Metro: Last Light

Metro: Last Light
File:Metrolastlight.jpg
Developer(s)	4A Games
Publisher(s)	Deep Silver
Distributor(s)	NA Square Enix JP Spike Chunsoft
Director(s)	Andrew Prohorov
Designer(s)	Viacheslav Aristov
Programmer(s)	Oles Shyshkovtsov Alexander Maximchuk
Artist(s)	Andrey Tkachenko
Composer(s)	Alexey Omelchuk
Series	Metro
Engine	4A Engine
Platforms	Microsoft Windows OS X Linux PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One
Release date(s)	May 14, 2013 PC, PS3, X360 OS X Linux PS4, XOne
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Metro: Last Light (also known as Metro 2033: A Light of Hope in Russia) is a single-player post-apocalyptic-themed first-person shooter video game with stealth and survival horror elements, developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2013. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game were released August 26, 2014.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow, part of the universe of the novel Metro 2033 and its sequels, written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, but does not follow any direct storylines from the books. Previously announced as Metro 2034, the game is a sequel to the video game Metro 2033, and although Glukhovsky did work with developer 4A Games, it bears no relation to the book Metro 2034. Rumors on his website point to the upcoming book, Metro 2035, to be a novelization of Metro: Last Light, but it will cover the plot and dialogue in much greater detail and length.

Initially, the game was to be published under THQ and expected to be released in the middle of 2012; it was announced on February 2, 2012, that the game would be delayed until the first quarter of 2013, and on March 1, 2013 the game was delayed again until May. Following THQ's closure in January 2013, the intellectual property was acquired by video game publisher Deep Silver.

Metro: Last Light received positive reviews from critics. Praise was directed at the game's story (including its atmosphere, presentation, and environments), graphics (especially on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One), and the improvements made over Metro 2033 (such as the controls, gunplay, sound, and stealth mechanics). The game did, however, draw some criticism for its linear sequences, AI, and technical issues.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light is played from the perspective of Artyom, the player-character. The story takes place in post-apocalyptic Moscow, mostly inside the metro system, but occasionally missions bring the player above ground.

As a first-person shooter, Metro: Last Light features a variety of firearms, some fictional and some based on real weapons, which the player will use in combat. Combat alternates between the player fighting mutants and the player fighting hostile humans. Mutants do not possess weapons and tend to physically attack the player in swarms, while humans fight with the same firearms available to the player. The game features recharging health rather than a traditional health points system—if the player avoids taking damage for a period, health will slowly recharge. The player can speed up this process by using a stim from a medkit, which will almost instantly heal the player to full health. When the player is severely injured, it may take over twenty seconds to return to full health. Health does not regenerate on, or above the "Hardcore" difficulty.

In the post-apocalyptic environment, ammunition is a rare and essential commodity. Pre-apocalypse military-grade ammunition is used as currency; to avoid "shooting money", the player can also use lower quality bullets made within the Metros. Due to the scarcity of ammunition, a crucial aspect of gameplay is scavenging. The player can loot corpses and the environment for spare ammunition, as well as weapons and items. The military-grade ammo can be used to purchase other ammunition, weapons, and items within most of the Metro stations. The player can knock out or kill most human enemies instead of shooting them, using stealth to hide in darkness.

The game's locations reflect the dark atmosphere of real metro tunnels, with added survival horror elements. Paranormal phenomena such as shadow figures, hallucinations, and noises are frequent, and, for the most part, the player has to rely on their rechargeable flashlight (and sometimes, a pair of night-vision goggles) to find the way around in otherwise total darkness. Even more lethal is the surface, as it is severely irradiated and a gas mask must be worn at all times due to the toxic air.[5] Often, locations have an intricate layout, and the game lacks any form of map, leaving the player to try to find their objectives with only a compass.

