Sir You Artyom Being Hunted - Metro: LL's Baddies
Metro: Last Light is so close. So very, painfully close. Sometimes, on cold, lonely nights and also in Russia for some reason, I can almost feel it sidling up to me, locking me in a warm irradiated embrace, telling me everything's going to be OK. Patience, however, is not my strong suit, so I think frequently subjecting myself to these very nice promo videos constitutes some form of masochism. The latest one's quite the ride, too, taking us on a whirlwind tour of Last Light's various factions, human murderjerks/WWII allegories, and mutant creepy crawly stompy blaaarghies. Take a peek for yourself after the break, and then join me in a moist state of anticipatory writhing for the next month.
What a dingy, miserable place that looks to be. I can't wait! For real, though, I'm very hopeful for a fuller realization of Metro 2033's obsessively detailed vision, and I'm extremely glad to hear that my choices will dictate the twists and turns of some invisible domino chain - just as they did in the first. That, I think, is quite a good sign in this age of morality meters and endings that pull punch after punch so everyone wins.
"While deadly creatures control the desolate Moscow wastelands, the human survivors, having splintered into extremist factions, gangs of bandits, and the order of Rangers, try to maintain a hold on the tunnels of the Metro. To stand up to them, the player has the choice: will he try to sneak past the threats, save their lives and rare ammunition, or will he seek direct face-off to wipe them out once for all. Both ways carry risks and every action has consequences within the tunnels of the Metro."
Those factions, especially, will probably present you with all sorts of crossroads, given that Nazis, ardent communists, and Western-leaning types only get along for the few seconds it takes to set up their "So X, Y, and Z walked into a bar..." joke.
Moment-to-moment exploration, meanwhile, will be punctuated by hopefully much-improved combat, especially given the pains the video went through to point out varied AI and scarcity of ammo. Oh, and mutants. Definitely mutants. But then, that nearly goes without saying. Mutants are basically nature's exclamation point, insofar as both are alarming and often hideous, but utterly unmissable and gruesomely fatal in large packs.
Metro: Last Light will be out on May 14th in North America and May 17th everywhere else for some arbitrary reason. Is your cup runneth-ing over with froth at the prospect of the series' more fleshed-out return?