Metro: Last Light Redux

This game is the slowest paced game from all the games I played (in 2024). Maybe Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was even slower, but then we have a different game type. I'm not a fan of minimalist design where there are no health bars, no ammo counters, almost no HUD at all. Even the level design and the story itself rely on not giving you instructions or directions on screen. It's the polar opposite of Rage 2 for instance.

The environment art in it is incredible beautiful, deep and realistic. I think it's a bit too realistic. I mean, at times it gets confusing because you don't know that something is a goal or where to go. Other games employ colors, highlights, many techniques to tell the player what to do or where to go. Metro attempts to be immersive by going to the opposite extreme of trying to be as close as possible to real life. There is a hidden moral points system that determines which ending you are going to see. However, the entire game just hides every moral point. Except for a bright screen flash that tells you that you earned some points and to know it you have to look for a guide. You never know which parts of the game count moral points.

The swamp level was the part of the game where I was really lost. The game doesn't tell you that you grabbed the required gasoline after you finally find it. There are some red flags but the whole environment seems like a maze. The best thing for me happened when the Dark One joined in Artyon and he chats with him, telling some very nice stories. It added some interesting emotional depth.

I have no idea if this was deliberate, but compared to the many other games that I played, there are many things that I've found confusing. The level design is deceptive at times because they made the player go explore, reach some places, while places that seem to be reachable are not because there is an invisible wall preventing you from going there. Locked cabinets that are highlighted as interactive objects but there is no way to open them. This causes players to waste time looking for a key that doesn't exist in the game. If there are radios that the player can stop by to listen, why place them outdoors if the player has a limited supply of air filters? It seemed contradictory. In the last boss I died many times and had a hard time understanding what the target was. The game places a sniper rifle but nobody tells you anything about it. When you grab it and use the scope you can see that they used the red color to mark the targets. The catch is that you can't see the red markings without the scope because the target is just too far away to be clearly seen.

The russian / ukranian accent is charming. I just love the accent.

Some parts of it, including the soundtrack and the hallucinations, seem so similar to F.E.A.R. that it must have been a source of inspiration to the developers of Metro.

I don't know anything about Ukraine, but maybe the way this game was designed is related to cultural references from Ukraine. It has a completely different vibe to other games from Asia or Western culture.

This game lacks translation for the graffiti and other text in the game's world.

The menu forces you to watch some animations and over time it becomes so boring. I also didn't like that for every door in the game there is a fixed animation to open it.

I never read the book and it seems to not have been translated in any official form. I never understood how the air inside the tunnels is purified from the outside world.

PS: Don't confuse russians with ukranians. I once had an english teacher from Ukraine and she didn't like to be confused with russians.