Immersion is a buzzword in gaming. Developers and publishers tout their games as being immersive
knowing that many consumers crave the escapism that an immersive new world can offer. The
word "immersive" is thrown around as a positive adjective and in some cases a game
being immersive is somehow enough to override other flaws such as a lack of interesting
gameplay or story.
Personally, I don't seek out games just because they look immersive, however if a
game draws me into its world then I definitely consider that a huge positive. Being immersed
in new worlds was the reason I got into fantasy books at a young age and why they tended to
hook me more than science fiction novels. The first page in a fantasy book is typically
a map of an unfamiliar location that will become like a second home over the next twenty
plus hours of reading. Within the story, plenty of paragraphs and pages are devoted to explaining
the world, the environment, and the people who inhabit it. The desire to be immersed
in a new world was the reason I first bought Game of Thrones back in around 2002 or 2003.
I still remember reading a review on Amazon that spoke to how well-developed Westeros
was thanks to a heavy focus on politics. This was exactly what I was after at the time.
Immersion and realism are often conflated. The Song of Ice and Fire series is dark and
more realistic than many fantasy series, however high fantasy can also be immersive, for example,
pretty much any book by Brandon Sanderson, especially those that form part of the Cosmere
Universe. And then there's Discworld, a world resting on the backs of four elephants
that are in turn standing on a giant turtle which is travelling through space. I love
the world and characters of Discworld just as much as those of Westeros, although this
is cheating a bit because Discworld is a real place, we just haven't discovered it yet.
Compare fantasy novels to science-fiction ones, which rarely include maps and typically
take place over multiple worlds or even entire galaxies. I still enjoy science fiction, and
these days I actually read more science fiction than fantasy because I find there's more
variation in those stories, however I rarely get as immersed in the world or worlds. There
are exceptions of course, and on that note I highly recommend the Expanse series by Daniel
Abraham and Ty Franck, writing under the pen name James S A Corey. Brilliant books.
Immersion in video games is tough to describe or categorize. There's an entire genre of
games called immersive sims, but I don't find the label overly helpful. It certainly
can be used to describe games that immerse you in their world, with plenty of history,
interesting characters, and player-focused choices, however just as often it is used
as an excuse for games that are otherwise boring and uneventful. Even games from the
same series can vary in how immersive they end up being. Regardless of the overall quality
of the two games, there's a huge difference between Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite in
terms of how immersed I was in the worlds of Rapture and Columbia or Colombo or whatever
it was called.
Outside of that genre, I've been immersed in games for a variety of reasons. In the
case of The Witcher 3, it was mainly the interactions I had with characters throughout my journey.
Conversations were believable within the context of the world and I was easily able to roleplay
as Geralt despite him being a fixed character with a largely fixed backstory. I also consider
Bloodborne to be an immersive game despite the lack of a story or interesting characters.
With a couple of exceptions, the environment has a consistent style that kept me completely
engaged in, well, whatever the hell you want to believe is going on based on cryptic comments
and item descriptions.
Finally, there are the games that attempt to immerse you through realism, or at least
an approximation of it. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a good recent example of this. You have
to eat and sleep regularly, learn to read, and keep your clothes clean to impress nobles.
I enjoyed this aspect of the game, despite how incredibly tedious it probably sounds.
Other games have similar modes, however they're often linked to the highest difficulty setting
available and as such I rarely enjoy them. Fallout 4's survival mode sounds great on
paper, with the need to sleep, manage radiation exposure, and the like, however it's only
available on the hardest setting. I'd like to experience the survival option without
have to worry about losing three hours of gameplay because I got stung by a bee. On
the other side, Far Cry 5 has moments where it almost feels like a survival game as you
explore cabins and bunkers to collect supplies, except Ubisoft didn't make it anywhere near
challenging enough for this to be necessary and ammo is cheap enough to buy that you won't
need to explore if you don't want to.
It's important not to confuse immersion and realism. Going back to Kingdom Come Deliverance,
moving your inventory from your horse to your character before you sell it might be "realistic"
however it's a pain in the arse. Likewise, it's realistic to struggle in a sword fight
when against three people but that doesn't mean it isn't a terrible fighting system
that encourages you to cheese your way through fights by getting enemies to line up or shoot
each other with arrows.
All this is to say that immersive is often thrown around as a de facto positive description
of a game, yet in my opinion it isn't enough to make a game great. Metro 2033 nails immersion
better than most games I've played in the last ten years. It might even be the most
immersive. Metro 2033 has a scattering of flaws that detract enough from the experience
that I don't consider it to be a must buy, more like a should try. It reminds me a bit
of my experience with The Evil Within. I found that to be quite a flawed game and yet it
got me really interested in the sequel.
This is where I usually tell you that there is a written review of the game on my website
and what score I gave it. I'm not going to do that for Metro 2033. I bought 2033 as
part of Metro Redux which is a collection of both 2033 and Last Light. While you can
buy the games separately, it feels a bit disingenuous to review them that way when I bought the
package. Also, the way the pricing works out, I can't imagine many people bought one of
the games separately unless they already owned the other. I paid about $7 for the collection
when the two were available for $5 each. I'll review the bundle when I've played both
games.
To help you keep the rest of this video in context, I will say that if I did review Metro
2033, it would probably be a four out of five, or perhaps a three with a strong recommendation
that you give it a shot if linear, ten-hour survival games are your cup of tea.
As noted in the title, I'm focusing on the redux version of Metro 2033 which has improved
visuals on console and some gameplay changes from the sequel Last Light that were brought
back to this version. I didn't play the original and don't intend to spend much
time talking about the differences between the two except for the inclusion of a new
Spartan play style that I will discuss in some detail. Other than that, there are some
changes to voice actors, levels have been combined to have fewer breaks, and stealth
takedowns are now much easier.
There will be full story spoilers from this point on. If you are considering picking up
the game, you should stop watching, although I don't think spoilers will ruin the experience
in this case. As you may know, Metro 2033 is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Dmitry
Glukhovsky. For some reason, the novel isn't available in ebook format in the US, however
the audiobook is so that's how I read it it, so to speak. This video will also have
spoilers for the book. I don't intend to go into a lot of depth, however I will highlight
some key differences and that includes the ending.
From gameplay footage, Metro 2033 looks like a typical linear FPS with some light resource
management. In fact, it likely looks rather bland, with only two environments of note:
the insides of metro tunnels and the snowy exterior of the irradiated surface. That's
certainly how it looked to me on release and it wasn't until I saw the redux collection
on sale for a ridiculously cheap price that I decided to take a punt on it. I'm glad
I did. I can't speak for Last Light yet, however Metro 2033 had some incredible high
points that more than made up for tedious moments like turret sections and an over-reliance
on nosalis ambushes to mix up the pacing.