As Metro: Last Light aims to be immersive, the gameplay and interface are somewhat atypical. The game lacks a health meter, relying on audible heart rate and blood spatters on the screen to show the player's current state of health. The player must collect air filters for the gas mask, which last several minutes each and are automatically replaced provided the player has more in reserve. There is no heads-up display indicator to tell how long the player has until the gas mask's filters begin to fail—rather, a timer on the character's wristwatch shows how long until the current filter expires. The gas mask can become visibly damaged and will stop functioning if punctured, requiring it to be replaced. With every weapon, the bullets are (partly) visible, informing the player that their weapon is about to run out of ammo and they have to reload. The game does feature sparse traditional HUD elements, such as an ammunition indicator. However, on the hardest difficulty setting, no HUD elements are present, and players have to keep track of ammunition by the partly visible magazines.

There are also certain moral choices in the game that give Karma. Good Karma can be acquired by good actions, such as rescuing people from the enemy characters. Bad Karma can be acquired from evil actions, such as killing people randomly or stealing things. Karma affects the ending that the player experiences.

Plot

Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, following the ending based on the original novel in which Artyom's missile strike against the Dark Ones—mysterious beings that seemingly threatened the survivors of a nuclear war living in the Moscow Metro—occurred. The Rangers—a neutral peacekeeping force that operates throughout the system—have since occupied the D6 military facility Artyom visited during the first game, a huge and not fully explored pre-war bunker, with Artyom himself now a Ranger although he remains unsure whether killing the Dark Ones was the correct decision. Rumors of D6's discovery and its great riches have spread around the Metro; rival factions, such as the Communist Red Line and Nazi Fourth Reich, hope to seize the bunker and its contents.

Khan, a wandering mystic, informs Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. Khan believes that it is the key to humanity's future, and wants to communicate with it; Colonel Miller, the Ranger's leader, wants to eliminate it as a potential threat. Miller sends Artyom to the surface with to kill the Dark One, accompanied by Miller's daughter Anna, the Rangers' best sniper.

Artyom finds the Dark One, a child, but is captured by soldiers of the Fourth Reich. Pavel Morozov, a captured Red Line soldier, and Artyom escape together through the Metro tunnels and across the devastated surface. When they reach the Red Line, however, Pavel is revealed to be a high-ranking officer; he detains Artyom to learn more about the Rangers and the Dark One. Artyom escapes and races Pavel's forces to locate the Dark One and Anna, who has been kidnapped by Lesnitsky, an ex-Ranger and Red Line spy. En route, he finds a contingent of Red Line forces massacring the inhabitants of a station, supposedly to contain a mysterious epidemic. It was the Red Line who introduced the virus to the station, weaponized Ebola acquired from the D6 vault by Lesnitsky. Artyom finds Anna and frees her but they are exposed to the virus and are quarantined after rescue. Despairing of her possible death, Anna seduces Artyom.

After they test negative for the virus, Artyom again encounters Khan. They locate the young Dark One, and in a series of hallucinatory flashbacks, Artyom recalls that he was saved by a Dark One as a child; he was psychically linked to the Dark Ones, intended to form a bridge between their species and his. Artyom vows to make amends by protecting the little Dark One, and the two travel to Polis, the Metro's central area, where a peace conference regarding D6 between the Rangers, Red Line, the Reich, and neutral Hansa is taking place. Artyom defeats Lesnitsky and Pavel during the trip. Along the way, the little Dark One senses that there is a group of hibernating Dark Ones in D6. After arriving at Polis, the little Dark One uses his telepathic abilities to make the Red Line leader, Chairman Moskvin, publicly confess that the peace conference is a diversion to enable General Korbut to seize D6. Artyom and the rest of the Rangers rush to the bunker to make a final stand against Korbut's army, but are incapacitated by an armored train ramming into their station. Red Line soldiers surround and prepare to execute Artyom and Miller.

