Metro 2033
2010
- shooter
- role-playing (rpg)
- action
- science fiction
- horror
- thriller
- survival
- stealth
- warfare
- single player
The story
Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter with survival horror elements, based on the Russian book of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Most of the game takes place underground, but several times Artyom will have to venture outside, into the perpetual nuclear winter. Game progression is fairly linear, though areas may be explored more thoroughly for items and ammunition. Setpieces include a few on-rails sequences, missions that involve defending a location from an onslaught of monsters, and others. A few stages can be completed in a stealthy fashion.
What it’s like
Dim, smoky tunnels lit by sputtering lanterns, oil lamps and the occasional hard beam of a flashlight, with the bluish dark pressing in at every edge. Rusted pipes sweat condensation, and the Moscow metro stations feel cramped, damp and claustrophobic, while the surface sections are washed in grey-brown dust and a dead, sickly light under a permanent nuclear winter. Its soundscape does much of the work: distant echoes, dripping water, the hiss of gas masks and the twang of a guitar around a campfire, with low drones and sudden shrieks when something moves in the dark. Vibe: bleak, atmospheric dread with flashes of grim camaraderie. It suits a late night alone with headphones on, or a long stretch of time when you want tension to build slowly. Pacing alternates between tense exploration, careful stealth and bursts of brutal, often bloody combat against mutants and human factions; the on-rails and defend-the-position sequences add rushes of panic. Gore and violence are frequent and visceral, and the horror leans on creeping dread and jump scares rather than relentless gore. A young man slowly learns what survival costs and what humanity is still worth. For players who want hard-edged post-apocalyptic survival with a melancholic, paranormal undertow, and who can handle heavy violence.
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