The very first Metro videogame entry is a gritty, atmospheric first-person shooter based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel with the same name, which I also read, though only after I played the game. Set in post-apocalyptic Moscow, it plunges players into the dark, claustrophobic tunnels of the metro system, where humanity clings to survival amid radiation, mutants, and political strife. As with all book inspired games, this one cannot explore the story enough to satisfy the readers, though I'm confident enough when I say this one is the best adaptation we could have in the format of a video-game.

The game excels in immersive world-building, with haunting environments and a strong narrative. Combat can feel clunky at times, unfortunately even for the standards at the time, and the stealth mechanics are a bit rough. But the oppressive atmosphere, excellent sound design, and survival-horror tension more than make up for it. It's not for everyone, but fans of story-driven shooters and bleak sci-fi settings will find it memorable, I highly recommend not skipping this one since it introduces you to a lot of things related to the world of Metro, that later sequels expanded upon.

A big part of what makes this game stand out is how it treats resources and difficulty as narrative tools rather than mere gameplay systems. Ammunition is scarce, filters run out at the worst moments, and every bullet fired feels like a decision with consequences. This constant pressure reinforces the sense of vulnerability and desperation, making even short excursions into the surface feel genuinely stressful. It’s a design choice that may frustrate some people, but it fits perfectly with the game’s themes of survival and decay. Particularly I love when games do this, more than power fantasy styled ones.

As for the visuals, the game shows its age in places, yet its artistic direction still holds up remarkably well. The lighting, use of darkness, and attention to small environmental details create a distinct identity that many shooters lack. The moral choices, while subtle and often opaque, add an extra layer of depth and encourage reflection rather than clear-cut decisions. As a starting point for the series, this title may be rough around the edges, but its ambition and atmosphere laid the foundation for one of the most distinctive post-apocalyptic universes in gaming.

Стоит уточнить, что играл в Redux-версию. И не прошел игру до конца, а досмотрел на ютюбе. Но считаю игру пройденной, потому что играть в неё не очень-то и нужно. Всё хорошее, собственно к игре, отношения имеет мало.

Я закончил играть по вине не сработавшего скрипта: мне не сказали, что волны врагов бесконечные и надо не стрелять в монстров, а съебывать по туннелям, в поисках прохода.

Метро 2033 - это, в лучшем случае, никакой шутер. Но с густейшей атмосферой.

Станции-хабы отличаются друг от друга; народа на них не толпы, скорее множество групп, но разговоров, работающих на эту самую атмосферу - до хрена. При этом персонажи - картонный картон и отличить Мельника от Хана я не могу уже сейчас - сразу после прохождения.

Главный герой - молчащий картон, обладающий перком "магнит роялей из кустов". Серьезно, чувак из всех жоп выбирается только благодаря удаче.

Сюжет и сценарий? Все усилия ушли на пиздеж на станциях. Стандартный поход за хуй знает чем, потому что враги напали на родную хату. Что за черные? Откуда они взялись? Почему именно Артём может их слышать и понимать? Почему все решили, что они плохие, если хорошая концовка - оставить их в живых? Никто не ответит на эти вопросы. Игра (как и книга) вообще не про грамотно выстроенный мир. Она берет только атмосферой.

В туннелях метро все скрипит, монстры в темноте рычат, всякая херня искрит. И всё это под жутковатый эмбиент. На поверхности (три раза за игру) очень не по себе ходить по заброшенным зданиям.

Повторюсь, как игра, тем более шутер - игра сосёт. Пушки можно обвешивать прицелами и всяким таким, но они всё рано отличаются только скорострельностью и скоростью перезарядки. Стрельба - просто мрак. Враги никак не реагируют на выстрелы. Не зря в переиздании можно включить маркер попадания. Ага, как в Колде. Но и там стрельба лучше.

Элементы выживания - заряжать фонарик, следить за фильтрами и прочее - нахер не нужно. На среднем уровне сложности припасов до жопы, а на высоких, подозреваю, будут только раздражать.

В итоге, Метро 2033 - неплохой симулятор ходьбы: персонажи очень много говорят. Но отвратительный шутер и просто плохая игра. Смотреть прохождение было даже приятнее, чем играть. Надеюсь, сиквелы будут лучше.