As I mentioned, Metro 2033 is immersive. It achieves this through its environment and
mechanics, as opposed to characters and storytelling. It's a bit like mixing what I found immersive
about Bloodborne and Kingdom Come Deliverance. I was immediately sucked in by the suffocating
and dark Metro tunnels which contrasted with the open and bright surface areas, although
both are equally depressing in their own way.
As you may have guessed, Metro 2033 takes place in the year 2033, 20 years after the
bombs first dropped in World War Three. Moscow quickly became unlivable due to nuclear fallout.
Around 40,000 people fled to underground Metro stations, including young Artyom and his mother.
From the book, we know that Artyom's mother died when their station was invaded by a group
of large rats. I'm assuming the cause of death in the game is the same, as it was never
directly contradicted.
Artyom lives in a station called VDNKh, although the game mainly refers to it as Exhibition
which is a reference to a nearby Russian exhibition on the surface. From the book, we know that
Exhibition station was known for its mushroom tea, which, while not really tasting anything
like actual tea, quickly became a popular drink with traders from other stations. The
game introduces mushroom vodka and we also see the pigs that are raised here. Exhibition
feels like a place that people have made into a home. It's not a happy place, but it is
a place you can imagine people surviving in, especially when you account for the trading
that took place between stations.
Unfortunately, you can't interact with other people all that much, which is why I found
the environment more immersive than the characters. That said, the crowded rooms of people hustling
around with miserable looks on their faces as they try to eek out an existence goes further
than most games to make you feel like this is a real post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Stations are locked up tight to prevent attacks from Nosalis, mutated versions of moles, I
think. Nosalis are a constant threat, finding their way into stations through air ducts
and attacking in large numbers. Nosalis are a pain, but this tunnel trash can be dealt
with. The new and more troublesome threat is the Dark Ones. The Dark Ones are also referred
to as Homo novus, the next step in the evolution of humanity.
Alex, a father figure to Artyom, sees these Dark Ones as the future as is ready to give
up the fight. They way he sees it, humanity as it once was, will soon cease to exist.
A man named Hunter, more a description than his actual name, isn't ready to give up
the fight. He goes out to find the Dark Ones, but not before giving Artyom a mission. Hunter
tells Artyom that if he doesn't return, Artyom must go to to Polis to warn Miller
about the imminent threat the Dark Ones pose to Exhibition and the rest of the Metro system.
And for much of the game, that's it. Your entire mission is to get to Polis.
This simple introduction quickly drew me into the world of Metro 2033, but it's the little
touches that are to blame for me using the words immersive and immersion about 367 times
during this video.
The best illustration of a small feature being great for the overall experience is the humble
gas mask. Artyom needs to wear a gas mask above ground and as such, you'll need to
look after the one you're wearing. The gas mask breaks if you take too many hits during
combat. You'll see the damage on the mask and the cracks will obscure your view. You
can swap your mask for a new one if you find one in a locker or on a dead body. Splashes
of blood occasionally cover the mask, but you can get rid of them with a quick wipe.
The mask needs air filters and depending on what difficulty you're playing and what
mode, these might be in short supply. You have to change filters every five minutes.
When there's only one minute left on the filter, Artyom's breathing becomes labored
which increases your chances of being heard by guards. If the air filter expires, Artyom
dies.
In addition to the gas mask, Artyom has a torch which he has to keep powered up through
a battery that he can pump to recharge. If the battery is low then the light dims until
it eventually stops working. You don't have to recharge the battery often, just remember
to keep an eye on it so that the light doesn't fade at an inopportune time.
Certain weapons also need to be recharged to keep them in optimal condition, and as
you can imagine, this is certainly not something you want to leave for the middle of a combat
encounter. Again, I'm sure it sounds tedious, and technically it is, however you don't
do it so often that it feels like a needless chore or a gimmick. It feels like a genuine
part of maintaining a stockpile of weapons that are long past their prime. The guns jam
up on very rare occasions. It's not predictable or frequent like, for example, a massive sword
breaking after five minutes of light use. Metro 2033's system feels more akin to maintaining
your weapons in Kingdom Come Deliverance. A bit of a nuisance perhaps, but more important
to the experience than you might appreciate if you haven't played the game.
Some guns take a long time to fully reload. This would normally bug me, however it doesn't
here and I think that's because Artyom isn't being sluggish. He's actually moving fairly
quickly when he reloads, however due to the antiquated nature of the weapons, it takes
a long time. It also helps that the guns feel incredible to use. Weapons like the shotgun
have a real heft to them, whereas the airgun feels suitably pathetic even if it is deadly
with headshots. The only weapon I didn't particularly like was the starting revolver
which looks way too small in Artyom's hand.
You also have a watch that displays how much time you have left on your current air filter,
and an indicator that glows blue when you're standing in light and are therefore visible
to enemies. You won't be glued to any mini-maps or constantly managing your inventory. Nearly
all the information you need is displayed through your character or the tools he carries.
Even directions are subtly signposted through arrows on the wall that look like a natural
part of the scenery.
In one short level, you have to escort a child back to his mother. I feel much the same way
about escort missions as you probably do, but this one isn't too bad. The kid jumps
on your back so you don't have to worry about keeping him safe as such. He's even
vaguely helpful, shouting out directions when there are enemies approaching. You do, however,
have to deal with the effect he has on your momentum and speed as you move. You feel like
you're carrying a child on your back. It's harder to aim and shoot as well. Likewise,
if you're outside in the middle of a strong wind, you can expect your aim to sway all
over the place. The wind isn't a constant irritation. It dips in and out every few seconds
which helps it feel like a genuine struggle against the elements instead of just being
that level's feature which will soon be discarded.
Even the in-game economy helps keep you immersed. Every hour or so, you'll get the chance
to buy or sell ammo, grenades, knives, and med packs, and upgrade your weapons. The currency
you use for all this is a special type of ammo called Military Grade Rounds, or MGR.
You occasionally get given MGR, but for the most part you need to find it out in the world.
So far, it's much like a normal currency. However, there's a crucial difference; you
can use the currency in combat, and I don't just mean by throwing it around to distract
enemies. In the world of Metro 2033, the regular ammo you use for combat is inferior to military
grade rounds. The regular ammo was made after the start of the war, and is referred to as
dirty rounds, whereas the MGR is high-quality ammo from before the start of the war. The
Military Grade Rounds are in limited supply and therefore appropriate for a form of currency.
