Overview
Welcome to my second guide related to the Metro series, this time it’s Last Light Redux. You’ll find here general information to help you survive in the world of post-apocalyptic Moscow and its metro… and perhaps even redeem yourselves.This guide was put together after completing the game 3 times, obtaining both endings and all achievements to ensure I’ll be able to provide as much insight to newer players as possible.
Introduction
This non-comprehensive guide is meant to cover the basics and foundations on which Metro games are built. My General Guides are trying to explain what a new player would need to know. Based on my experience from reading Metro 2033’s and Last Light’s forum discussions, I’ve narrowed my guide to be able to explain most of those things.
Also, I will not be going deep into the problematic of enemies and weapons that were already present in Metro 2033 as I have already covered that in my previous guide: [link]
Enemies
Since we’ve covered all the enemies appearing in Metro 2033 in my previous guide, I will leave them out here and only focus on the few, newly added ones.
Here are the most notable, new enemies in Last Light:
- Shrimps
Worm-like creatures that occupy either swamps on surface or floded stations in the metro. They can be first encountered nearly halfway through the game during Dark Water chapter, before you get to Venice station. Very vulnerable to explosive and fire grenades. - Amphibians
The male version of Shrimps, more dominant, stronger and aggressive version of our regular Shrimps. They are seen often but not as much as their female counterparts. Amphibians are known for their big body structure, claws and large mouth – none of which normal Shrimps have. Weak towards explosives. - Bog Shrimp
Even greater in all aspects than Amphibians are Bog Shrimps. They are very rarely seen and pose as a boss to the player. They first make their appearance which is almost only cinematical, because it gets distracted by a demon. Supposedly, they are considered to be either alpha males, Shrimp mothers or shrimp elders. Bog Shrimps stand tall twice as high as Artyom. They require a lot of ammo, fire grenades and explosive grenades to get rid of them. - Bear
The first time we see mutated bears in both Metro games is nearly at the end of the game. You will first encounter one when you step into her territory. Even after the mutiation, she seems to still have those basic animal instincts as she is slightly overprotective when it comes to her little cubs. Being tough as she is, it takes a lot to take her down and even then, she won’t die or will she? That’s up to you to decide. Use fully charged Helsing to stun her (or unload a lot of ammo of any kind), then use explosive grenades and/or preferably shotgun and hit her red-glowing back. Repeat 4-5 times. - Nosalis Rhino
As the name states, this is a Rhino version of regular nosalis – armored front shoulders, nearly impenetrable. Just like Bog Shrimp, Nosalis Rhino too poses as a boss to the player but can be dealt with easily. This boss uses charge attacks and splash attacks all the time and given the environment you are fighting this beast, I advise you to lead Rhino into the present columns. Simply let Rhino charge at you while you stand near a column, then step aside, let it do the damage. Later on, nosalises will jump on Rhino’s back, they pressumably serve as eyes for Rhino, telling the direction. Either that or they might as well cover her back because they aren’t armored as her front. The fight has two phases: first, let Rhino destroy all the columns. Second, let Rhino destroy all the remaining columns and support beams while shooting its head and back whenever you have the chance. All columns must be down first in order to kill Rhino afterwards.
Worthy mentions:
Humans (Red Line soldiers, Reich soldiers, bandits)
Weapons
As I’ve stated previously, this topic was covered in my guide to Metro 2033 Redux, therefore we’ll focus on newer weapons that are now only present in Last Light.
Starting off, we’ve received a completely new, custom-made sniper rifle called Valve. No longer we have to add zooming scopes to our weapons but can simply use an actual sniper rifle, which however, cannot be used with a silencer.
Another sniper rifle is called Preved. It’s heavy-duty rifle preferably used with piercing ammo againts tanks or other heavy equipment as it can go through nearly any object. Personally, I find this weapon too clumsy, slow and loud but if you’re really going for that loud, fighting-style Spartan run, this is a great choice.
Leaving sniper rifles now, coming to a shotgun. A new shotgun called Saiga-12 is in fact an automatic shotgun that can do the job almost just as well as Abzats as it also shares its attribures – high damage, very high (almost unnecessarily high) cost of ammo but well… it’s like Abzats.