The Karma the player has acquired determines the ending. In the standard "bad" ending, Artyom destroys D6 to prevent Korbut from using the facility to wipe out the remnants of the other factions and possibly humanity, resulting in the deaths of himself, the surviving Rangers, and the Red Line forces. Later, Anna is shown telling their son of Artyom's bravery. In the "good" ending, Artyom prepares to destroy the bunker but is stopped by the little Dark One, who along with the awakened Dark Ones defeats Korbut's army. Artyom calls the little Dark One humanity's "last light of hope". In both endings, the young Dark One leaves with the surviving Dark Ones to find safety, while promising that they will come back in the future to help rebuild the world.

Development

The game, originally known as Metro 2034, was shown at the 2011 E3 show, and was included in the Wii U show-reel, though THQ has since stated that the game may not be released for the platform. Regarding the possibility of the game coming to the Wii U, 4A Games chief technical officer Oles Shishkovtsov said the Wii U has a "horrible, slow CPU". His colleague Huw Beynon reiterated the sentiment, telling the publication there would not be a Wii U version of Metro: Last Light, because the studio "couldn't justify the effort required" and they "just figured it wasn't worth pursuing at this time."

Metro: Last Light features technology which boasts of lighting effects and improved physics claimed to set a new graphical benchmark on the PC and consoles. 4A Games made clear that the game will not ship with online mode, since the team is focused on producing the single player mode. However, the possibilities on having a multiplayer mode are not discarded and it could be released after the game's arrival.

The live-action trailer for Metro: Last Light has attracted significant attention, with about 4 million views in total. After the release of the first live-action trailer they have released three more following the lives of three characters inside the Metro. These live-action short films were released in late November/early December 2012.

In December 2012, the game's original publisher, THQ, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The publishing rights to the Metro franchise (and Last Light) were sold in an auction on January 22, 2013 to Deep Silver, publisher of the Dead Island franchise, who pushed the release date of Metro: Last Light back to May 14.

Former THQ President Jason Rubin offered details of extremely difficult working conditions and demands put on the 4A Games team while completing the game. From unreasonable budget demands, to literally freezing office working conditions due to frequent power failures, to having to smuggle computer equipment into the offices to avoid corrupt customs officials. Rubin said: "If you care about the art of making games then you have to care about more than the final product," and "the struggle and the journey becomes part of the story. Like sport, you cheer when the underdog comes from behind, and triumphs in the face of incredible odds."

Release

Downloadable content

For those who pre-ordered the game, they received a limited edition of Metro: Last Light that featured a code for the downloadable content (DLC) Ranger Mode, a setting for greater game difficulty, as well as a unique gun and in-game currency. Ranger Mode encompasses the same campaign, but with the lack of a HUD or cross hairs, while the plethora of ammunition and resources has been reduced severely, making the player feel fully immersed in the game's world. This created much controversy (see the reception section) in the gaming community. Ranger Mode was later released as DLC costing $4.99/£3.99/€4.99 or 400 Microsoft Points.

Additionally, four DLC packs were released. The first pack, the Faction Pack, became available in June, 2013. However, the release date was pushed back to 16 July 2013 for the United States and 17 July worldwide. This pack contains three bonus single-player missions with the player playing as a Red Line Sniper, a Fourth Reich 'Heavy' soldier, and a Polis Ranger in training, with new weapons not found in the main storyline. The pack was well received by critics, who praised the ability to use different characters than in the main storyline, however, some reviewers felt that there was a lack of depth to the character's back-stories, as well as complaining of numerous bugs in certain missions. The Polis mission was praised the most for its free roaming setting and length. The other three packs were released within 60 days of the release of the Faction Pack. The second pack, the Tower Pack, gives single-player challenge missions that have online leaderboards. The third pack, the Developer Pack, features a shooting gallery, a combat simulator, an in-game museum, and a single-player mission "The Spiders' Nest". Finally, the fourth pack, the Chronicles Pack, features three additional single-player missions that contain three characters from the main storyline, Khan, Pavel and Anna, adding in extra background story information to the world.

