As an introduction into the subterranean life of a post-nuclear-war Russia, it was unparalleled. The reviewers and critics were right: Metro 2033 was as deserving of every accolade it earned, and for good reason. The game didn’t become any easier, necessarily, but the simple act of playing it differently meant that I could see and explore places I wouldn’t have had the chance to had I just sprinted through rooms filled with enemies.Īnd what a game it was. Sections that had seemed impassable before due to the numbers of enemies between myself and my object now seemed easier, somehow, either by use of stealth or a little ingenuity on my part.
Fear was replaced by a curiosity that could only be sated by exploring every nook and cranny for supplies, with little fear about how many filters I had or which direction I was going - although that could also be attributed to my compass, which always lead the way to the next objective, to the next rendezvous. Instead of a game where my every thought was on survival and finding enough filters, it became a game about exploration and discovery. My knife became my best friend for dealing with one or two bad guys, and ammo, while not exactly abundant, became plentiful enough. Suddenly, I had more filters than I knew what to do with. But after learning about playing it as a stealth game, everything changed. I must have restarted the game some five or six times without changing my play style, each time expecting to Rambo through sections with wanton abandon and then dying out in the unforgiving tunnels and surface. Looking back at it now, I’m reasonably surprised I didn’t think of playing 2033 as a stealth game. Instead of conserving my ammo, I had been neglecting my knife when only one or two enemies were between me and my goal. Instead of sneaking around in the shadows, crouch-running through the tunnels, I had been going in all-guns blazing. Then it dawned on me almost as if I had just stepped out of the underground tunnels of the metro and into the harsh sunlight above ground: that was exactly what I had been doing wrong all along.
It wasn’t until Metro: Last Light came out that I read a review of Last Light that said the first game was supposed to be played as a stealth shooter. My pile of shame grew, but Metro 2033 sat squarely on the top of the pile. Every time Metro 2033 came up in a Steam sale, I pushed away the guilt of never having played what was by all accounts a fantastic game, ashamed I couldn’t even beat it on the easiest difficulty. I was desperate to play the game, but it seemed as if the game didn’t want to be played. I’m usually against cheats, but in this case I was making an exception. It even got to the stage where I wanted to play through the game so badly, wanted to experience it for myself, that I looked up cheats for “infinite ammo”, or some kind of god-mode invincibility so I wouldn’t have to worry about using my hard-earned military-grade rounds buying filters for my mask whenever I got the chance. I probably played through the first few chapters five, maybe six times, each time growing more and more frustrated with a game everyone was raving about, all because of its incredibly atmospheric gameplay and fantastic plot - an atmosphere and plot I was being denied time and time again, due to my own inability to survive on the irradiated surface. Or maybe I’d lose my way, frantically run around trying to find the next area to go to, run out of filters, and die unceremoniously in some dark corner, panting for breath as everything slowly faded to black. Or I’d come up against innumerable enemies, waste all my ammunition, and die. It wasn’t because I wasn’t very good at it, or that I didn’t enjoy it, but every time I’d get up to one part, but then I’d run out of filters and die in the harsh environment of the post-war Moscow. I think I restarted the original Metro game probably five or six times. You’re not a Ranger, but friends help out friends.
At the heart of it, Metro 2033 is about camaraderie.
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