I love this system. The poorer quality ammo is less accurate and does less damage to enemies.
If you run out of dirty rounds, or are struggling with a particularly challenging fight, then
you might be tempted to use your MGR, in which case you'll literally be firing money at
enemies. It's a brilliant mechanic and, when playing on the harder settings where
resources are more restrictive, each bullet that leaves your gun hurts you as much as
it does the person on the receiving end. Even on easier settings, when I had spent all the
money I needed to spend, I was still reluctant to shoot my MGR in case it would be more useful
in a later encounter.
Immersion is a lot like trust. It takes a hell of a lot of work to gain, and is easily
lost. Metro 2033 works hard to keep you immersed but in both of my main playthroughs I ended
up drifting out of the world by the end. Strangely, the reasons for this were similar and yet
opposite. In my first playthrough, resources were almost comically plentiful. By about
the halfway point, I had the three weapons best suited to my style and all the upgrades
I wanted. From there on out, scavenging for supplies lost much of its luster. I kept hunting
around in lockers to find journals but the suspense and excitement of finding a new air
filter was completely lost. I had to leave supplies behind because I was already fully
stocked.
The obvious answer to that problem is to up the difficulty which is what I did on my second
playthrough. That made a big a difference until the final few hours when once again
the illusion shattered. Near the end of the game, you reach the Polis station and tell
its ruling council about the threat of the Dark Ones. The council debates and eventually
decides not to help you. Miller mentions a missile silo that's currently offline but
could be roped back into use to bomb the Dark Ones. At this point, you're given a free
choice of weapons and upgrades to use so you only need to worry about a supply of ammo
and air filters. In my case, I had ammo, but was low on air filters. I scrounged around
desperate for every extra minute of air I could find. If I'd been by myself this would
have been tense and challenging, but strangely enjoyable. However, I wasn't alone. I had
three or four other people with me and they had a seemingly endless supply of air filters.
This wouldn't have been immersion breaking if it weren't for the fact that my comrades
regularly waste time by casually joking around and taking their sweet time to get me out
of locked rooms. They were blissfully unaware that I was one minute from death and it was
a touch frustrating. Likewise, a slow elevator ride was a lot tenser for me than it was for
my compatriot. In one section, I ignored my teammates who needed help fighting a demon
and ran away until I triggered the end of the chapter. I missed out on a cutscene, but
at least I survived.
This is only really a problem in the last couple of levels which were slow and on rails.
A few times, I was hanging on to just a few seconds of air and thought I'd trapped myself
in an unwinnable situation. Fortunately, 4A Games must have recognized the issue because
I soon came across plenty of air filters. In the end, I got through comfortably. Other
players might not have found this a problem at all, or if they did, it might not have
ruined immersion, but it was an issue for me. That this is one of the few times Metro
2033 took me out of its carefully crafted world, should speak highly to what is an otherwise
solid experience.
Metro's stealth gameplay is another element that aids with immersion while also being
responsible for tearing you out of it on a semi-regular basis. As you might expect, Artyom
often needs to stay quiet and out of sight. You often sneak around and doing melee takedowns
from behind or taking potshots with a silenced pistol. Unlike many other stealth games, the
staying out of sight part is nearly entirely dependent on staying in the dark as opposed
to staying out of an enemy's line of sight. If you want to be sneaky, it's crucial to
turn off all the lights, put out the fires, and shoot the lights you can't reach. Darkness
is your friend. This can feel incredible. Gradually turning off the lights one by one
and then either killing enemies or ghosting past them is pretty damn satisfying. It's
not necessarily as easy as it sounds either. You can't use your torch to see where you're
going because that would obviously negate the whole turning off the lights thing. Many
of the locations have trip wires that are genuinely hard to spot even with a light let
alone in the dark. Enemies also set up traps and hang cans from the ceiling which make
a noise when you walk into them. In other words, you have to be incredibly careful.
Kind of. You see, Metro 2033's enemies manage to be both fairly stupid and remarkably perceptive.
If you are in the dark, you are for all intents and purposes, invisible. You can literally
stand right in front of enemies and they won't notice you. Being out of the light doesn't
just make you harder to see it makes you nigh on impossible to see. Unless, that is, you
make certain noises such as firing an unsuppressed gun or hitting one of the cans. Then every
enemy in the level immediately knows where you are as if they are all psychically linked
to that one can.
This doesn't apply to all noises though. When you perform so called silent takedowns,
the enemies let out a scream just before you slit their throat. It's especially distracting
because the scream usually comes after you've killed them.
All this leads to a stealth experience that can feel incredibly tense, and yes, immersive,
however it breaks apart at the seams once you figure out its fairly basic limitations.
Regardless of its issues, stealth is the best way to play the game by a long shot. Each
level has a stealth option that's great for taking enemies down silently and in fact
it typically has an even stealthier option where you can make it through without needing
to kill anyone. In fact, many levels are so stealthy by default that you can easily miss
the opportunity to be even stealthier because you assume you already are taking the stealth
option. Take the level where you have to make it past a conflict between the communists
of the Red Line and the Nazis of the Fourth Reich. If you're wondering where the hell
the Nazis came from, then don't worry, I'll get to that later.
You need to make it to the otherside of this tunnel. Directly in front of you are the Reds,
who have just brought a fresh batch of troops to the front line. Beyond the Reds, are the
Nazis. The Nazis shout their propaganda towards the Reds, insisting that they never use torture
and that life really is better on their side. Both sides are shooting at each other but
you never see a huge battle. It's like shelling the trenches in preparation to enter no man's
land.
On my first playthrough, I had no intention of going straight through the middle of this
warzone. That wouldn't have been particularly safe or stealthy. I took a path to the left,
killed a couple of guards and then a couple more to rescue a hostage. Some white arrows
hinted at the way forward using the pipes to traverse underneath much of the action
until I came back up near the end. There were more guards that could be killed from the
shadows or you could use the massive machine gun. After this there's a tunnel and the
level moves into another section where you can also take hidden routes by sticking to
the side tunnels while trying to avoid a railcar with a turret.
