Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is an adventurous post-apocalyptic first-person shooter for a single player. The Metro universe tells the story of the inhabitants of Moscow, whose city was destroyed by a nuclear strike in 2013. The only salvation turned out to be the metro, which was originally designed as a bomb shelter.

Humanity is leading a miserable existence in stations controlled by various factions (from Nazis to Communists). On some stations, monsters rampage, making it dangerous to move between them alone. But the greatest danger lies above ground, where staying for long is equivalent to death.

The Metro universe develops in an alternate reality and begins in 2013 after a global nuclear conflict, when Russia, China, and North Korea exchanged missile strikes with NATO countries. Climate change turned the northern hemisphere into an icy wasteland, while rising water levels destroyed all coastal infrastructure. States have been wiped off the face of the Earth, and anarchy rules the world,

In Moscow, where the events of Metro 2033 take place, people have taken refuge underground, turning metro stations and bunkers into their homes. But instead of uniting, the small population has divided itself along ideological, religious, or selfish lines, with some merely trying to survive. Often, one must fight their way through.

The metro network is abandoned and crumbling, physically isolating the stations, which forces people to go above ground, where the survival conditions are harshest. One must weave between ruined buildings, avoid patrols of local armed gangs, various mutants, dangerous radiation levels, and induced psi-radiation. Due to the lack of filters, ammunition, and proper weapons, lone survivors quickly retreat from the surface back to the metro.

Metro 2033 is essentially a corridor shooter; the game locations are small but meticulously crafted — life goes on in the stations, people argue, communicate, and trade, despite the miserable living conditions and their dire situation. Occasionally, in the locations, one can find branches leading to interesting events, supplies, diaries, or secret passages.

All locations are made dark and ominous, perfectly conveying the atmosphere of post-apocalypse, desolation, and global catastrophe. As the character moves between stations, they may hear strange noises, see incomprehensible flashes, and experience other visual glitches.

The main character of Metro 2033 is a young man named Artem, who grew up after the nuclear war at the VDNH station and was raised by his stepfather. Like everyone else, he is attached to his home station, helps its residents, works at a factory, learns to shoot and defend his home, which is on the edge of the "habitable zone."

This branch of the metro has been restless for several years — the outer stations are dying under attacks from the brutal Black mutants, who come from the surface and torment people with telepathic hallucinations. By the time the events of the game begin, VDNH has also been affected — several of its residents have already died after a patrol due to the psi-influence of the Blacks.

The stepfather's brother asks Artem to report the appearance of the Black Ones in Polis — the largest and most powerful metro station, friendly to VDNH and other ordinary stations — and to ask for their help in destroying the Blacks. However, VDNH is too far from the central metro stations, so Artem has to undertake a very difficult journey, full of various dangers.

The narrative of Metro 2033 is linear, just like the game itself, and focuses on the story of one man striving to save his station at any cost. The main details of the plot are told by Artem himself, while others can be learned during cutscenes and dialogues by eavesdropping on the locals' conversations. Often, the characters simply talk among themselves, not distracting the player from the gameplay.

A feature of the plot is the numerous secondary characters in the role of companions — they join Artem literally for 2-3 missions, after which they achieve their goals, die, or disappear. The constant interaction creates a sense of a living and open narrative.

Being a standard corridor shooter, Metro 2033 offers to move forward and solve most problems with the power of your weapon, but you can also attempt to play the game in stealth mode.

The plot is closely intertwined with the gameplay, as, depending on the play style, the player will have one of two endings — the main or the alternative. By committing bad deeds and hoarding resources, the player will receive a bad ending, while good deeds, assistance, resource support, and minimal killings will lead to the alternative ending.

The original stealth mode had issues, so most players opted for the shooter mechanics. This was also facilitated by the fact that signal traps were placed everywhere, raising the station's alarm and provoking attacks from people (mutants) when the only chance to survive and move on was to take out everyone with a machine gun while hiding behind cover.

The player has a small arsenal consisting of commonly found homemade weapons and rare industrial ones that have survived since the nuclear war. There are also grenades and throwing knives. The metro population does not experiment much with weapons due to ammunition shortages.

People have learned to produce ammunition in a makeshift way, but these have low killing properties. Meanwhile, industrial 5.45 ammunition serves as local currency — it can be exchanged for anything… or used against particularly dangerous enemies.

In Metro 2033, there is a diverse bestiary created based on the creatures invented in the novel. Since during the conflict the sides used not only nuclear but also chemical and biological weapons, under this influence, animals have changed and merged into terrifying organisms — hybrids of rats, dogs, and cats, pigs, and moles.

All mutants have their own habitat — some are only found in the metro, others prefer to live on the surface and rarely appear underground, while others, like "Librarians" and "Demons," simply cannot descend underground due to their size.

Mutants have been given a certain logic of behavior. The simplest, "Kikimoras," always attack in packs and scatter when they lose their numerical advantage, being nimble and fast. The "Orlozhuk" is a bipedal insect with a bird's skeleton and an eagle's face, covered in thick chitinous armor — it hunts alone and attacks in the dark, always charging head-on.

The flying "Demon" tracks its prey and dives on it from above, lifting it into the air and dropping it. Due to its size and ability to fly, it is one of the most dangerous opponents.