Metro 2033 is played from a first-person perspective. Players encounter human and mutant enemies, who can be killed with a variety of firearms; alternatively, players can employ stealth to evade or silently kill enemies. Ammunition and other necessary items must be either scavenged from the bodies of dead enemies, or purchased from vendors. Some areas of the metro tunnels, in addition to the Earth’s surface, are covered in fallout radiation, and the player must wear a gas mask to explore these areas. If the gas mask is worn while in combat, it may be damaged, and the player must quickly find a replacement before they die.
Metro 2033 received positive reviews from critics. The game was praised for its horror elements, detailed environments and appealing plot, but it was criticized for its buggy artificial intelligence and its many graphical issues.
A sequel, Metro: Last Light, was released in 2013. A compilation of both titles was released in 2014 as Metro Redux for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, OS X, Linux, and SteamOS. A second sequel, Metro Exodus, was released in 2019. In addition, Metro 2033 Redux was released as a standalone game for the Nintendo Switch in February 2020 and on Stadia in June 2020, alongside ports of Metro: Last Light Redux.
Gameplay
A gameplay screenshot of Metro 2033. The tunnels are often dimly lit, and the player must use a flashlight to see in the darkness
Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter video game.[1] It is predominantly set within the tunnels of the Moscow Metro and Metro-2 system, though some sections take place on the surface, in the ruins of Moscow.[2] The story is told through a linear single-player campaign,[3] and important plot moments are shown during cutscenes.[4]
The human and mutant enemies can be killed with a variety of firearms. The game features traditional guns like a revolver, assault rifles and shotguns, as well as more inventive weapons like a pneumatic crossbow.[5] In firefights, human enemies take cover and flank the player, while mutant enemies stay in the open and try to bite them.[6] Alternatively, the player can employ stealth to evade their enemies or kill them silently.[6] This can be achieved by using a throwing knife to kill an enemy from afar, or shoot an enemy with a suppressed weapon.[7] If the player is shot or bitten while in combat, they can either wait for their health to recharge, or use a med-kit to heal themselves immediately.[3]
The player often has little ammunition, and must scavenge for bullets and other useful items from the bodies of dead enemies or from caches.[3] Pre-war 5.45×39mm ammunition (referred to in the game as “military grade ammunition”) can also be found, which serves as the currency within the tunnels.[3] The player can either spend military grade ammunition on new weapons, or use it in firefights, which inflicts more damage on enemies than normal bullets.[6] As most of the tunnels feature little to no light, the player can use a flashlight to explore dark areas.[3] In addition to the dimly lit tunnels, some areas, including the entire surface, are covered in radiation, and require the use of a gas mask.[7] If the player engages in combat while wearing a gas mask, it may become damaged and crack, forcing the player to find a functional gas mask.[6]
Throughout the game, there are certain moral choices that can be made.[8] If the player is compassionate to the people living in the tunnels, such as giving the homeless some military grade ammunition, they may be able to watch a different cutscene at the end of the game. These moral choices are never explicitly mentioned, and it is possible to play through the game without knowing of their presence.[9]
Plot
This game is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky‘s book Metro 2033. In 2013, nuclear war had devastated the Earth, wiping out billions of lives. Among the affected nations is Russia, including the now-desolate wasteland of Moscow. A handful of survivors manage to hide in the Metro system, salvaging spare parts and growing mushrooms for food. Animals such as rats, bears, and others are mutated into horrific monsters, while the air in many areas that humans breathe becomes heavily irradiated and impossible to survive in without a gas mask. While there is a constant state of war between the Communists and the Nazis both trying to promote their radical ideologies, bandits are stealing, killing and looting in the metro tunnels, even keeping hostages to gain bullets, which are used as currency.
Twenty years later, in 2033, the northern station of VDNKh, now called Exhibition, falls under attack by a group of mysterious creatures referred to as the Dark Ones. Artyom (Russian: Артём), a 24-year-old male survivor born before the bombs fell and the adopted son of the station commander, is persuaded to leave his home there and seek help from the rest of the Metro by Hunter, an elite soldier of the Spartan Order. Hunter gives Artyom his dog tags and tells him to present them to his superiors in Polis, the “capital” of the Metro, before disappearing while tracking the Dark Ones.
The next day, Artyom signs on as an escort for a caravan headed to Riga, a neighboring station. Along the way, the crew is incapacitated by a psychic attack, but manage to reach the safety of the station’s defenses after an attack by mutants. Afterward, Artyom meets Bourbon, a smuggler who offers to help him reach Polis as he was immune to the psychic attack. The two make their way through several other stations and tunnels, and even up through the very city of Moscow itself, before Bourbon is killed by bandits. A traveler named Khan rescues Artyom promptly after. After escorting Artyom through haunted tunnels and to a station under attack, Khan stays with the survivors and advises Artyom to meet his contact Andrew the Blacksmith, who lives under the control of the Red Line, a Stalinist regime.
With his help, Artyom sneaks out of the Reds’ territory but is subsequently captured by their enemies, the neo-Nazi Fourth Reich. Two Spartan Rangers, Pavel and Ulman, rescue him from execution. Pavel later dies in a handcar escorting Artyom out of the Reich, and he is forced to continue alone, eventually coming across a group of survivors trying to stop a mutant horde from reaching Polis. They fail, but Artyom manages to save a boy named Sasha before they escape. In gratitude, the defenders help him reach the surface, and he reunites with Ulman, who takes him to Miller, the colonel of the Order, in Polis.
The governing council ultimately refuses to help Exhibition, but Miller reveals that he has a back-up plan: a missile silo known as D6 that has the firepower necessary to destroy the Dark Ones hive in the Botanical Gardens. To find a way to D6, Miller tells Artyom to meet him at the Moscow State Library to search for a book that may contain a map. Artyom makes his way into the library and eventually is forced to continue alone while avoiding the mutant Librarians. He eventually finds the book and flees with the help of Miller and Ulman. Artyom is recruited as a Spartan ranger, and takes part in an operation to locate and reactivate the command center of the D6 complex. After their success, he and Miller go to install a laser guidance system at the top of Ostankino Tower. After the laser system is installed, Artyom experiences a vivid hallucination induced by a Dark One.
After the hallucination, two endings are possible depending on the choices the player makes throughout the game. In the canonical ending, Artyom allows the missiles to fire, destroying the Dark Ones; only to realize later that they sought peace and the deaths by them were merely self-defense, which was too late by then. The alternate ending gives Artyom the choice to destroy the laser guidance device, citing a last-minute realization that the Dark Ones were actually attempting to make peaceful contact through the hallucinations. This ending is only available by performing various positive acts throughout the game, such as helping out fellow humans and not automatically fleeing the Dark Ones in various hallucinations.
