Set in the year 2034, one year after the bad ending of Metro 2033, the plot continues the story of Artyom, who has since been made a member of the Rangers and come to regret his missile strike against the Dark Ones (alien-like creatures). The Rangers, a neutral peacekeeping force, have occupied a huge pre-war bunker called D6. Rival factions in the Metro plan to seize the bunker and its contents when word arrives that a single Dark One has survived the missile strike.
Mystical elements are used to retcon story elements, like a magical sewer river ride that helps Artyom remember being saved by a Dark One as a child. I have no idea how he forgot something like that or why this event made him the only special human able to communicate with the Dark Ones.
Last Light has a more focused personal tale than its predecessor, following Artyom's desire for redemption and forgiveness from the Dark Ones after he nearly obliterated their species, and unlike in 2033, which almost always had Artyom coupled with an NPC companion, the player adventures solo for most of Last Light. This change seems to have elicited a mixed response from the fan base, but I think the change lends itself better to Artyom's development arc, with the outcome of events being the result of Artyom's decisions alone. Arbitrary moral points awarded for doing whatever the game considers a "good" action are still used to determine whether the player gets the "Redemption" (good/cannon) ending or the "C'est La Vie" (bad) ending. Metro's moral system continues to baffle me and no one seems to be able to agree on how to get a definite "good" outcome or if killing versus sparing people matters at all towards the final moral score. Frankly, I think the series should just drop the multiple endings and pointless karma score in favor of a single cannon ending.
One thing that really irked me about 2033 was how rushed I felt. I wasn't given much room to explore before being whisked away to the next place and it made it hard for me to really get a feel for the Metro, its people, places, factions, and conflicts . So I was a little surprised to see Last Light actually slow down and let the player absorb the world. I couldn't tell you much about the places I visited in 2033, they all just kinda blended together, but from Last Light I can recall Bolshoi, the culture capital of the Metro and home to Theater, complete with a full stage performance. There is also the flooded station of Venice, navigated by barge through waterways running in between shanty towns and makeshift bars. These places are memorable and I was even more surprised by all the little details they crammed in. Purely by chance I witnessed what appeared to be a murder play out through one of the rickety windows of a home. And this scene was just one of many missable little moments in the game. The attention to detail and the amount of character given to each area is astounding. Even the factions and Dark Ones, which were previously treated as temporary interruptions in Artyom's 2033 journey, now have more of a presence. No one faction is portrayed as being inherently good or evil either. You'll see Nazis boasting of supremacy while executing people they suspect of being mutated. You'll also find one of their own sobbing alone in a room. The antagonistic Red Line member Pavel will order an enemy Nazi to surrender and then let them go. The son of the Red Line's leader Maxim will even help the player escape because he disagrees with his father's methods. And this is the same group that releases a virus on a neutral station and then executes people who aren't sick. Even the Rangers are dubious at times depending on who you look at. They often sport an arrogant "we know whats best for everyone" kind of mentality. The protagonist Artyom can easily go either way: being charitable one moment by handing out money (bullets) to the poor, and then killing people who have surrendered the next.
Woman dance and men play musical instruments, perform with fire, and have tamed mutants do tricks in a theater performance.
Nit-picky complaint (feel free to skip):
Both the first game (2033) and its sequel (Last Light) have populations made up almost entirely of men, although Last Light does include noticeably more women, mostly as whores and dancers. The developers have a right to include these professions if they so choose, and I could buy it's a representation of the primary role women fulfill within the male dominated world of Metro. However, I found some of the ways in which women are used in-game for moral gains rather tacky. For example, Artyom can save a refugee women from being raped by two men, but then he coldly leaves her to sob alone. A bandit investigating the commotion can gun her down shortly afterward without any consequence to the player's morality score. Artyom will also gain moral points for giving money to strippers and then not watching the strip tease - an odd choice from the developers considering Artyom is single. To me these moments weren't very sincere, and came off as a cheap attempt at making Artyom look like a hero.
Then there's Anna. She plays a minor role in the first level, coming off as a militant sniper that doesn't give a dam about Artyom. She appears only one other time during the mission "Contagion", where Artyom has to save her from enemy forces by either taking off his gas mask (putting himself at risk) or by shooting Anna's captor (putting Anna's life at risk). Regardless of what the player chooses to do, Artyom and Anna are placed in a quarantine cell and have sex while surrounded by the sick and dying. I have no idea why the writers thought this was a good place and time for such a scene. Up to this point no relationship had been established between Artyom and Anna, and the last time we saw Anna, she despised Artyom. When did that change? He may have even put her life in danger during the "Contagion" mission. It was so strange and out of the blue that for a moment I thought Artyom was hallucinating; he'd taken plenty of knocks to the head and breathed in toxic air just prior waking up in quarantine. But nope, it was real apparently.
Like its predecessor, Last Light is a linear first-person shooter that uses predominately traditional gun types - revolvers, assault rifles and shotguns, plus a few inventive ones, such as the pneumatic crossbow. Artyom also carries a small assortment of secondary weapons in the form of throwing knives and explosives. Ammo is scavenged from the world, with the scarcity of supplies varying based on the difficulty setting. Special pre-war "military grade ammunition" (5.45×39mm) doubles as the Metro's currency for new weapons and modifications at shops.
The guns feel better this time around and I can't exactly say why; more weighted? The combat remains virtually unchanged from the first game in that most mutant types will charge the player head on. Select bosses with their own arena are an exception, as is a new type of bug mutant that can be killed with light alone. The human AI is simultaneously better and worse than 2033. Alerted humans are far more accurate with their shots while unwary AI is utterly oblivious. There were times I could get right up in a guard's face and they remained blind to my presence so long as I didn't leave the shadows. That, coupled with levels better designed for a stealthy approach, make it easier than ever to ghost a level in Metro. The option to kill or knock out individuals is still there, not that it matters. Bodies are not noticed by NPCs and they will not wake up if knocked out.
In addition to his arsenal of weapons, Artyom carries an assortment of non-combat gadgets that tie rather well into the post-apocalyptic setting and resource management mechanics. The gas mask is easily Artyom's most essential item when visiting the toxic surface, but it uses air filters that will have to be swapped out for new ones approximately every five minutes. There is also a universal charger that is hand cranked to power Artyom's headlamp and night vision goggles. I went through most of 2033 without knowing how a lot these gadgets worked or that they even existed. Last Light does a much better job of explaining its mechanics. The auto-save only checkpoint system is still an issue though. In the level "Undercity" I had weapons vanish and the game crash, leading to a save file that wouldn't load. Restarting the chapter from the mission selection menu allowed me to continue the game without having to start a completely new game, but manual saves really should have been included! I understand the reason why they were omitted, to prevent save scumming, but the checkpoint system is just too unreliable.
Last Light surpasses Metro 2033 for me in every way. It was smoother to play with an improved presentation and word building. I really enjoyed the more personal story arc and Pavel as a charming but shameless minor antagonist.
First posted to videogamegeek.com
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