Put on your gas masks, ladies and gentlemen, because today we will dive into the world after the Third World War, visit the alternative Soviet Union and save the Moscow "VDNG". Actually, let's talk about a game from a Ukrainian developer "4A Games” – Metro 2033 Redux. More than one year has passed since its release, but in anticipation of "STALKER 2" we consider it necessary, so to speak, to repeat the material and go through the main theses of other games with a post-apocalyptic theme related to the negative consequences of atomic fission. It is interesting that these games are sometimes considered to be "competitors", but in fact they both fit perfectly on the scene of Ukrainian game development, and the voice actors in Metro also gave voices to our favorite characters from Stalker.

This game is a remake of the original game "Metro 2033", of course, it has been slightly changed, which we will talk about below, but the plot remains the same as in the original, which, obviously, makes the work of our copywriters easier. It was decided to start with it, because it, although it has an improvement compared to the original, has preserved the plot and corresponds to the story in the book of the same name "Metro 2033" by the writer banned in Russia - Dmytro Hlukhovsky.

Content of the article

1. The plot of the game
2. Ending: alternate and normal 
3. Changes compared to the original
4. History of creation
5. Conclusions
6. Subjective

Plot

Carefully! There will be spoilers below!

If after reading the introduction you have an irresistible desire to play the game again or even for the first time, then, firstly, we are very happy about it, and, secondly, go through it first, then come back here - read interesting chips and facts , and we will definitely wait. 

As mentioned above, the plot is based on the book "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky, it revolves around an ordinary Moscow guy - Artem. Artem was born before the war, which, surprisingly, wiped out all but 40,000 residents of the "Moscow Metro" from the face of the earth. Artem is an orphan. His mother died after being attacked by rats in the dungeons of their new home, and his father does not appear in the plot.

The action begins with the prologue, in which Artem rises from the Metro with Melnyk, the head of the Order, an organization that has pledged to protect its home - the Metro. They meet up with the rest of the unit and then head to the Ostankino TV Tower, on the way they are attacked by the guards, which the group has dealt with, but then they are attacked by "demons", flying monstrosities. One of them tries to kill the main character, the screen goes dark. 

Events are postponed 8 days before. "Artem, wake up," appeals the stepfather, the person who brought Artem to VDNG after the death of his mother on Timiryazevska Street. He introduces Artem to the next character - Hunter, a brave representative of the Order, who helps fight off the attack of the guards and does not share the common fear of blacks, creatures that mutated, probably from people after the war, have the ability to drive people crazy and kill with light movements of the limbs , they become the main enemy of Artem throughout the game, but is it really so? 

Hunter gives the main character a goal - to get to Polis, the largest Metro state, show the stalker token and ask for help against the blacks.

The main character begins his journey to Polis. The first station on the way is Riga, Artem travels with a trade caravan along a bypass road and almost dies, meeting an anomaly, and then monsters. Artyom falls from the ladder and runs to the Rizka checkpoint, after which the soldiers use a flamethrower.

At the station, a random beggar boy leads Artem to Bourbon for one shot, which have become the main currency in the Metro. Bourbon promised to give Artyom a "kalash" if he would help him reach Sukharevska, during this trip Artyom comes to the surface for the first time in many years. 

On the way, the blacks cause Artem to have visions. The group still reaches Sukharevska, where Bourbon is seriously injured by bandits, and the orphan has a new partner - Khan. 

Khan is a person who, as it seems to Artyom, has the answers to all his questions about the Metro, which have accumulated so many that it is difficult to imagine. Together they reach Turgenevskaya, where Artem is left alone again. Artem is trapped by the communists, where he is saved by Andriy Master. A young man hides in the luggage compartment of a train and gets to the front - the line of contact between the Communists and the Fourth Reich. Making his way through the positions, Artem is captured by the fascists, from whom Ulman and Pavlo save him. Ulman directs Pavel and Artem to the Black station, Pavel dies on the way, and Artem first gets to the Paveletska station, where together with a group of soldiers he fights off the attack of monsters: the defenders lose consciousness and Artem is the only one who remains capable of action. He receives a radio transmitter from the commander of the unit, goes to the surface and ends up at the Chorna station, completely captured by the fascists. There he turns off the generator, gets out of the station, reunites with Ulman in the tunnel and goes to Polis.

Once in Polis, Artyom shows the Hunter token to Melnyk and tells about the black men's threat to the Polis Council, which refuses to help. Then Melnyk promises to personally help save VDNG (Artem's native station, which was attacked by the blacks) against the decision of the Council. Artem and the group go to the Russian State Library, where Artem, passing the "librarians" (terrible monkey-like creatures that made even the author's hair stand on end), finds in the military archives information about D-6 - a secret bunker in which missile weapons were preserved. 