It wasn't until I came back to this level on a second playthrough that I realized going
straight through the warzone wasn't an option anyway. It's blocked off. The route I took
the first time was the intended route and there's an ever stealthier option available
by dropping down to the ground floor. It didn't help that the first time I dropped down here,
it resulted in instadeath from a fall that didn't seem all that bad, making me think
the area was out of reach. It's not. There's a lot of tripwires down here, but if you make
your way to the end you can avoid combat entirely and even rescue people being held hostage
by the Nazis. Doing this completely avoids the heavily armored railcar and well over
ten enemies.
Even in levels where direct combat is presented as an option, assuming you can survive, staying
in the shadows is clearly the preferred way to play. An early level illustrates this perfectly.
Artyom is travelling with a man named Bourbon. Bourbon is captured however Artyom manages
to remain hidden. There are a lot of enemies in this section so I instinctively tried to
move forward using stealth takedowns where necessary to clear a path. You can take numerous
routes through, some more successful than others. Once again, even without putting in
a conscious effort, you'll likely sneak your way past a decent chunk of the level,
even if you don't discover the optimal route until a second playthrough. However, the really
interesting part about this level is not the enemies that you kill, but the ones killed
by a mystery figure. It's quite creepy to be planning a takedown on an enemy only to
see them go down with a knife in their back that you didn't throw. This saved me from
getting caught on a few occasions.
Now let's imagine you were going in all guns blazing, lobbing grenades in every direction
and spending all that glorious bullet currency. Would you even notice this guy helping you?
I'll never know for sure, because that's not the approach I took on my first playthrough,
however I suspect not. Without this stranger, a man named Khan, helping you from the shadows,
this level is forgettable. Instead, when he pops out of a vent at the end of the level,
you meet someone you can immediately trust. I can't imagine this will be anywhere near
as impactful if you charged through the level to get to the end as if you've just got
a message from Taylor Swift who's told you she's waiting for you and she's bored.
All this is to say that Metro 2033 is a stealth game, first and foremost. Even when you aren't
going to any special effort to take quiet routes through levels, you will likely do
so anyway. There are plenty of stealth mechanics, such as moving bodies, turning off lights,
and a constant indicator of when you are visible to enemies. You're also fairly weak. On
the normal setting, you have regenerating health in addition to medpacks, however you
can still go down quickly under fire. On the higher settings, you don't have regenerating
health and ammo is relatively scarce, so taking out enemies with a headshot or melee takedown
is preferable. Other mechanics such as the aforementioned one where you are helped from
the shadows by Khan also add to the feeling that 4A Games always wanted you to treat Metro
2033 as a stealth experience in addition to a survival one. It's also far more fun this
way, because I don't think the shooting feels all that great, but that's far too
subjective for me to prove. It just feels sluggish in a way that reminds me of the original
Killzone and Resistance games.
So, 4A Games set out to make a stealth game, they made a stealth game, and stealth is the
most rewarding way to play the game. Mission accomplished, right? It's not a trick question.
4A Games did a good job with the original release. Why then, did it add Spartan mode
in the Redux version?
Before talking about Spartan mode, it's worth looking at all the other modes and options
for playing Metro 2033 because there are a lot of them. I can't remember the last time
I was presented with so many different ways to play a game. It's an important choice
too. The decision you make for mode and difficulty will impact your experience more than any
other. It's a sorry state of affairs that the second most memorable aspect of what is
otherwise a strong game, is the time I spent on the options screen before even starting
my first playthrough.
I nearly always play games on normal difficulty initially as I feel it gives the best representation
of how the developers intended the game to be played. That's not always the best way
or the way most suited to my style, but it's usually a good starting point. As appropriate,
on subsequent playthroughs, I will try out harder settings and occasionally easier ones
if they offer up different experiences such as Nier: Automata. In Metro 2033, and specifically
in the Redux version, trying to figure out which option is the intended experience is
a challenge in and of itself.
This is slightly tedious to go through, but I believe it's important to the analysis.
On its original release, Metro 2033 contained two modes each with two difficulty settings,
so you had four options in total. You could play the standard version of the game in either
the normal or hardcore difficulties, or play the ranger mode, again in either normal or
hardcore. I'll explain this all more in a minute.
The Redux introduced a new way to play Metro 2033 known as Spartan. The previous four options
I described a minute ago are now categorized under the Survival playstyle. Spartan mode
is a new playstyle lets you play Metro 2033 with what it describes as the more forgiving
combat of Last Light. It is supposedly more suitable for action-oriented gamers and contains
more ammo and resources. Under the Spartan option you can play either Normal, Hardcore,
Ranger, or Ranger Hardcore. For those keeping count at home, that's a total of eight options
to choose from at the start.
I initially wondered whether I should start with Spartan mode. Presumably if the developers
went back and added in options from the sequel, that would be the best way to play the older
game, right? Like a director's cut of a movie should be the director's vision of
what the movie should have been all along. After completing the game in both Survival
and Spartan styles, I can say almost definitively that Survival is the intended play style.
Spartan wasn't added as some sort of director's cut or preferred vision. It's more an optional
alternative, like bonus content. At least that's how it feels to me, and there's
some evidence to support this.
Survival normal is not terribly difficult. I'd say it's surprisingly easy so long
as you make half an effort to search for supplies. I suppose if you just power through then you
might end up short of filters or ammo, but it's unlikely. It won't shock you to hear
that hardcore mode is harder. You have less health, enemies have more health, and there's
less ammo. It's a relatively straightforward change in numbers that doesn't make much
difference to how you play the game. You'll die more and get fewer second chances if you
happen to be caught, but you know what to expect from a mode like this.
Survival Ranger mode is where things get interesting. Ranger mode makes two key changes: both changes
make the experience better and more immersive, however there are some crucial caveats that
mean I can't necessarily recommend this for a first playthrough, which is a shame
as otherwise it's the ideal way to play.
In Ranger mode, we're told that resources are scarcer. I don't know whether this is
when compared to normal mode or hardcore mode. I think it's compared to normal, but it's
hard to prove. You have less health, however the crucial part is that so do the enemies.
This is one of those times that attempts at realism and immersion merge quite nicely because
I've never been a huge fan of human bullet sponge enemies. I don't mind a bit of additional
armor here and there, but there should be reasonable limits and no human should be shrugging
off headshots without a helmet.
The other major changes are to the HUD and UI. Hints are disabled, although you can turn
them back on again in the menu. The lack of a HUD certainly sounds great for immersion.
Once you know you can turn off certain lights and put out fires, you don't need a big
prompt popping up on the screen every time you look at them. Likewise, you won't get
pick up prompts on lockers, on enemies, ammo stashes, or tripwires. You also aren't prompted
to perform melee takedowns although there is a subtle controller vibration to let you
know you're close enough.
