Metro: Last Light • Eurogamer.net

A new Metro game has been teased for next year

UPDATE: Won't actually be out until after 2017.

UPDATE 10/11/2016 12.49am: It turns out that while another Metro game is on the docket, it's not going to be out in 2017 as the book series' site foretold.

Metro 2033 author partners with Hollywood for film

But will it happen?

Hollywood is working to make a film based on Metro 2033.

August Xbox Games with Gold includes Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

Plus, Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light.

Microsoft has announced August's Xbox Live Games with Gold titles.

Metro Redux titles now offer lengthy free demos

About a third of each game on consoles.

Metro Redux, the remastered versions of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, now offer lengthy free demos of each title on PS4 and Xbox One.

Digital FoundryFace-Off: Metro Redux

Cross-format analysis, plus original vs remaster comparisons on PC.

Some might say that Deep Silver did everything it could to address the various controversies surrounding current-gen console remasters with the launch of its remarkable Metro Redux. 4A Games handed in code that was a truly transformative experience compared to its PS3 and Xbox 360 predecessors, it significantly improved and modernised Metro 2033 and the publisher did its best to bypass the 'rip-off cash-in' arguments often levelled at remasters by bundling both games together in a retail package available in the UK for less than �30. But what about PC?

This one was always going to be trickier. Resolution and frame-rate boosts mean little to a PC audience accustomed to tweaking settings and upgrading hardware in order to get the gameplay experience it wants. The idea of value is wildly skewed in the world of Steam summer sales - and where the original version of Metro 2033 was at one point literally given away for free. Deep Silver hasn't actively marketed any game-changing improvements to Metro Last Light, while the revised version of Metro 2033 has been accused of being 'nerfed' owing to 4A opting to rely less heavily on volumetric lighting in certain situations.

In many ways, this is a dual-purpose Face-Off, then. Not only are we stacking up all three versions of the dual-game Redux, but the PC version - which also bundles up all of the existing DLC - clearly demands comparison to the existing editions of the game. That takes us up to ten different Metro versions we've played over the last month then, with plenty of discussion points still to cover, so let's dive in with the apparently contentious Metro 2033.

Xbox 360 vs Xbox One. PS3 vs PlayStation 4. Is this the remaster you've been waiting for?

The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remasters are coming thick and fast, bringing with them a wave of controversy - should developers be concentrating resources on porting over games they've already made? Are resolution and frame-rate boosts enough? Most crucially of all, do they represent value for money? The Metro Redux package from Kiev-based 4A Games puts forward a hell of a good case: you get two complete games for �30 and each title is available solus via digital delivery for those who already own one of the originals. But most importantly of all, the remastering work is very, very good. In fact, we'd say it's up there with the best.

See what Metro's next-gen remakes look like in action

Due this summer, "Redux" runs in 60 fps, adds new gameplay modes.

Metro 2033 and its sequel, Metro: Last Light, are getting next-gen remakes this summer with "Redux" versions coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC. Now, publisher Deep Silver has revealed the first gameplay footage of both titles in Metro Redux.

Looks like the Metro games are coming to PS4 and Xbox One

UPDATE: Metro Redux confirmed by publisher.

UPDATE 6.00 pm: Metro publisher Deep Silver has confirmed that Metro Redux, the next-gen rendition of the Metro games, is in fact real.

BioShock Infinite and Metro: Last Light coming free to PS Plus

Along with Outlast, ModNation Racers: Road Trip and Dynasty Warriors Next.

Sony has revealed its list of offerings for its February Instant Game Collection, i.e. full games you can download with a PlayStation Plus account that you can keep so long as you continue your service.

FeatureDevelopers' Games of 2013

CD Projekt! Blow! Bithell! Molyneux! More!

We've had our say on 2013's best video games. And so have you. Now, it's the turn of the developers, the makers of the virtual experiences we so love. Read on for the games of 2013 according to the creators of the likes of Super Meat Boy, Assassin's Creed 4, XCOM, Oculus Rift and more, complete with Twitter bios.

Metro: Last Light to come bundled with prototype Steam Machines

Designed to showcase SteamOS and Steam Controller.

Horror shooter Metro: Last Light will come bundled with the 300 prototype Steam Machines Valve plans to send into the wild for testing, Deep Silver has announced.

Metro: Last Light's final DLC the Chronicles Pack is out now

Play as Anna, Pavel, Khan and Urman.