Continuing on, there’s Ashot – pistol shotgun. It seems to be a regular pistol but it can fire 1 shell of shotgun ammo at a time before reloading. Cheap but slow weapon – no need to hold onto it for longer than needed.
Picking up an automatic weapon, we got RPK-74. A very standard version of our regular AK which can on the other hand, hold over 40 ammo in one magazine and can also be upgraded with extended magazines, however, it has poor fire rate.
Then there’s Lolife. This seemingly weak weapon can be customized to the maximum, being able to hold several attachments, this weapon can be transformed into a little assault rifle, given the time. In my view, it’s perfect for silent, stealth playthroughs. One of my favorites.
And last but not least, I’ve got the Modified Russian Rifle also know as (AKS-74U). It is only available in Ranger mode! Overall, the weapon just feels quick and fast, aiming down the sight, reloading or its fire rate are fast but compared to other assault rifles, it has short range. Not that kind of weapon I would stick to through entire Ranger mode but it can do its job.
When it comes to my own favorites, I’ll advise Lolife, Shambler and Kalash. All equipped with silencer and nightvision scopes – survival.
And when it comes to Spartan mode, I’d go for Valve, RPK-74 and Saiga-12.
Downloadable Content
The bonus content of Last Light is quite large compared to 2033. I will list them down with a brief summary.
- Red Line Sniper – Playing as the Red Line sniper, get through Nazi occupied outpost
- Reich Heavy – As a Nazi heavy-duty soldier, repell dozens of Red Line soldiers
- Ranger Trainee – Playing as a Polis’ Ranger, you go to the surface to loot valuable items
- The Tower – As one of the Order’s Rangers, you are to test out virtual reality machine that is meant to test the Rangers before they go out into the field. You get to fight humans or mutants in variety of levels.
- Developer Pack level – Containing shooting range, arena for AI and a museum to closely inspect all the important characters and creatures.
- Spider Lair – The story is about three stalkers who end up being caught in spider lair. Your objective is to find your two partners and get out!
- Anna – This level takes place after you’ve been caught by the Nazis early in the game. Playing as Anna, you are there to view your story from a different perspective.
- Khan – Reveal Khan’s mysterious past in this story level, playing as Uhlman.
- Pavel – Playing as Pavel, you are captured – again. Get out of the Reich facility.
Other notable DLCs: Abzats, RPK Machine Gun, Ranger Mode.
Personal View
The way I feel about playing each game is the following; I like to think that Metro 2033 Redux “should” be played on Spartan mode while attempting to get the bad (canon) ending intentionally while doing the opposite in Last Light – thus playing Survival mode and trying to hoard as many positive moral points as possible to redeem yourself. Not only would this be canonical according to the books but it would also offer both sides of the gameplay.
How to get each ending in 2033 has been already explained in my other guide. Same thing goes for Last Light but I will briefly mention some decisions and actions that I find important – naturally in spoiler tab.
- Do not kill humans – knockouts only (unless forced to)
- Kill as few mutans as possible
- Spare Lesnitsky
- Spare Pavel
- Be vigilant – listen to conversations, explore levels to maximum, witness events
- Be nice when the little Dark One accompanies you – don’t attack yellow and green targets when the little one gives you the vision (attack only red ones if unavoidable), listen to his talk about people wearing clothes (look at the billboard – The Crossing level), stand and look at him once he gets himself some cloth, when passing by nosalises’ territory in the Red Square level, do not attack those nosalises, when you encounter lone nosalis, let him be. The little one will tell you this nosalis is afraid and just looking for his mom. When you encounter a demon on the rooftop near the end of Dead City level, let the demon and his offsprings be – “…she was just protecting her babies…”. Put in short – do exactly what the little Dark One says to achieve as many moral points as possible.
Closure
That’s it everyone! Both Metro games have been an enormous, breath-taking experience. It even managed to influence my look at our current world which we take for granted and when a game does that, when it gets into you, you know it’s a damn good game.
Playing these two games was a really pleasant experience and I only wish I could erase my memory only to play Metro again, anew. But, alas, putting up together a short guide is all I could come up with. And even if there’ll be only one person reading this that will find my guide useful in any way, I will know it served its purpose.
Rating, sharing, favoriting, commenting and asking me for any kind of advise related to the Metro serie is greatly welcomed so please, do not hesitate.
