that I can't quite put my finger on. So let's dig in to try and find out why's that.

Metro 2033 excels in creating a strong, oppressive atmosphere. The underground settlements are filled with ever-melancholic detail, dimly-lit, over-crowded, filled with coughing and shouting and arguing and despair. It's a sobering image, defied by solidifying the fall of man by his own hand. And in the times we see the outside world, it ain't better. The ruins of Moscow are consumed by eternal nuclear winter, bright and blinding as mutated lifeforms roam and roar and never let you feel safe.

Metro 2033 looks very good, but visuals aren't the only reason why its setting works so well. Sound design is phenomenal, from big devastating moments to the smaller, more frightening situations Artyom finds himself in. The way bunkers echo your footsteps as you walk, the way unchecked electricity zips in the silencing dark. Distant growls and movements from every direction. Artyom's breathing growing heavier as the oxygen in his mask runs out. There are a lot of things one can criticize Metro 2033 for, but sound design is absolutely not one of them.

The story is fine, the storytelling and themes Metro explores are more interesting than the actual plot. The game is great at depicting Artyom's physically- and mentally-demanding journey with all the stops and losses along the way, and it does show the horrible consequences of mankind's nuclear warfare in exquisite detail, but when zoomed a little back, it's a solid if unremarkable narrative. I will give it that, while the characters are not too complex, 4A Games really succeeded in making even some of the redshirts affable and human. And when some of them died, I couldn't help but feel a tad bit of sadness after the fact.

As far as gameplay goes, Metro is more than just serviceable. Guns feel mostly good to fire with, there is limited customization to them too which adds a bit of flavor to the combat. But it's the little touches added that make the experience all the more unnerving, like the need to watch your oxygen tank in radiated areas, or replace your mask if the glasses keeps getting cracked. Some gas-fueled guns require air-pumping to work, and you need to manually power-up your light if you want to see in darker regions. Your visor can also get dirty and you also have the chance to get night goggles. At the heat of combat and especially when Artyom is alone on the road, this can lead to some intense, terrific moments.

The level design is above-average. 4A Games wear its Half-Life inspirations on the sleeve and they do a commendable job for the most part. There is enough space to allow for organic storytelling as well as player agency for enemy-occupied arenas. Some areas can get a little confusing, though. Directions can get unclear despite the linearity of the campaign. Enemy AI can be a bit of hit-and-miss. There are some levels that produce infinite enemies, which is not an inherently bad idea but at some point it becomes more frustrating than terrifying. The final level is a tad disappointing and clunky. But it's nothing deal-breaking overall.

All in all, for a studio debut, Metro 2033 is pretty damn good. It's very rough around the edges, but there is a lot of love and detail poured into this package. I always appreciate a good FPS campaign, and Metro 2033 gave me just that.

Games I Dislike That Everybody Else Likes

Woeful, a prime example of the seventh generation's knack for mediocrity. Here we have yet another video game world from this era that's butt-ugly, not fun to traverse, and color-coded like puke. Nothing much is really that terrible here but I honestly didn't care about any of it - especially when its linear progression is played out in the most boring manner possible with a story that's impossible to be invested in (we were really obsessed with empty, cheap 'doom and gloom' storytelling at this time for some reason, and it really doesn't work here imo). There's some inventiveness in the weapon/currency system but not enough to justify spending an entire slog of a game with it, one with horrendous characters abound, no less. And the whole moral point system is stupidly cryptic. I liked the trippy stuff though, I guess. Really glad we moved past this kind of game design. Entirely generic.