Metro: Last Light has launched its fourth and final piece of DLC today with the Chronicles Pack. It's currently available on Steam and NA PSN, but will be out worldwide on XBLA tomorrow, when it will presumably hit the EU PSN too.

Metro: Last Light's Developer Pack DLC due next week

Enter the Spider's Nest.

Deep Silver and 4A Games' gritty, post-apocalyptic Russian shooter Metro: Last Light will be getting its third piece of DLC, the Developer Pack, on 17th September on Steam and Xbox Live. The PSN version will also be out the 17th in North America, but not until the following day in Europe.

Metro: Last Light's Tower Pack DLC arrives next week

Rise to glory.

Metro: Last Light's second piece of DLC, The Tower Pack, is arriving on 3rd September on Steam, Xbox Live and North America's PSN. European PS3 owners will get it the following day.

Deep Silver clarifies its comment about making Metro "more accessible"

Mac and Linux versions coming soon.

Metro: Last Light publisher Deep Silver has clarified its comment last week that it would like to make the Russian post-apocalyptic series "more accessible."

Deep Silver aims to "absolutely continue" the Metro series

But wants to make it "more accessible for a broader gamer audience."

Metro: Last Light's publisher Deep Silver has revealed that it wishes to continue its dystopian series of sci-fi survival shooters.

Metro: Last Light Faction Pack DLC due next week

Later DLCs detailed.

Metro: Last Light will be getting its first bout of DLC next week with the Faction Pack, publisher Deep Silver has announced.

Metro: Last Light sold more units in one week worldwide than its predecessor did in three months

In the US it sold more retail copies over launch week than Metro: 2033 ever did.

Last we checked, Metro: Last Light topped the UK charts, but it was a hollow victory as its UK retail sales didn't even match those of its much less publicised predecessor. That only tells a small part of the story, however, as both digital and US retail sales were significantly higher.

Digital FoundryInside Metro: Last Light

Digital Foundry vs. 4A's Oles Shishkovstov on technological innovation, PlayStation 3 and the incredible potential of the next-gen consoles.

No single console gaming genre is as fiercely competitive as the first-person shooter, and whether it's Call of Duty, Halo, Crysis, Killzone or Battlefield, these are franchises defined just as much by their technological distinctiveness as they are by colossal budgets that run into the tens of millions. Into the fray steps the recent-recently Metro: Last Light from Kiev-based developer 4A Games. It lacks in mega-bucks investment, but despite that deficit, it aims to make up the gap in terms of good storytelling, atmosphere and simply exceptional technology.

Metro: Last Light DLC announced

Two story chapters, one solo challenge and tools.

Deep Silver has announced Metro: Last Light DLC.

The Faction Pack and the Chronicles Pack include new single-player gameplay that "expands" the story, Deep Silver said. The first chapter, the Faction Pack, will be released in June 2013.

The Tower Pack includes a solo challenge designed for Metro veterans. And the Developer Pack gives "creative players some interesting tools with which to explore the world of Metro...", Deep Silver teased.

But can't beat Metro: 2033's first-week fifth-place tally.

Koch/Deep Silver's new buy Metro: Last Light has stolen first place in the UK video games chart from Dead Island: Riptide, the publisher's other game.

Digital FoundryFace-Off: Metro: Last Light

Going underground.

Xbox 360

PlayStation 3

PC

Digital Foundry4A details Metro: Last Light tech upgrades

Enhanced performance, anti-aliasing, tessellation… plus Xbox 360 vs. PS3 comparison video.

Metro: Last Light developer 4A games has shared some of the technological enhancements added to its bespoke engine since the release of Metro 2033 three years ago, going in-depth on its new approaches to DirectX 11, tessellation and anti-aliasing while promising a great gameplay experience across a range of hardware.

"We are extremely proud of the scalability we achieved," Oles Shishkovstov, chief technical officer for 4A Games tells us. "For example, Metro: Last Light is very playable on Intel HD 4000 hardware in DX11 mode (yes, lower quality settings only, but still - it runs) and we run extremely well on the next-gen Intel Haswell GPUs, while still bringing to their knees the high-end cards like GTX 680 and the HD 7970 in high-quality modes with extreme super-sampling."