Melnyk forms a new group in the Temple (the only base of the Order on the surface) and they go to D-6. On the way to the hermod door, the group encounters an anomaly that nearly kills everyone.
In the dungeons, the group loses its first fighters: Boris dies during a fight with ghouls. Artem and his group are unexpectedly separated by germs, and he has to find a way out. Having found a way out and joined the group, Artem learns about the death of another fighter of the group. The Spartans finally get to the secret bunker where the command center is located, and there is not enough energy to launch the military equipment. This causes the unit to descend to the very bottom, where Artem manually lifts the decelerating rods from the nuclear reactor and kills the vile mutated creature that tries to interfere. Artem and Melnyk climb the elevator together and see a lot of military equipment. On the railway platform, they take the laser guidance system and go to the Ostankino TV tower. Finally, the action returns to where we started. After the attack of the demon, Artem regained consciousness, Melnyk saves him and together they go to the TV tower to install the guidance system. During the ascent to the tower, the elevator on which the heroes climbed breaks down, Melnyk is attacked by a demon and Artyom has to climb to the top himself. From there you can see a terrible view of the ruins of a city burned by nuclear weapons.

Artyom, after another hallucination, finally installs a guidance system and ... limb.

Limbs

There are only two endings in the game. An interesting fact is that "Metro 2033" is the only game in the entire series with a bad basic ending, and why it is bad, although Artem achieves his goal - we will find out below.

Ordinary

To get the usual ending of the game, it is enough to simply complete the game. At the same time, kill everyone who comes across your way and do not give beggars bullets. 

At the very end, Artyom points a laser pointer at the nest of blacks and hears Ulman shouting about the successful launch of the rockets. And then just watches the destruction.

Alternative

Now let's talk about a really good ending. To get it, you will have to give bullets to those who beg, listen to the conversations of the locals, kill enemies only in extreme cases and install the same cassette that the commander of the "Children of the Dungeon" unit gave to the receiver at the Outpost.

In this version, Artem understands that in reality the blacks did not want to harm people and were only trying to establish contact with the main character. We have an opportunity to knock down the guidance system. Artem sits on the edge of the tower and watches the sunrise.

How do I know which ending I'll get in advance?
In the eighth chapter, in one of the hallucinations, the blacks say "He's here..." 

If next you hear "... and can hear us... can understand us...", then you are waiting for an alternative (good) ending.
If you hear "... he brings death", then, obviously, you will have a normal (bad) ending.

Changes compared to the original

Regarding the changes in the Redux version compared to the original “Metro 2033”.

• Graphics: All character models, loading screens, weapons and environments have been redesigned
• Locations: This point speaks for itself; new locations were added, both in the Metro itself and on the surface; some levels were combined into one;
• Interactivity: the updated combat system made it possible to stun enemies and kill them "silently"
• Cutscenes: They now take place in first person
• Weapons: Weapons that were originally DLC-only have now been added as purchasable in the base version

Although there are relatively few changes, together they have a strong impact on the game: it feels fresher and there is no desire to play the original after the remake. 

The history of the game

Metro 2033 is the "debut" game of the Ukrainian development studio "4A Games". As mentioned above, some of the voice actors for Metro took part in the creation of Stalker, so this affected not only the actors, but also the developers of the game themselves, because the founders of 4A Games took part in the development of the game "Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl".

Regarding working with Glukhovsky: the author of the original novel chose 4A Games for the game adaptation, because he considered it necessary for the developers to be from Eastern Europe and have experience in developing games related to post-apocalyptic themes. The developers got almost complete creative freedom, but the game, fortunately, kept the plot of the novel and added the most important thing - the atmosphere of horror. 

The Redux version of the game was released four years later than the original game, on August 26, 2014. In general, the main reason for the remake was the possible improvements: the development studio collected the wishes of the players, updated the game engine, improved the graphics and released a successful product that received quite high marks from critics.

Conclusions

Metro 2033 Redux was an excellent remake of the original - "Metro 2033", based on the novel of the same name by the Russian author Dmytro Hlukhovsky. This is a well-developed story and technical game, which will certainly make you immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a destroyed civilization. This is a good game for those who like survival horror and post-apocalyptic themes. It will definitely make you remember the plot repeatedly after its completion and will become an important addition to your game library. The number of Easter eggs and curiosities in it generally leads to a separate article, which may soon appear on this site. Although the game is more than one year old, it will still not leave you indifferent to the mechanics or the plot.

Author's subjective

Now to the subjective and objective opinion of the author of the article. 

Personally, I was very impressed by this game. It became one of the few games that made me want the story to continue even after it ended. The strongest point that the game has is the atmosphere. The authors managed to make the player constantly feel fear for himself and his character, to feel the comfort and coziness of metro stations and, together with Artem, to hate the Blacks for what they did to the station, which I managed to get to know very well during the game - "VDNG". The most atmospheric character seemed to be the old man Khan: his stories about the coup of Hell and Heaven, the confusion of souls in the corridors of the Metro and the time loops in separate tunnels greatly influenced my personal perception of the Metro as a world of bandits, murderers and alternative red leaders. The most terrifying level for me was the Russian State Library: the thing is not in individual screamers, but in the constant pressure of "librarians"; I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, because the feeling of helplessness in front of these huge monkey-like creatures simply absorbs you.

During the game, I really felt the Metro as my home, and every exit to the surface became a separate adventure for me, made me afraid of my shadow.