P. S. Все тексты и озвучка в игре почему-то звучат с легким налетом "колхозности". Будто смотришь сериал "Сваты".

My experience of this game is not so much that it was an "FPS". It is a first-person action/adventure that is mainly intent on creating a world and telling a story, and there's some shooting. And that is by no means a bad thing, because the world (i.e. the Metro) is what made the book so captivating.

That's where the similarities with the book end. I'm not picking on it for altering the plot; I understand, the book plot would have made a shite game. What upsets me more is the kind of world it presents and vastly different it is from the book. The book has very small stations of a few people with barely any supplies and barely clinging on to life, wary of everything in the tunnels; the game had like this almost happy "Life in the metro ain't so bad" thing. The book had the smaller stations only able to use an emergency (red) light meaning Artyom had to use sunglasses when entering more "well-off" stations; the game had white lights everywhere. The book had (again) such limited resources that Artyom had never seen a gas-powered cart; the game has them in spades and even a "on-the-rails shooty cart" level.

Enough examples. The point is: the book's Metro and thus tone is super bleak which creates tension & interest, whereas the game is more "big" & flashy, I guess in an attempt to keep it from being boring. The book was far from boring but maybe a more literal adaption would not translate well to a game, I concede that. But I do think I can at least say they went a little too far and thus made the world less threatening, but that's just my opinion.

ANYWAY, enough of the book. Now to talk about the game as a game.

It was fun, but not enthralling. As I said, there were parts of an FPS, but there were many, many parts about exposition. Some whole sections were literally just "follow this NPC, listen to dialog, follow again, done". Which is ok! Again, it's about telling a story. My attitude was "I feel like playing through this story" rather than "I feel like shooting the fuck out of stuff". It initially intrigued me as a "horror" game, but it's not and that's perfectly fine. It's creepy by way of creating a very creepy world, not by trying to scare the shit out of you. (For the most part. *cough* Librarians *cough*)

The parts that actually required shooting things were nothing to write home about. Stealth -for me- was impossible- because even using throwing knives, the dude lets out a death cry that alerts nearby comrades. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? And I never found a silenced pistol that was actually silent. The other big "shooting" theme were "survive this horde" which is not my cup of tea and felt like just padding, but that's probably too harsh of me. It did do a good job of creating tension and made you shoot stuff.

Visually, the game is pretty great (I imagine the Redux is frickin' phenominal). This is very crucial because of its focus on creating and showing the world, and the world is just done friggin' phenomenally, not just the quality of the graphics but the attention to detail. My only real small gripe is character models; their movement was very robotic (run forward, stop, rotate 45 degrees, start run again) and their eyes were some uncanny valley shit (which means that the devs came very close!).

Audio was very meh, IMO. Voice acting was pretty cringish (at least some attempts at Russian accents) and the narrator as Artyom sounded bored. The cries of the non-human enemies just sounded like generic "monster" sounds. Not a bad mark against the game, just not a strength.

The worst negatives I found that bring it down from "pretty good" to "good" is actually non-gameplay related.

First, the load times were just atrocious when respawning when you die. It varied; sometimes it was near instant, sometimes it took longer than it did to load the level the first time. Now I'm not a game programmer, but this seems weird

Next, the performance was -to be honest- shit. My PC is not killer, but I feel like a 750ti should be able to handle it. I would sporadically have "stuttery/glitchy" FPS drops, which apparently is not uncommon on Windows 8. This was with nVidia's GeForce Experience setting "optimal settings."

Beyond that, I just had weird issues from time to time. At one part, a soldier is supposed to sing a song in German, and it played twice for me. Like at the same time, only offset by a second or so. And sometimes when I died in any variety of way, the "Respawn at checkpoint?" screen would say "You have died by a ghost. Here's how to avoid that: ..." Uh, no I didn't. Pretty sure I died by bullets. I definitely wouldn't commend this game for being "glitch/bug-free", but at least they weren't game-shattering glitches.

Summing up: Play this game for the atmosphere. Try to take in the world rather than rushing from objective to objective. It has its flaws but underneath is something that can be enjoyed.