This could be confusing on a first playthrough. Some of the lockers you can open don't look
all that distinct from the ones you can't and you end up hitting the pick up prompt
on enemies multiple times even when there's nothing left to get just in case. There's
not even a prompt for talking to people like the vendors. I understand the desire for immersion,
however, talking to vendors brings up a HUD that takes up most of the screen anyway. This
is much more distracting than a small icon that indicates who you can interact with.
On Survival ranger mode, you still get the HUD when you want to change throwable weapons
or change your air filters, take off your gas mask, recharge your weapons, etc. You
also still get the smaller prompts when you need to interact with a control panel or door.
On survival ranger hardcore, you don't get any of the HUD come up, even the one that
lets you change throwable weapons, turn on your torch, and the like. This means you have
to memorize exactly which buttons are used for each feature. If you've already played
this game once, this isn't a huge problem, although I would still forget which button
to press for regular grenades vs fire grenades.
Without a doubt, the most annoying part of having no HUD is the inability to see how
much ammo you're carrying and how much you pick up. You can usually tell how much ammo
is in your gun just by looking at it. This is great and exactly the kind of thing I appreciate.
However, what I'm not so keen on is being completely clueless as to how much ammo I'm
carrying. There's no way to look down at your body to see the spare clips. You might
have a full cartridge in the gun, but you'll have no idea if that represents the last of
your ammo or is just one clip of many. You can't keep track of ammo in your head as
it doesn't tell you how much you get when you pick it up. On the PS4, by holding triangle,
you can see how many military grade rounds you have available for spending or for using
as bullets. That's in ranger mode. In ranger hardcore you don't even get this screen.
It's odd that the total stock of ammo isn't displayed here? There's already a huge pop
up on screen. Might as well add some more information to it. I've seen this defended
with the usual realism argument, but it doesn't hold up. I should be able to check how many
clips I'm carrying if I want, regardless of the desire to minimize HUD elements.
I really enjoyed survival ranger and survival ranger hardcore modes and if it weren't
for the lack of a HUD I would have no hesitation in recommending either for a first playthrough.
Scarce resources, together with both the protagonist and the enemies being weak is a great fit
for Metro 2033's stealth gameplay and immersive experience. I just wish the decision for what's
displayed on the HUD had been left up to the player. Maybe the HUD could be on by default
with a subtle recommendation to turn it off after an hour or so. As it stands, I find
myself in the slightly odd position of recommending new players start on survival normal or survival
hardcore, play for a few hours to get a feel for the game and then start from scratch in
survival ranger or survival ranger hardcore mode. That's a pretty convoluted and unsatisfying
recommendation and not a great way to get players into the game.
And I'm only halfway through Metro 2033's game modes, because I still have to discuss
the new Spartan setting. As I mentioned, the Spartan mode wasn't included in the initial
release. It's described as bringing the gunplay from Last Light to Metro 2033. If
that's the case, I may not like Last Light all that much. However, I suspect my disappointment
with the Spartan mode here is more about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Spartan mode is more action-oriented but it has the same four choices as before. You can
play normal, hardcore, ranger, or ranger hardcore. I didn't play much of the normal and hardcore
modes here. Resources did appear to be more plentiful than in the comparable Survival
modes and Artyom can take more damage, however I still had a tendency to choose stealth options
when available because the gunplay just doesn't feel all that good. Even with the sensitivity
up high, Artyom is slow both in movement and aiming, so you quickly get outnumbered and
surrounded. Neither normal or hardcore feels like a good option. In normal, it's quite
easy to bumble your way through with all the accuracy of Dick Cheney after a couple of
drinks, and it isn't particularly fun. The best way I can describe it is functional.
You use cover where required, point your gun, shoot, and repeat. There's no athleticism
and little danger. If someone were to play Metro 2033 on Spartan normal, they probably
won't remember the game five minutes after completing it. It's just forgettable.
Spartan hardcore, is of course harder, but this is where the lack of mobility becomes
frustrating. In this mode, I found myself playing it as a full on cover shooter instead
of a stealth game or a action FPS. I don't recommend either of the standard Spartan games
modes, but what about the ranger modes?
Once again, we're told that ranger and ranger hardcore modes have less ammo and resources,
plus both Artyom and the enemies take fewer shots to kill. The problem is, compared to
what? Compared to the normal Spartan settings? If so, how does this work? Spartan mode supposedly
turns Metro into more of a shooter, with more resources and health. Ranger modes then decrease
the resources and Artyom's health. So do those two changes cancel each other out? Do you
have more health and ammo on Spartan ranger than Survival normal? How should you play
Spartan ranger mode, anyway? Is it supposed to be played as a shooter with a more action
focus or should you go full stealth again? If so, how is this really any different to
Survival Ranger?
By the time I tried all the difficulties and modes, I'd spent too much time playing Metro
2033 to say for sure which was harder because my own knowledge of the game was increasing.
You can only keep one save file and can't change the difficulty on the fly, so it's
tough to run good comparisons short of playing the game through eight times.
What I can say is that the ranger modes on Spartan felt a hell of a lot like the ranger
modes on Survival. I honestly couldn't tell any difference. Spartan ranger felt like a
stealth game with scarce resources and just enough challenge to keep up the tension throughout.
It certainly didn't feel like an action FPS. I made a conscious decision to go without
a silenced pistol on this playthrough because I knew I would end up relying on it which
in turn would make me play the game stealthily again. But, even without the pistol, I still
found myself keeping to the shadows and trying my best to remain unseen. And I tried, I really
tried, however there just seemed to be some sections that I couldn't possibly get through
without avoiding combat entirely.
Take, for example, this level where you have to get past a bunch of Nazis on the surface
while braving a harsh wind and demon attacks from the sky. Initially I tried to sneak past
the Nazis while they were dealing with a demon. There was plenty of wind to cover any noise
I made, however a searchlight at the far end kept catching me and suddenly all the Nazis
would forget about the demon and go straight for me. I then tried shooting the light out
from afar, however without a silenced weapon, this would always draw attention. Again, I
would wait until a demon was attacking and assume that the sound of my weapon was covered
by all the other gunfire, but no such luck. I was far too weak to deal with all these
guys. I tried running past them but got shot down in seconds.
Eventually I fumbled my way to the end. I didn't do anything special. I didn't learn
anything. I just got lucky. With a silenced pistol, this section isn't a huge problem,
but sticking to the supposed gun-toting Spartan mode doesn't work. There was zero satisfaction
to overcoming this challenge, because I'm not convinced I overcame anything and I'm
not convinced it was a fair challenge anyway. Spartan mode was an afterthought. Literally.
