Last Light takes place a year later from when Artyom had destroyed the Dark Ones to help save humanity or so they thought, so the Rangers made Artyom an official Ranger for his work. The Rangers have finally captured the pre-war military bunker named D6 which has food, medicine and miles of tunnels running through it still to be explored, but word has gotten through the Metro and the other factions have plans to attack D6 and take the supplies for themselves. Khan an old friend of Artyom tells him and Colonel Miller that there is one last Dark One still alive, Khan tells Miller that they should make peace with the Dark One as he believes that it is the key to help humanity, but Miller wants the monster killed and the threat of the Dark Ones gone forever. So Miller sends Artyom along with his daughter Anna the Rangers best sniper to find and kill it, Anna does not trust Artyom and doesn’t’ believe he is as good of a man or soldier as people say.
Artyom finally finds the Dark One but the both of them end up being captured by a squad of soldiers from the Nazi Reich and taken away. Artyom wakes up in a cell with some soldier from the Communist Red Line who all but one get killed, he signals to Artoym to help him kill the guards and help each other escape the Reich. Once free they begin to talk and the soldier called Pavel tells Artyom he can help him get back to his home station of Polis by going through some Red Line stations, now on his way home Artyom must radio the Rangers to inform them of the situation and set off to find the Dark One but fins out there are a lot of lies and trouble on the path to find it.
The games controls are the same as any other standard FPS so it is easy to pick up and play, the in game currency still uses military grade bullets to make all of your purchases, once again it can still be used as normal ammo for higher damage rates which seems to standout a lot more this time and it also seemed to set enemies on fire. I did have some issues with this because at times the military grade ammo was equipped even though I had normal ammo and because I didn’t realise I burned through a lot of money now and then, it didn’t matter too much but was annoying at one or two points because I couldn’t buy stuff. The health system is the same again where your health will regenerate over time but if you need an instant health boost you can use a health syringe that you can find through the Metro.
The gas mask is back which still runs on filters that you can buy or find lying around the game; the mask still takes damage so you will need to replace it but there are more than enough lying around the game. Changing the filter seemed a lot more of an hassle as the only way I could change mine I had to take it off then put it back on again, not sure if I missed the button information at the start, you have a watch which displays the time for the filter in minutes and seconds, it will also bleep when it the times is nearly done or is done. The watch also has a blue bar that lights up so you know that you are hiding in the dark and cannot be seen which a big help is.
Your flashlight and universal charger make a return but this time it seems a lot faster to charge it up, you also use the charger to power some things in the game which was a nice addition and gave it a bit more use. The bullet lighter and compass makes a return as well and the lighter, they lighter is also used in game as an actual light source and to burn cobwebs. It was good to see these features being used more even if it was just a little bit more and not for too long when it was used.
In last light you face the same human and monster enemies as you did in 2033 with a few added extras, the A.I seemed the same as in 2033 where they would dig in and always take cover to make it harder for you to shoot them but once again there was no sign of them trying to flank you. I was hoping this would have been added in this time because all you really need to do is use a scope on your and wait for them to pop out then you hit them once or twice in the head, one added extra I felt they added though was that a few enemies tossed a lot of grenades which was a pain if there was not a lot of cover around.
The new enemies added to the game are Spiderbugs who are vulnerable to light and have a strong shell covering the top of their body and Shrimp that are usually calm and unthreatening but once angered them will spit an acid like substance at you as well as swing their claws at you, at some stations in the Metro you can see and hear about people eating them. The last two are the Bear and the Nosalis Rhino that are used in two boss fights in the game so I won’t spoil too much on them.
In the game you will find all the same weapons as you did in 2033 with around about 10 new added weapons including shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles and S.M.Gs. The ability to upgrade your guns at the shops or markets seem a lot more straight forward with a better layout, sometimes though you can find fully upgraded weapons lying on the ground so if you can hold off sometimes it does pay off. Through the game I found myself using the one S.M.G “The Bastard” with a night vision scope and a silencer, I found this most helpful to fight the usually lot of enemies groups as it was harder for them to know where you were. I’m glad they added in another 10 weapons as now there are around 25 to 30 guns for you to use against your ermines.
