I learned more about what was going through the diary page collectibles that are hidden around each map than I ever did from paying attention to the dialogue. I did the second, more by accident than design because I didn't realise until later that so much would go unexplained during the campaign. Sure, ambient dialogue is great but standing around listening to NPC narration isn't fun. Your choices are to stand in each room of a population hub, listening to anything and everything and piecing the important parts together later, or to ignore some and risk missing out on crucial plot points.ĭoing the first absolutely ruins the pace of the game. But a surprising amount of the story is told by the background characters chatting among themselves about things happening elsewhere in the Metro. Sure, your companion characters are great – it's hard not to bond with Pavel as he talks and talks (and talks). Pre-rendered cut-scenes are skippable but the main story unfolds as dialogue that happens while you're trapped in a briefing room, incapacitated or otherwise unable to do anything. The problem is that much of the actual core story is also told through this environmental technique.
In creating such a linear story-driven adventure, 4A Games quite rightly leads our protagonist Artyom through a series of snapshots showing the many facets of such a world.
It's a depressingly realistic version of a post-apocalyptic Earth, full of depth and life, even as the planet's surface withers under radiation. So much of Metro's story is told through the world and this is probably its biggest flaw. In our section, a militaristic group known as Rangers are hoping to build a better life for everyone. In another, a simple fishing village where children play with toys and watch shadow puppets. Over in one part of the Metro is the Reich with their Nazi (or more accurately, neo-Nazi) imagery and philosophies.
You'll also see the same segregated human communities. You'll be facing the same mutant enemies – the dog-like watchmen, the flying demons, the humanoid nosalis.
(Fun fact: His books are the only ones to survive the nuclear apocalypse with covers intact). Veterans of Metro 2033 will recognise a lot of Last Light, set a year after the game from 2010 and also based on the series of Dmitry Glukhovsky books. If you prefer, you could carry a sniper rifle and pair of shotguns one modified for high damage and the other with a longer barrel for keeping enemies at bay. I complemented that with an assault rifle for enemy hordes and an automatic shotgun for close-range work. My weapon of choice was a silenced pistol with upgraded stock and IR sight because it was perfect for distant headshots while still useful at short range. They've also changed the weapon system so you can only carry three guns, but it's any three you might want, rather than having slots per weapon type. Buying bullets in a shop no longer requires you to recognise the different types on sight alone. A weapon found on the ground has its upgrades highlighted so you can instantly see what advantages it might have over your current weapon. I very much like the new HUD and weapons overhaul.
You're helped even more by the fact that most guards can barely see what's right in front of their faces when you're not in direct lighting, making it very easy to bop them on the head or stab them through the neck. It's a fairly easy game to play as a stealth shooter, helped by the handy visible/invisible tracker on your watch.
Where to go, how to get there, are there any light switches, how does nobody notice all that shattering glass when you shoot out bulbs and darkness descends? You'll be thinking a lot about the shadows in Metro Last Light. Light makes you a beacon in the darkness. Light burns the monsters that dwell in the dark, reveals their weak underbellies, keeps you alive. Light shows you the way, exposes your enemies.