That's not me speculating, it obviously was an afterthought as it wasn't in the
original game and was only added in the redux. This means that certain levels or sections
within levels don't feel like a good fit for the change in playstyle. You can't just
add more health and ammo to change a game, especially if you then have a mode that takes
the health and ammo away again. I don't recommend playing Spartan mode at all unless
you are really desperate for the trophy or achievement. And who would go to extreme lengths
just for a trophy?
There are a couple of other minor differences between the modes. One worth mentioning is
that in all the ranger modes, you can only carry two weapons instead of three. Only having
two weapons at any time also changes the economy slightly. You can concentrate on upgrading
only two weapons and you'll be able to sell all the ammo types you collect but don't
use. Ranger mode also reduces the maximum amount of ammo you can carry, so even if you
explore methodically, you still might find yourself running out of bullets when fending
off nosalis.
On balance, I recommend just one playthrough. Take your time, soak in the story, and read
all the journal entries. There's a lot more to Metro 2033 than you'd think from a story
that just has you travelling from one Metro station to another. As I mentioned, I don't
want to move through the story beat by beat, however there are some parts that I'd like
to discuss in more detail.
I've already discussed Artyom's home station briefly, with its focus on pigs and mushrooms
to create enough food and drink to survive. The stations all have different areas of expertise
and philosophies, but they have one thing in common: they are all depressing places.
You won't see many smiles on your travels and entertainment seems to consist of old
dudes playing musical instruments badly, telling stories, and the odd shadow puppet show.
Not everyone in the Metro even has it that good. There are beggars dotted around and
long lines to receive medical treatment. Every station has this oppressive air about it.
They're crowded and claustrophobic and absolutely the sort of place you would only live if everywhere
else was a nuclear wasteland.
These stations all feel like places where men live, work, and fight. Unfortunately,
I have to use the qualifier "men" because it's not entirely clear where all the women
are. I saw a few dotted around, but not all that many. I think I saw more children than
women.
In the world of Metro 2033, the men do all the fighting, so to the extent you are in
heavily guarded parts of the stations, it does sort of make sense that you'd mainly
see men. I say "sort of" because I'm fairly sure even the most misogynistic of
men would let women join them in the fight against the nosalis and whatever else is roaming
the tunnels. That's a bigger conversation that I don't want to get into here because
we aren't given much in the way of information.
In order to create some logical consistency in my head, I decided to assume that a conscious
decision was made to keep women off the front line because they are necessary for the survival
of the human race. If the women die, there are no children. If there are no children,
there are no more future soldiers. That said, there aren't all that many children running
around either, so yeah, not too sure about that one.
Even with this somewhat flimsy excuse in my head, it's still a shame that the metro
stations are so male dominated because it means there's little diversity in terms
of character models. With most of the men being white and in similar uniforms, there's
a tendency for them all to blur into one. I also suspect that voice actors performed
numerous roles because the voices all sound incredibly similar. That could just be me
not have a good ear when it comes to the Russian accents, however I definitely had trouble
distinguishing between the people I met on my journey. A few women would have helped
keep things more interesting and I found the obvious lack of them distracting.
I've spoken about Artyom's home station as if that's where you start the game, however
there's actually a prologue which takes place 8 days in the future. Artyom and Miller,
the man Hunter asks you to find, head up to the surface and fight off waves of Nosalis
until the screen fades to black. This introduction appears fairly innocuous at first glance and
yet I found myself disproportionately annoyed at it. The book doesn't start with this
prologue, so I assume it was a concession made by the developers to get players into
the action earlier. 4A Games might have been worried that spending a couple of hours in
dark tunnels would have been boring for players and put this section in to let you know that
at some point you will escape the darkness.
Not only was this not necessary, it was detrimental to the experience. It wasn't necessary because
Metro 2033 isn't a particularly long game and there's plenty of combat in the tunnels
for players to get stuck into early on. I can't imagine many people picking up a game
with Metro in the title and then being disappointed that the first hour or so took place in a
metro system. It's also a touch weird when you reach this section for real later on in
the game and have a different set of weapons at your disposal.
However, the bigger problem is that going to the surface as your very first act in the
game, spoils what should be a big moment later on. Artyom was born on the surface however
he hasn't been back since he was a young child. He has faint memories of being happy
and living in a beautiful city, but he doesn't know what it's like on the surface now.
Neither do we as the player. The surface is a mystery, or at least it should be. Instead
of spending a few hours wondering what's happened to Moscow in the twenty years since
the war began, the prologue tells us upfront.
There's plenty of intrigue to keep players interested without the need for this prologue.
We're quickly introduced to the impending threat of the Dark Ones when Alex tells us
that they will end the human race as we know it and Hunter goes on his suicide mission
to fight them. Metro 2033 might start slow, but I wouldn't describe it as boring.
Artyom's introduction to these mysterious Dark Ones comes via a vision. Artyom is in
a cart with three other people when everyone starts tripping out as an electrical spark,
known as an anomaly, flickers in the background. Artyom appears to lose consciousness and sees
a Dark One in his dream. The Dark One is about to grab him before changing his mind and walking
away. Artyom comes to and wakes up the guy next to him with a quick shake of his shoulder.
The other two don't wake up and are killed by the Nosalis.
When you make it to safety, Artyom is hailed as some sort of hero for being able to resist
the Dark Ones. In the game, this doesn't make a lot of sense. After all, our companion
was able to wake up easily enough as well, albeit we did give him a nudge. Still, it
doesn't seem like there's anything particularly special about Artyom from this, nor much of
what follows. He does have a special link with the Dark Ones, I just wish this had been
presented a little clearer. Perhaps Artyom could have been the only one to wake up at
all in this scene.
On a similar note, the threat itself isn't all that clear. Hunter tells us that the Dark
Ones are a threat, but we don't see them acting in a particularly threatening manner.
One of the Dark Ones appears to attack a soldier in Artyom's vision, but it can't have
been a particularly deadly attack because the soldier shoots the Dark One as it walks
away.
Artyom has a more of these visions as we progress and none of them ever made me particularly
scared of the Dark Ones. There's a reason for that, which I'll get to soon, however,
I'd still argue that the Dark Ones could have been made out to be much more threatening
without changing the story.
