Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light remastered
As you may have heard, Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light are coming together for a new remaster package for the new generation of consoles and PC in the newly announced Metro Redux. This is better than your standard tweak-and-ship remaster as it has seen a full year development cycle, with the original in-house team handling the work. They know their games inside and out so you can consider this a true director’s cut.
Each game will be available separately as digital downloads, priced at $24.99 a piece, including all of the DLC released since each title’s original launch. A double pack including all will release for consoles, priced at $49.99
Before we get to the full rundown of what to expect in Metro Redux, get this: The collection was done in-house by a single team of about 80 people, in Kiev. Because of the country’s ongoing revolution and potential civil war, they did the work under some pretty tough conditions. We learned that they would be out in the square protesting during the day, and then back in the office working on Redux at night. Because of the situation there, they’re also working with some pretty limited tools. They only have two PS4 development kits, one of which was smuggled into the country. Their three Xbox One kits came after some of the unrest there died down. Hell, the Destructoid offices have more dev kits than they do!
Metro 2033 sees several upgrades in this remaster. Of course the visuals get a boost, with new high-resolution textures, new lighting, a new renderer, all rebuilt from the ground up, all running at 60 FPS. This is a different look from the PC version as they started fresh with the Metro: Last Light engine as a base.
The Last Light engine also brings about better gameplay, so expect better AI and even better system performance this time around. Brand new content has been added to many of the levels, and we’re not just talking new textures, either. Some levels have been expanded with new areas to explore. New day/night cycling gives everything a new light as well. Even the cutscenes and quick time events have been overhauled completely.
We have full hands-on coverage coming soon, but we can tell you now that the difference between the original and this new version is pretty dramatic. In a side-by-side comparison with the original Xbox 360 version, improved lighting made a massive difference. We were told that the original game’s lighting engine limitations were responsible for the game’s dark look. The improved lighting of the new version makes all of the locales look like a completely different game. Beyond this, the texture improvements bring out tons of new detail.
Last Light’s HUD, AI, weapon systems, and control scheme improvements come over to this new version of 2033. Now you can do stealth kills and silent takedowns. The end result is something more polished and enjoyable. This will look and feel like a fancier, higher resolution Metro: Last Light, which should make an already great game even better.
As for the new version of Last Light, it gets all the visual upgrades that 2033 does. But don’t expect it to look markedly different from the current version.
It does see a big change in gameplay options with its new choice of two game modes. Last Light’s play style was more spartan, with more power to play with and more resources available. On the other hand, 2033 was more about survival. Both games in Metro: Redux let you freely change the feel of the game, letting you jump into both play styles. Even the small details change between these survival and spartan modes, like the speed of your gun reloads.
Metro: Redux will be released for Xbox One, PS4, and PC (Steam and Linux) this summer. Look for our hands-on impressions closer to E3.
