Aaron Bui ’15

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I haven’t really seen a game that can happily merge first-person shooters, stealth, and a good story all into one package (except for Dishonored). When I picked up Metro 2033 Redux, I was enthralled by the story, the gameplay, and the amazing atmosphere that Deep Silver has created. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “If I’ve gotten the original already, should I buy the HD version?” I’m here to tell you that Metro 2033 didn’t just get an HD upgrade, but it was completely rebuilt on Metro: Last Light’s engine, with improved game mechanics and some new ones from its sequel.

Metro 2033 Redux is a completely rebuilt version of Metro 2033, based off of Dmitry Glukhovsky. The setting is 2033 in the underground metro of Moscow where the Russian residents have taken refuge after a nuclear war. You are 20 year-old Artyom who was one of fled to the Metro as a child and has lived in one of the many stations in the Metro. A Hunter, an elite soldier from the Order of Rangers, warns him that a group of mysterious beings are threatening Artyom’s home station. When the Hunter doesn’t come back, he must travel to Polis, the home station of the Rangers, to get help.

Along his path, he must fight two factions, the Communist Soviets and the Fourth Reich, in addition with the numerous amount of mutants on the surface and in between the Metro stations. The conflict between these two factions and with the neutral Rangers shows an interesting interaction with these different ideals. What Metro 2033 Redux does best is immerse the player into this gritty, apocalyptic world and make the player plan ahead during the levels. The scarcity of ammo throughout the levels makes the player think about how to approach each mission. Should I go guns-blazing and lose all of my ammo at critical points in the game, or should I go stealthily and conserve ammo for later missions? These critical moments can push you through later levels or cause you to suffer through dying over and over again.

In the Redux, Deep Silver has created a more believable and gritty world than the original with its greatly improved textures and visuals. The enhanced lighting adds a sense of beauty to the decimated surface world and the dark, dank Metro, and the sounds have been vastly improved to further immerse the player into the world. The game has improved the gunplay, which means more satisfying feedback from the recoil of the weapons. They actually feel like guns rather than pea-shooters. The stealth mechanic and the AIs have been improved as well, so if one guard detects you, every single enemy on the map doesn’t automatically know where you are. All the guns from both the sequel the the original are available for the player’s use, even the Volt Driver is useable, a makeshift Railgun.

The AIs aren’t perfect, though; sometimes you will walk in front of them and they won’t notice, breaking the immersion.

Metro 2033 Redux is a game you should play as it improves gameplay over the original and greatly immerses you in this apocalyptic world. Deep Silver did a great job with this recreation and deserves high praise with this awesome game.