The bigger and more immediate threat to Artyom comes in the form of the communists of the
Red Line and the Nazis of the Fourth Reich. These Nazis are Russian, not German, but they
are very much inspired by Adolf Hitler. Post-nuclear war, the concept of racial purity has extended
into genetic purity. Not only do the Nazis consider non-whites to be inferior, they also
look down on those with bodily imperfections. The Nazis want to stop the spread of anything
they see as a mutation and will therefore happily execute someone for the crime of having
a missing finger, even if it was lost in combat.
It's slightly odd to play a game where Nazis are just another enemy as opposed to the main
enemy. Nazis are the big threat for a few levels, however so are the Reds, and the most
dangerous threats often come in the form of mutated animals like nosalis, demons, or librarians.
The librarians, so called because you find them in the library, are excellent foes. I
believe they are mutated apes although Artyom wonders whether they might once have been
human. They hunt you down, often leaping at you from holes in the ceiling or floor. Librarians
are damn tough to kill if you don't have anything flammable to hand, however they will
back away if you stop and stare them in the eyes.
So, the Nazis are not the most memorable foes you face. That would normally be a criticism.
There has to be something missing if I face off against Nazis and find them largely indistinct
from the rest of the human enemies. In this case, I'm fairly sure it's intentional.
In one of his diary entries, Artyom remarks that while the Red Line and the Fourth Reich
should be polar opposites politically, they both have a starving populace and use forced
labor. The remarkable thing about the Nazis of Metro 2033 is that they aren't all that
remarkable and that's horrifying.
Artyom eventually reaches Polis. He finds Miller who in turn tells the council of the
danger facing Exhibition station. After a debate, the council refuses to help Exhibition
and it looks like Artyom's journey was a waste of time. Ultimately, Miller and a few
of his colleagues agree to take matters into their own hands. Together, they go to the
surface to find the location of a missile silo referred to as D6 which is where we end
up looping back into the prologue. Artyom and company prepare a missile to hit the location
of the Dark Ones. It seems a bit weird that the Dark Ones are all huddled together in
one location, however we still don't know much about them. The final chapter has Artyom
climbing a tower to get the transmitter up high enough for a signal. Artyom reaches the
top, turns on the transmitter and the game ends as the missiles hit the Dark Ones, supposedly
wiping them out permanently.
This ending didn't quite land for me. As I mentioned earlier, the Dark Ones never appeared
to be much of a threat so victory over them felt a little hollow. And is it really likely
that the next step in human evolution all happened to be in one relatively small place?
I'm guessing they haven't actually been wiped out and I hope to see more of them in
Last Light or Exodus.
The book handles the ending better. It's the same broad concept, except there's a
twist. Artyom eventually realizes that the Dark Ones aren't a threat at all. They're
trying to help. They've been reaching out to Artyom as he is the only one they are able
to communicate with. By the time Artyom realizes this, it's too late. In other words, the
conclusion is the same, the Dark Ones get blown up, except in the game you're left
thinking your actions helped win the battle, whereas in the book it feels like Artyom might
have lost the war.
This distinction isn't a change between the game and the book. In both versions, the
Dark Ones are trying to help humanity. The difference is that in the game, we only find
this out via an alternative ending that I suspect many people miss.
The second ending is achieved by becoming enlightened through one of the weirdest morality
systems I've experienced in a while. Morality systems in any genre outside of RPGs tend
to be rather one note and require you as the player to do some fairly ridiculous things
to achieve the bad ending. It often doesn't fit well with the main story or what we know
about the character from cutscenes. The inFamous games are culprits that come to mind, however
there are plenty of others.
Metro 2033's system is different. The ending where Artyom blows up the Dark Ones before
finding out that they were only trying to help, is both the bad ending and the canon
ending. It's also likely to be the ending that most people see. Reaching the good ending
doesn't require you to follow a set of obvious choices such as: do you give money to a begger
or chop off his head for having the nerve to ask.
The game never explains this morality system to you, so I dived into Wikis to uncover the
details. Even then, I couldn't find out how many of these morality points you need
to trigger the good ending. There are plenty of points available, however you can lose
some through negative actions like allowing prisoners to be executed. I'm referring
to them as morality points, however it's not just about being a good person. Some morality
points are gained by giving money to children and beggars when they ask for it, however
you also get them from listening to noises in a pipe, remaining undetected in certain
sections, and finding hidden stashes. You even get them for strumming a musical instrument
or two. Strangely you don't get them for knocking people unconscious instead of killing
them, nor do you lose points for doing the opposite.
The only way you know you've received a morality point is a quick blue flicker on
the screen and the sound of dripping water. This is easily missable, especially when you're
in a tunnel with varying light sources and external sounds. I played through the entire
game without noticing it.
I do like the idea of a hidden morality system that judges you for small actions without
you being aware of it. The trophy or achievement for reaching the good ending is referred to
as Enlightened, and many of the morality points are for being inquisitive as opposed to simply
good.
In the enlightened ending, Artyom realizes that the Dark Ones are not trying to kill
humans at all. The Dark Ones have been trying to help you all along. We see that it wasn't
the Dark Ones who killed Hunter's group at the beginning, it was nosalis. This is
a weird ending as apart from a very quick glimpse at the start of the game, we barely
saw anything of this attack. Wouldn't it have been obvious if it was nosalis instead
of Dark Ones. Perhaps Hunter and co think the Dark Ones are driving the nosalis forward.
Either way, the Dark Ones mean no harm.
It makes sense that this realization would only come about if Artyom has been inquisitive,
by engaging in optional conversations with Kahn and listening to speeches from communist
leaders. If the morality system were only about being inquisitive, I would be raving
about it. Instead, much of the system involves familiar arbitrary choices such as give a
bullet to a kid when he asks for it and rescuing prisoners, that kind of thing.
You also get points for completely random stuff like responding promptly to Kahn's
instructions when he tells you to stay still, strumming a guitar, or talking to people who
have nothing of note to say.
Ideally, the good ending would have been more closely linked to finding enough clues about
the Dark Ones so that both Artyum and the player would know that the Dark Ones weren't
a threat. It would be tricky to pull off, because if the player figured it out too early,
it would be frustrating to keep playing through the story when you know what you're doing
is wrong. Perhaps getting nearly enough information to make a decision could trigger the appearance
of a final clue at the end which helps you piece it all together.
Even better, would be if you only found that final clue after the missiles have been launched
so the enlightened ending would be the same ending as in the book. Artyom would have helped
kill the Dark Ones but he would know about his mistake. I personally believe this is
a much better way to end than with both Artyom and the player being completely clueless.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in Last Light. In the Enlightened ending,
Artyom doesn't launch the missiles at all, so neither ending matches the book.