Players can buy a season pass, which gives them all 4 DLCs at a discounted price. It also contains a limited edition, in-game automatic shotgun called the Abzats, and a light machine gun that was previously only available via pre-order from select retailers, the RPK.

Redux version

On May 22, 2014, a Redux version of the game was announced. It was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 29, 2014 in Europe for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Redux adds all the DLC and graphical improvements. A compilation package, titled Metro Redux, was released at the same time which includes Last Light and 2033. A demo of the Redux version, which allows players to play through the first third of the game, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 2, 2015.

Both 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux are now available as DRM-free games on GOG.com.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (X360) 82.57% (PC) 81.79% (PS3) 79.14% Metacritic (PC) 82/100 (PS3) 80/100 (X360) 80/100 Review scores Publication Score CVG 8/10 Edge 8/10 Famitsu 35/40 Game Informer 8.75/10 GameSpot 9/10 IGN (PC) 7.7/10 (PS3/X360) 7.2/10 Joystiq OPM (UK) 9/10 OXM 8.5/10 PC Gamer (UK) 80% VideoGamer.com 7/10

Metro: Last Light received positive reviews from critics, with most complimenting the game's graphics and story, but also criticizing the game's induction of linear sequences. The game was nominated for Best Shooter for Spike's 2013 VGX game awards.

Game Informer's Jeff Marchiafava gave the game a rating of 8.75/10, stating that human AI has been greatly improved. He also explained that the game "features tighter controls and improved sound design for its arsenal, which now puts the gunplay on par with most triple-A shooters". However, Marchiafava felt that the monster battles were not as interesting. He also criticized the voice acting and character animation. Despite this, the upgraded stealth mechanics and colorful atmosphere were the strongest parts of the game. He explained that "Metro: Last Light fixes most of its predecessor's flaws while also improving upon its strengths." IGN's Colin Moriarty stated in his review that "Metro: Last Light is a bold post-apocalyptic first-person shooter adventure uniquely told from the Russian point of view. Last Light's setting and presentation are its strong points, though the last third of its campaign is weaker than everything that came before it. If you want a fun first-person shooter that doesn't rise to the greatness of single player-centric adventures like BioShock but is still fun in its own right, then Last Light may just be for you. He scored it 7.2/10 for consoles while he later gave the PC version a 7.7/10 for its superior graphics. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd awarded it with more positive score with a 9.0/10 calling it "an astonishing and moving postapocalyptic journey". Polish gaming website Gry-Online gave the game a high rating of 9/10, opining: "Metro: Last Light certainly isn't just another AAA shooter aimed at a typical gamer. The game's strength lies in that its viscera are filled to the brim with – mature, brutal and ruthless content". The story, and its gameplay mechanics, stealth elements, atmosphere, presentation, environments and audiovisual elements were praised by reviewer Krystian Smoszna as Last Light's best qualities, whilst minor technical issues (including uneven enemy AI) were highlighted as the game's main flaw. Ben Croshaw of Zero Punctuation stated that "I'd say there's enough to recommend about Metro: Last Light ... despite its sightseeing feel, the story and worldbuilding drew me in well enough". He approved of its stealth gameplay in contrast to Star Trek, and added that during the battle at the end of the game, unlike many other shooters "I actually understood who we were fighting and what the stakes were".

The game's implementation of Ranger Mode, as a pre-order bonus or paid downloadable content caused negative reactions in the gaming community. The advertisements for the Limited Edition of the game even stated that Ranger Mode was "how Metro: Last Light is meant to be played", proving that the content was already created for the game but was being held back as DLC. On the Steam forums, a community manager from Deep Silver defended the implementation of Ranger Mode as DLC. The manager claimed that Ranger Mode became pre-order DLC at the insistence of the game's previous publisher, THQ. He further claimed that after THQ's bankruptcy, and by the time of Deep Silver's acquisition of 4A Games, game development had ceased and therefore there was not adequate time to integrate Ranger Mode into the main game.

External links

• Official website