The graphics on max setting on PC looked fantastic whether it was the detail in each characters face or the look of the outside world; once again I was pleased that they added in colours by adding them to certain characters clothes or adding in vegetation where appropriate. Once again I really enjoyed the lighting and the shadows in the game as they always do a great job of adding to the atmosphere of the game. I did have one problem with the graphics and that was with the cut scenes I’m not sure if this was intentional or just my experience, but the cut scenes at least for the most part seemed to have a grainy effect on top and just the quality of them didn’t match up with the quality of the in game graphics.
The voice acting this time sounded a lot smoother than and not as forced as it sounded in 2033, I was really glad to see this as it felt more natural to me and the fact the English version has a Russian accent helps you feel you are speaking Russian. One problem I have is that during missions/levels in game Artyom speaks while writing in his diary but never answers when other characters speak to him, I felt like this could have been easily done and added that little bit extra to the game. Over all the audio and voice acting was great I really enjoyed all the sounds and music and couldn’t say one thing bad about them.
Over all I would give Metro Last Light a 9 out of 10, I loved Metro 2033 and love this game as well I feel like the addition of more weapons and ermines as well as using some tools that didn’t have much to the was a great addition. The graphics apart from the cut scenes have been up graded and still do great things for the atmosphere and over all feel for the game, the voice acting has improved at least for me as well. Last Light done everything for me that a sequel should by adding in more features and giving a good solid conclusion to the story that makes you happy with it, I hope they end the series here on a strong note and suggest any FPS, action/adventure or fans of a good story experience pick this game up and if you haven’t played Metro 2033 get that as well.
The Metro video game series started with a humble b-list title, before building a strong fanbase and becoming a pioneer in the industry.
4A Games celebrates the 10th anniversary of its first-person shooter by offering it free for a week.
4A Games' Metro: Last Light originally launched on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC 10 years ago today, and still holds up.
I got bored of Hogwarts crazy quick and it's bugs, was looking for just any good game got the Metro trilogy for about £8.50 in a Steam sale played through 2033 Redux, Last Light Redux and now am on Exodus. The series is awesome, the first two are like more liner story driven FPS with a few options to confront the levels, stealth, no kill runs and guns blazing, depending on how you play effects the story and its outcome. Third game I'm playing now is heavy story driven (but optional if you don't want to listen you can just walk away... I don't know why you would though) with large open levels that take hours to explore and still some of the best use of RTX I've seen to date, can play this game on ultra with DLSS set to quality, raytracing set to ultra at 4K with no dips, played on Extreme setting and was getting a few drops around water and some interiors.
Cant recommend this series enough and as a new fan I can't wait to see the next game in 2024... I also got the audio books so looking forward to see how well the games follow the original books. A4 Games are extremely talented.
Beat Redux and Last Light. Really good games. Haven't played Exodus yet, was thinking I'll get it for ps5 just havent yet. I will.
One of my favorite shooters, period.
Most graphically impressive game on the market to boot.
I don't know whether that's true about the PC version but on console it's a mixed bag. I traded it in because I couldn't past the notion that it was an awkward assembly of features of other earlier games. I mean, the menu screen is possibly the most polished thing in the game. I felt like maybe I should be playing a Wolfenstein game instead. Or dusting off Half Life 2.
It's in a different kind of uncanny valley - the bits inbetween the action suggest that there is nuanced detail to the game. But the action itself is all about clumsily working your way around, like playing a game like Duke Nukem Forever. It's impressed enough people but it's a later relic of the Fallout 3 school of videogaming, only pasted together with interactive cut scenes.
If you want eye candy of that type, try Rage instead. No pretensions to have a deep story.
If you want survival horror, try The Last Of Us.
If you want subterranean tunnels, play Half Life 2 (still :().
Metro Last Light felt like a 6 at the very most to me. The reviews for it have been a tad crazy - many will feel that it feel hopelessly old school compared to The Last of Us. Console gamers at least are used to more now. It's simply neither hardcore enough nor casual enough - just an awkward middle.
I could have got Dishonoured instead- I think that I made the wrong choice. Although I sometimes hear middling things about that as well at least the style may overcome any issue about the graphical tech.
You analyse games how you do and I'll analyse them how I do. Your opening post 'Most graphically impressive game on the market to boot' was so unexpected itself, your post so short and unrevealing. I'll elaborate - story doesn't always mean so much to me in a game. I like quirky atmosphere or unusual set pieces. I thought I'd find a bit more of that in the caverns of Metro Last Light than I actually did. You know, it's very rude to say 'Honestly, I have no idea what you are even talking about'. It's not how proper debate is done because it implies not just that you disagree but that you don't actually understand the structure of sentences.