Super-sampling is the new anti-aliasing technique of choice from 4A - and it's literally the process of rendering the frame at a higher pixel density and then downscaling it to fit your chosen resolution, smoothing away the jaggies. The problem with SSAA is that it's very heavy on the GPU since so many more pixels are being internally rendered. 4A's approach is to combine super-sampling with a post-process technique - FXAA - for optimal results in terms of both performance and image quality. The frame-rate killing 4x MSAA from Metro 2033 is now a thing of the past.

UPDATE: 4A creative director wades in.

Update: 4A Games creative director Andrew Prokhorov has responded, on GamesIndustry International, to Jason Rubin's account of Metro: Last Light's budget development, thanking him for his piece.

Metro: Last Light review

Bleep... bleep... blops?

Some games seem bad because they are. With Metro: Last Light, it's more a question of expectations: what do you want from the Metro series? For me, it's a scary and dark post-nuclear Russian underground, a first-person survival horror-slash-shooter with scarce resources and terrifying scenarios. There's a bit of that, to be sure. But if you also want tits, QTEs and hand-holding companions, then congratulations - you're part of the wider audience this game is looking for.

Metro: Last Light is a game torn between the niche its predecessor staked out and genre conventions that are perceived to help sales. So, to give one example, you're accompanied for large stretches of the game's first half - a crutch at the best of times, and one that rather taints the atmosphere here. Not that your companions Anna and Pavel are dislikeable characters - the latter's a chatty rogue with charm and surprises to spare - but their presence feels unnecessary.

Metro is based on Dmitri Glukhovsky's series of books, and the pitiless dystopia crafted over two volumes is one where humanity bleeds, both figuratively and literally. Metro 2033 caught this atmosphere in its tight corridors, and Last Light does the same, albeit with more caveats.

The outspoken former chief of Saints Row, Homefront and Darksiders finally breaks his silence.

The week before Danny Bilson left THQ in May 2012, he still had hope. He had a plan: Darksiders 2 from Vigil. Metro: Last Light from 4AGames. Company of Heroes 2 from Relic Entertainment. Enter the Dominatrix, the standalone expansion for Saints Row the Third, from Volition. South Park: The Stick of Truth, in production at Obsidian Entertainment. Homefront 2 at Crytek UK. And then there was the unannounced stuff: the next-gen game from Turtle Rock we now know is called Evolve. Patrice D�silets' 1666 at THQ Montreal. The portfolio is long and impressive.

Metro: Last Light PC system requirements revealed

Recommended settings dug up.

Metro: Last Light developer 4A Games has revealed the system specs you'll need to enjoy its upcoming subterranean shooter.

Metro: Last Light "one of, if not the best looking game you can actually buy"

4A's atmospheric FPS has found a new home at Deep Silver, and it's as pretty as ever.

4A's forthcoming FPS sequel Metro: Last Light will continue the technical excellence displayed by its predecessor, and its producer believes it'll be one of the best looking games available when it releases later this year.

Metro: Last Light release date announced by new publisher

"We have a lot more coming with the franchise."

Near-future shooter Metro: Last Light will ricochet onto UK shop shelves on 17th May 2013, the game's new publisher Deep Silver has announced.

That's three days after the US date of 14th May.

Metro: Last Light was originally due in March, back under the stewardship of defunct publisher THQ.

UPDATE: Platinum Games is interested in Darksiders.

Update #4: Does IP changing hands equal upheaval? Does upheaval equal game delay? Obsidian's South Park: Stick of Truth was due in March. Is it still? "It's too soon to say," Ubisoft told me this afternoon. "We'll have more details to share about plans for specific games soon."

Metro: Last Light removed from GameStop Impulse because of "uncertainty of delivery"

UPDATE: UK retail source worried THQ won't be around when game is due out.

Update: A UK retail source told me: "THQ are not going to be around on those new releases, so taking pre-orders would be unfair possibly on consumers if the sites could not guarantee delivery."

Metro: Last Light Limited Edition includes Ranger Mode difficulty

THQ re-confirms March 2013 release window.

The Metro : Last Light Limited Edition includes the Ranger Mode difficulty, THQ has announced.

FeatureMetro: Last Light preview: The Underground Man

4A's latest promises improvements in terms of the weaponry, the stealth, and the surroundings.

