➤ The complete package 🎮

Behind the name Metro Redux are the re-editions of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, two intriguing first-person shooters packaged with remarkable care by 4A Games. The imagery of the Metro series is taken from the books with a post-nuclear setting by the writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, suggestive volumes that have touched the chords of other writers, including our own Tullio Avoledo, who have created a universe, through five books, of international character. But the merit of the literary success, this is clear, we also owe it to the two video games that boast a decidedly high quality. The developers have been true masters in rendering the atmosphere of the Moscow metro, a maze of light and shadow that has become the home of a lost humanity., of extremist sects and horribly mutated creatures.

The latter dominate on the outside where the radiation is too intense to allow human life and infiltrate underground in search of human beings. They look like crazy beasts, monsters. But there is something wrong. Behind the monsters that assault the last human strongholds there are creatures that try to communicate, sinuous and inscrutable beings that hide a mystery. To remain involved is the heroic Artyom who, inspired by heroic figures of all kinds, enters the depths of the subway, dragging us with him into an undeniably intense experience. And this intensity is not only due to the splendid design of the underground towns, the creepy nuclear silos or the excellent sound sector. To make both titles memorable is also the always varied action that drags us into wild races aboard mining carts, forces us to sustain extreme defense actions and offers us good-level stealth situations. All seasoned with an engaging narrative component and not without spectacular moments. And with the Redux version both titles are further enriched both from an aesthetic point of view and from that of contents. The first chapter of the series is equipped with the latest version of the 4A Games graphics engine and among the additions there is also the not fundamental but certainly suggestive day and night cycle.

Metro Redux is not a simple re-release and hides a lot of pleasant surprises

Not just graphics

On the aesthetic side, it is inevitably Metro 2033 to undergo the greatest changes with the lights and post processing seen in Last Light that enrich a still good graphics sector. The aesthetic progress on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One compared to the old generation consoles is obviously greater than that of the PC version, but the detail increases sharply also in this case and the new visual effects give the first chapter of the series a yield very close to that of Last Light. The result, in essence, is excellent between truly splendid textures and incredibly realistic fabrics. In addition, 4K resolution has also been implemented for those lucky few who can afford a configuration that can support it. Unfortunately, the greater cleanliness also highlights some problems linked to the fluctuating quality of the models of the underground inhabitants but the inconsistencies are not so evident and the restyling operation can be considered a complete success.

In the case of Metro: Last Light, on the other hand, the leap compared to the original is less impressive but we are obviously talking about the PC version, while on consoles it is much more evident. Rather, if for the second chapter the contents are unchanged or almost unchanged, Metro 2033 can boast a long series of interesting news. For the latter, new animations have been added, several missions have been modified and new intermission scenes have been created, some of which enrich the passage from one area to another. Where before there was a black screen, now there are connection scenes that, while not telling anything new, make it all more believable. In addition, the control system has been updated, some levels divided into two parts have been merged and the possibility has been added, even in the case of Metro: Last Light, to consult the clock and inventory. In essence, there is no shortage of substantial innovations that undoubtedly give meaning to the entire operation, however evident the desire to ride, with this re-edition, the release of the new generation consoles. But 4A Games could have limited the work to the aesthetic component while it has shown that it does not disdain a little extra work and has been careful to include the downloadable content of Metro: Last Light in the offer. No surprise from an optimization point of view. Both titles require a decent computer to be played at maximum detail while not being as resource-hungry as Metro 2033 in relation to the hardware of the era. Although when the anti-aliasing value reaches its maximum, even a Haswell with a GTX 770 starts to drop. Not that the yield changes radically by lowering the SSAA value to two but the difference in terms of image cleanliness is noticeable.

On the other hand, by bringing the SSAA value to 0.5, the image is noticeably blurred and the title is lighter even than when anti-aliasing is disabled. Obviously in this case the detail decreases instead of increasing but those who play at low resolutions or have no resources to activate the v-sync, rather useful given the copious tearing, might find this option tempting since it allows you to streamline the engine without giving up the motion blur and effects in high quality. From a gameplay point of view, both titles earn something. Metro 2033 boasts all the mechanics introduced in Last Light including improved artificial intelligence, weapon customization, mask cleaning, non-lethal attacks and stealth attacks. And the latter find a more complete meaning in Last Light thanks to the more substantial novelty of Metro Redux. Both titles can now be played in two distinct modes. That Survival is designed to enhance the stealth dynamics and is more effective when combined with the Ranger difficulty which further reduces the amount of ammunition available, extends loading times and makes poor Artyom more vulnerable making the cautious approach much healthier than a charge to the bersagliera. The Spartan mode is instead declined towards the classic shooter with more ammunition and monsters less reluctant to die. The first Metro already had its stealth dignity that was partially lost with the second chapter even if this one had more refined mechanics. Now both titles offer a fairly demanding stealth experience thanks to Ranger mode and despite the action nature of the original, the areas of Last Light are full of ravines and are therefore suitable for sustaining stealth dynamics much deeper than those offered in the first version of the title. The result is a truly rich and refined offer that can be purchased in bulk for about forty euros, a price that is quite interesting considering the quality of the two titles, or separately using digital delivery. In essence, no mandatory package and this undoubtedly makes sense. On the other hand, those who have recently played Metro: Last Light and do not aspire to replay it by focusing on stealth mode may find it more logical to buy only the Metro 2033 Redux that arrives transformed not only aesthetically but also in content.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

OS: Windows 7, 8
CPU: Quad Core o Dual Core 3.0+ GHz
RAM: 4 GB
GPU: DirectX 11 --GeForce GTX 480
HD: 10 GB of free space

Minimum requirements

OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8
CPU: Dual Core 2.2+ GHz
RAM: 2 GB RAM
GPU: DirectX 10, Shader Model 3 - GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB
HD: 10 GB of free space

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Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 39,98 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Readers (90)

8.6

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Metro Redux was made to ride the launch of the next generation consoles and the commercial nature of the maneuver is evident. But the two Metro still have something to say in the panorama of first-person shooters and the developers did not spare themselves by managing to make sense of the operation. The result is a rich and refined experience that brings us a radically transformed Metro 2033, accompanied by a version of Metro: Last Light which, very importantly, rediscovers the lost stealth soul of the first chapter thanks to the implementation of the two game modes. distinct.