Not to be confused with the Dark Ones, there are also the shadows that haunt certain Metro
tunnels. Khan explains that the shadows are the souls of men who died in the tunnels while
defending their station from attack. Through an incantation, Kahn can make these shadows
move out of the way, ensuring that Artyom can travel through the tunnel.
Khan remains a bit of a mystery figure, but he's more fleshed out in the book. Khan
is called Khan because he believes himself to be the literal reincarnation of Genghis
Khan. He can also be as pretentious and annoying as you'd expect from someone who claims
to be the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. He has a tendency to go off on philosophical
rants which are usually tedious, but occasionally interesting. For example, I appreciated his
explanation of how time works in his metro station. Working clocks are rare and while
Exhibition had one, Khan's station did not. With no access to the surface, there was no
way of telling or keeping time. Therefore everyone had their own schedule. It might
be nighttime for Khan while it was the morning for his roommate. It sounded stupid at first,
but I had to admit that it would be hard to come up with a decent solution short of building
a clock, and it's not hard to imagine that no one in the station had that particular
skillset. Speaking of time, Polis has a clock which has the roman numeral for six where
the roman numeral for four should be. What is it with that one that gives people so much
trouble?
It's not surprising that a short and linear game has less detail than a book, but it's
still a touch disappointing. Much of the campaign consists of people dying while trying to help
Artyom in the next step of his journey. Without any character development, many of these faces
become forgettable and with the exception of Miller and Khan, I'm not convinced I'll
recognize many returning faces in the sequel, despite playing the game multiple times. Artyom
himself acknowledges this, wondering how many more people are going to die for his mission
and whether he is worth the trouble.
On balance, if you're a fan of the game, I'd recommend reading or listening to the
book as well. Artyom doesn't kill many people in the book, yet overall the journey is similar.
Where characters and worldbuilding are concerned, the book doesn't contradict the game all
that often, so it's easy to keep the two consistent in your head. The book takes a
few too many philosophical detours for my liking and the author clearly has a bone to
pick with the idea of religion. You could probably cut out 25% of the book and it would
be all the better for it. A bit like my videos really.
The game has its fair share of faults as well. The autosave system is a bit of a mess. It's
usually good, however there are a couple of areas with huge gaps between checkpoints.
In the chapter with the Reds and Nazis facing off against each other, you trigger a checkpoint
just by moving from the start and down a set of steps. After that you don't trigger another
checkpoint until you've made an awkward jump, killed a bunch of Nazis, climbed up
the stairs, killed more Nazis, killed or snuck past a railcar, and then killed or snuck past
another bunch of Nazis. If you're trying to remain undetected and you don't know
about the secret route through the pipes, then this section can take a fair bit of time
and is a pain to repeat if you are close to finishing when you die.
Worst of all, the save states can trigger at some inopportune times. Once again, the
best example I have is in the same Nazi versus Reds section. The autosave triggered just
as a grenade was coming towards me. I had to move as soon as the game started back up
again or I would be instantly killed. Even when I did move straight away I still managed
to die or take damage a couple of times.
4A Games made a concerted attempt to mix up the pacing, with a consistent sprinkling of
calm exploration, stealth sections, and all out combat. However, the pattern is so predictable
that you know when these moments are coming and what form they're going to take. If
I've been an hour without getting into a major fight, then I can expect to see a bunch
of nosalis heading my way or maybe a turret section. Neither of these are particularly
fun. Other than breaking up the pacing, the main purpose of these Nosalis encounters is
to drain your ammo supply. This can be a touch frustrating because the Nosalis seemingly
take a random amount of shots to kill. I would get the odd one hit kill, only for the next
one to take four shotgun blasts to the face. Hit detection seems to be a little all over
the place and your comrades often chip in with a few shots, so it's almost impossible
to know how many shots you'll need to take them down. Furthermore, it's not always
clear when a nosalis is dead, because they have a habit of ragdolling around both before
and after death, which leads to a few wasted bullets.
The turret sections are typically terrible. These are rarely fun at the best of times,
and it's even worse here thanks to a terrible control scheme that, on controller at least,
requires you to use one stick to move horizontally and another to move vertically.
Artyom is a silent protagonist with the exception of short journal entries that he reads out
at the beginning of each new level. I'm not a big fan of silent protagonists because
it often feels awkward. It's supposed to help you remain immersed, but then leads to
immersion breaking situations where your character never talks despite it being obvious that
he should. Artyom's lack of voice is even jokingly referenced a few times.
While most of Metro 2033 looks incredible, especially in the redux, the children look
downright horrendous. Combine that with their clearly adult voices, and you have a recipe
for nightmares. Thankfully there aren't that many of them.
My final complaint is that some of the later levels feel a touch disjointed compared to
the rest of the game. When you're with Miller and his crew, you need to find a way for them
to get a door open. Despite the environment being largely indestructible up until now,
you're suddenly expected to realize that you can shoot open doors, destroy specific
pieces of wood that are in the way, and even bring down a chandelier. During the climb
up to the top of the tower, you can suddenly walk on thin railings as if they were solid
metal and generally climb tricky looking obstacles without any apparent difficulty.
None of the problems I've discussed here need to put you off playing Metro 2033. It's
a good game. There are a lot of good games out there demanding our time and money, but
this one is relatively short, and more importantly, it does something a little different. It's
tense and almost a horror game at times, but not one that relies on jump scares. Which
I hate. Because I'm a coward.
And that's it from me for this video. I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I would appreciate
it if you could hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't already. In the latest YouTube
related drama, it would appear that subscribing is not enough to guarantee you get notified
about new videos. If you want to increase the chances of YouTube doing what it already
should, then hit the bell icon and ask to be notified for all videos. I know it's
a bit of extra faff, but getting views on new releases early doors really helps with
the analytics. Plus you can be one of those people who writes first in the comment section.
My next video really should be on Fallout 2. I know I've said that before, but I've
put a lot of time into that game recently, and I don't foresee getting another video
done before that one. The only exception is if I get an early review code and have a chance
of hitting embargo like I did with the Devil May Cry Collection. That's unlikely though.
As always, the best way to stay up to date is through twitter or Twitch. That's also
the best place to ask me questions if you have any. I'm streaming Ni No Kuni II at
the moment and after that it will probably be God of War. I also plan to stream Darksiders
II, Sleeping Dogs, Kingdom Hearts, and Detroit: Become Human in the near future.
Okay, thanks for watching. Cheers.
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