Nixies are a wonderful piece of retro tech: they're a means of creating digital displays that relies on funny little glass vacuum tubes. Fragile and captivating, it's hard to look at this ingenious relic of the 20th century without wishing they'd caught on - even though they'd presumably have meant that we'd all be making weekly trips to the local horologist. Eccentrics like Steve Wozniak have Nixie tube wristwatches, at any rate - and in Metro: Last Light, so will you, the gadget's bright, rather spindly meshed lettering linked to the internal clock on your PC or console. Whatever happens, there's that digital readout, staring up at you from the wrist of Artyom, the series' sharp-shootin' protagonist, as he ventures through this strange, frightening jury-rigged world where yesterday and tomorrow have collided painfully.

The Nixie model replaces Artyom's old wristwatch: the more traditional dial-and-hands-based number that Metro 2033 veterans relied on to count down the time until they were in need of a new air filter as they explored Moscow's irradiated topside, or to clue them in to how well hidden they were during stealth sections. The new watch does all of that too, of course, and when it comes to stealth, it's a lot simpler and - hopefully - less frustrating with it. In Last Light, a blue lamp on the watch's face tells you whether you're visible or not. It's binary. Tidy stuff.

That watch will be your consistent companion through 4A Games' sequel, and it's a fixed point at which two of the series' key themes come together, too. One is stealth, and it was front and centre during a recent developer playthrough of the fiercely pretty PC version over at THQ's UK HQ. The other lies with the Nixies and that loveably nuts-and-bolts approach to knackered old gear they represent. Metro's world is a dangerous scrapheap where everything useful has been cobbled together from mis-matched parts: a place in which years of living in the subways of Moscow after a nuclear attack have lead technology in strange trajectory.

"We could probably get Metro to run on an iPad if we wanted."

THQ has clarified comments made by one of the developers of upcoming first-person shooter Metro: Last Light about the Wii U CPU.

THQ in talks with a potential financial sponsor but threat of liquidation remains

CFO quits, agreement with bank extends to Jan 2013.

THQ, the embattled up for sale publisher of Saints Row and Darksiders, has entered into a forbearance agreement with Wells Fargo Capital Finance to protect itself from defaulting on its credit facility.

Metro: Last Light developer calls the Wii U CPU "horrible, slow"

Developing for Wii U would have been "potentially to its detriment."

Awhile back Metro: Last Light publisher THQ said it would not develop the first-person shooter for Wii U, despite it appearing on Nintendo's platform during a demo reel. At the time, THQ said it was because the publisher wanted to "focus on what we knew," i.e. PS3, 360 and PC.

Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2 due in March

South Park: The Stick of Truth pushed back to Q2 2013.

THQ announced delays of several of its most anticipated titles in its latest quarterly financial report.

Metro: Last Light goes single-player only

"The single-player campaign is what the fanbase cares about the most."

Tense post-apocalyptic first-person shooter Metro: Last Light will be a single-player only game, developer 4A Games has announced.

The entire E3 Metro: Last Light demo on video

Does it rekindle memories if Half-Life 2, as THQ hopes?

No, it's not a free newspaper given out on London trains, Metro: Last Light is a spooky and atmospheric shooter made by 4A Games for THQ.

THQ hopes to rekindle memories of Half-Life 2 with Metro: Last Light

"This isn't a play for a super mass market Call of Duty beater."

THQ hopes to rekindle memories of the best story-driven first-person shooters such as Half-Life 2 with its own effort, Metro: Last Light.

FeatureSaints Row 4, Dawn of War 3, Devil's Third and Insane on next gen - Danny Bilson in one of his last interviews as THQ core games boss

"It looks a lot worse outside than it does inside."

When I sat down to chat with Danny Bilson during THQ's pre-E3 showcase event in North London earlier this month, I had no idea that, just over a week later, he would no longer be with the publisher. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but I'm convinced there was something about the way he introduced presentations on Company of Heroes 2, Metro: Last Light and Darksiders 2 to European press that morning that was, for want of a better term, off.

Metro: Last Light no longer certain for Wii U

4A Games focussing on PC, PS3, Xbox 360.

Metro: Last Light is no longer a lock for Wii U, despite appearing during the console's announcement at Nintendo's E3 show last year.

Fresh Metro: Last Light screenshots shine

THQ takes you inside irradiated Russia.

FeatureMetro: Last Light Preview: Five Frantic Minutes With THQ's Shooter Sequel

Lights out for the territory.

