Metro 2033 Redux

Metro 2033 Redux is the start of the series: the first game about post-nuclear Moscow, where Artyom sees the Red Line, the Reich, the Hansa and the Order for the first time. The story takes place 20 years after the Great Nuclear War, and the surviving people live in the Moscow metro, split into factions. Artyom sets out from VDNKh to Polis with a single goal: to warn the Council about the threat of the Dark Ones. If you want to play the series in story order before Metro 2039, this is where to start.

The gameplay is built on survival (survival FPS): every round counts, and "military" rounds work both as money and as the strongest ammunition at once, a dual economy invented in this very game. On the surface you watch your gas mask filters: when the filter runs out, you suffocate. The levels are linear, made up of tunnels and enclosed parts of Moscow, with no open world like in Exodus. Anyone who started the series with Exodus will find a denser and tighter experience here.

Redux (the 2014 remaster) brought graphics and reworked enemy artificial intelligence at the level of Last Light, as well as Ranger Mode, a mode with a minimal interface and a harsh shortage of ammo. In the original 2010 release this mode was sold separately; in Redux it is included at no extra cost. There are two main difficulty levels: Spartan (aimed at players coming from modern shooters) and Survival (classic 2033 with a severe shortage of resources).

One Steam key unlocks the game on PC, Mac and Linux. Redux was the first Metro game with native clients for macOS and Linux/SteamOS. The Russian voice acting was recorded in Kyiv in 2006-2014, when 4A Games was based there. It is not a dub but the original development language, because the source, Glukhovsky's novel, was written in Russian. There is also a full Ukrainian audio track, a rarity for a AAA shooter of that period.

The two endings depend on a hidden karma system: points are awarded for ordinary actions such as listening to a dialogue, not killing surrendering enemies, and finding musical scenes. The system is deliberately left unexplained. In the default ending, Artyom destroys the Dark Ones with a missile strike from the Ostankino tower and realizes he was wrong. In the hidden ending, he manages to stop the strike. Metro 2033 Redux on Steam: 88% positive reviews from 134,000+ (94% over the last 30 days); Metacritic PC: 90/100.

Metro 2033 Redux is a remaster of the first game in the series by the Ukrainian studio 4A Games, based on the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Artyom, who grew up in the Moscow metro after a nuclear war, makes his way from VDNKh to Polis to save the station from the Dark Ones. The key activates in Steam and gives access to the game on PC, Mac and Linux. Full Russian and Ukrainian voice acting was recorded in Kyiv, not a dubbed version.