A five-minute demo of Metro: Last Light is enough to showcase scavenging, exploration, and fighting, and to cover ground that includes gloomy, claustrophobic interiors and vast, echoing exteriors where the sky crackles and fizzes with radioactive weather systems. Last Light's the sequel to Metro 2033 - Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky has been involved, apparently, even if the narrative has nothing to do with his own sequel, Metro 2034 - yet that familiarity provides little comfort in this dirty, post-nuclear wasteland.

The player can seem terribly vulnerable, all alone in this empty world, and mere vulnerability is probably one of the better sensations on offer. After all, the same five-minute demo starts with an uneasy, brooding kind of calm, and ends with all-out frenzy. Five minutes. Let's go.

Our glimpse of Last Light kicks off in the subways, of course: deep within the underground network where the survivors of the nuclear attack on Moscow have fled. It's grim down here - it's grim everywhere - but there are plenty of jarring reminders of the old world, from the empty sarcophagi of the ticket booths, to a jaunty drawing of an ice cream cone on a rust-splattered advertisement.

VideoLive-action Metro: Last Light teaser trailer

Haunting glimpse at next year's survival shooter.

Full reveal on 24th May.

Metro: Last Light delayed until 2013

THQ shooter held back for more polish.

Metro: Last Light, the sequel to grim post-apocalyptic 2010 shooter Metro 2033, has been delayed until early 2013, THQ has announced.

THQ denies cancelling 2014 line-up of games

But Warhammer 40K MMO future less certain.

THQ has denied cancelling its 2014 line-up of games - but the future of ambitious Warhammer 40,000 MMO Dark Millennium Online is less certain.

The publisher responded to a gloomy rumour spread on Twitter by video game executive Kevin Dent. He heard that the Warhammer 40,000 MMO and the THQ 2014 line-up had been cancelled. Dent had also heard THQ was "offering" itself for sale to Asian companies.

THQ's response, via a statement offered to VG247, read: "THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO.

Metro: Last Light TGS screens emerge

Worst case of rush hour congestion.

Beautiful Metro: Last Light shots

Dark survival shooter illuminated.

VideoMetro: Last Light gameplay video

Subway to go.

VideoMetro: Last Light footage escapes

Next slice of gameplay surfaces.

VideoMetro: Last Light gameplay footage

A glimmer of the survival horror shooter.

THQ goes huge at Eurogamer Expo 2011

Saints Row! Space Marine! UFC!

A whopping great big list of THQ games will be at the Eurogamer Expo in London this September.

VideoMetro: Last Light in-game footage

Post-apocalyptic shooter illuminated.

VideoMetro: First Light teaser trailer

A glimpse at the stunning looking shooter.

FeatureMetro: Last Light

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight.

If it's true that art imitates life, we're glad that we don't live in Ukraine. Home to 4A Games, their debut title, Metro 2033, was an unremittingly bleak affair. Based on a novel by young Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, it was set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow where a handful of survivors took refuge in the city's hermetically sealed underground system, a world noticeably bereft of primary colours, and largely short on laughs. Referencing its geographical origins is more than mere flippancy, however, as the Ukraine-based American producer of sequel Metro Last Light confirms.

First Metro: Last Light screenshots

Metro 2033 sequel illuminated.

Metro 2034 becomes Metro: Last Light

Sequel to tense, atmospheric shooter.

Tense post-apocalyptic Russian shooter Metro 2034 will henceforth be known as Metro: Last Light.

THQ to rename Metro 2034?

Last Light URLs snapped up.

Forthcoming FPS sequel Metro 2034 is to be renamed Metro 2033: Last Light, if a set of new URL registrations are to be believed.

THQ promises extra support for Metro 2034

Due "more respectful push" than original.

Forthcoming FPS sequel Metro 2034 is going to get much more attention lavished on it than its 2010 predecessor, publisher THQ has pledged.

Metro 2034 a possibility for PS3

Sequel overrode 2033 port, says author.

Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky reckons the newly revealed sequel - and conversion of his novel - Metro 2034 will also head to PS3.

Metro 2033 sequel will be 3D

Dubbed, imaginatively, Metro 2034.

THQ has revealed a sequel to Metro 2033. It's called Metro 2034 and will be offered in 3D.

Core games boss Danny Bilson shared the information with CVG.

THQ showed Metro 2033 running in NVIDIA 3D at E3 earlier this month. Bilson said the higher development costs of 3D are offset by the "unbelievably reasonable" cost of operations in Kiev, Ukraine.