Metro 2033 Redux – General Guide

Overview

This guide contains basic information on weapons, enemies and difficulties as well as a little insight into some more essential tips which are good to know from the beginning.It’s been put together after 3 playthroughs to ensure it’ll be able to provide you with the most essential and vital information.

Introduction

Good day to you friendly survivalists and mad shooters alike! Welcome to my guide which I have decided to write after completing Metro 2033 Redux for the third time, two times on Spartan mode and once on Survival. Having plenty of experience, I intend to share as much as I can recall, what might help you out on your way to save your home station! Let’s start with basics.

I’ve also made a guide for the sequel – Metro: Last Light Redux. I’ve left out some of the general advices that I wrote down here and only included information about the new enemies and weapons.

Difficulties and playstyles

Starting off with the two major playstyle modes.

• Survival
  Overall more realistic, slow paced game mode. Guns reload slower, ammunition and other equipment is more rare, filters to your gasmask last only 3 minutes each as opposed to Spartan mode’s 5 minutes per filter. Somewhat more vigilant AI – harder sneaking. Different watches on Survival mode (pointer watch) and digital watch on Spartan. This is the true way the original, non-redux Metro 2033 was meant to be played.

• Spartan
  A game mode, newly introduced to the Redux version which focuses on the shooting part of the game instead which does not go hand in hand with the actual book by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Ammo is easily looted back, expect AI to be more vulnerable towards sneaking. More of an action-shooter game.

Now that we’ve covered the basic playstyles, here are the difficulties. Don’t be scared, it’s nowhere near as complicated as it might look.

• Normal – self-explanatory difficulty, recommended for regular players who just want to enjoy the game for what it is
• Hardcore – more challenging game where you must carefully watch out for your supplies as they are very hardly lootable
• Ranger – you get to deal more damage but same goes for your enemies, HUD and tips are more limited
• Ranger Hardcore – it’s called the “ultimate Metro challenge”, combining all of the above with completely disabled HUD

Enemies

• Watchmen
  Four-legged, mutated beasts that usually stand on their two back legs and howl when they spot you. They appear on surface. Kill on sight or sneak past
• Nosalis
  No hair having beasts with pink skin and deformed face, they lurk the underground metro. Aggressive, preferably kill on sight
• Lurkers
  Very small, dog-like postured animals that sneak through Metro’s holes in the wall and ground to sneakily attack the player. They can spawn in great numbers for a long period of time but they are weak. Peacefully negoatiate with a shotgun shell to their face and leave their area
• Demons
  Flying beasts that only appear on the surface. They can carry the player up and drop him from great heights. Very tough, can be killed but avoiding them is easier
• Librarians
  Arguably the toughest enemies in the game (altough sticky grenades do the trick) only located in the great Library and its Archives. They, however, don’t need to be fought as you can simply stare into their eyes, watch their body language (slowly back off if they get angry) and eventually they will turn their backs on you and leave. Stare them down
• Spiderbugs
  Encountered near the end of the game. They are afraid of light and will never hurt you as long as you aim your flashlight at them and if possible, have your lighter out. If they are exposed to too much light they flip their belly up which gives you opportunity to stab them. Use light to your advantage
• Lianas
  Found only in the great Library. These Lianas tend to swing around and will attempt to hit you when you pass by. As long as you sprint, they can’t hit you in time. Shoot them near the ceiling

Worthy mentions:
Ghosts – silhouettes of people who died a tragic death and their spirit still lingers about
Phenomenom – a ball of electric light that senses movement
The Dark Ones – possibly mutated from very few humans after the nuclear missiles were launched and radiation spread, be on your lookout and make up your own mind about whether they are friend or foe

Weapons

It would be possible to generalize weapons into simply automatic weapons, shotguns and pump-action guns whereas revolver is a standalone weapon, being the only one-handed gun in the game.
Automatic weapons that should interest you are AK, Kalash 2012 and VSV. When it comes down to shotguns Ubolnik and later on Abazts should be your primary concerns.
Last but not least, the pump-action weapons use pressurized air to provide the following shot with the greatest power such as Tihar (obtainable early on in the game), Helsing (a rare weapon that can be found in several chapters) and Hellbreath (obtainable near the end).

Things you might need to know

1. Do not, ever, fully stock yourself up on ammo, filters or other equipment. You will always find some laying around for free.
2. Watch out for tripwires, blow out lanterns and candles.
3. Explore every single bit of every level. I can’t even stress how important this is, ammo, diaries, supplies, weapons are all around.
4. Use weapon attachments, mainly silencers.
5. Make sure to always be on lookout for filters and gasmasks. Keep your timer on at least 7 minutes before going up.
6. If it’s hostile, you kill it.

And one more thing!

Personal View

Having played the game two times on Spartan mode and once on Survival, I am more than assured now that Survival mode is the right way to enjoy the game and get to experience the true feeling of the post-apocalyptic world. It is important to note that the game has 2 endings, only one of which is canonical and your way of playing the game will determine the outcome.
The requirements that must be met for either of the ending are below this text, to ensure nobody is spoiled of their gaming experience I’ve marked it as a spoiler.

The Good Ending – Kill as few mutans as possible, many can be simply avoided by sneaking almost right pass them even on Survival mode. Do not kill human enemies but knock them out – not killing a single human enemy on human-only levels (Black Station, Front Line…) will grant you morality points at the end of the level. Do not accept ammo but instead, give it to the poor. Explore every area, every corner of the map. Listen to the game’s environment – talk to NPCs, do what other characters request of you, listen to conversations and gain information.
SURVIVAL MODE IS MY PREFERENCE FOR THIS ENDING.

The Bad Ending – Kill every breathing thing on sight, be ignorant, rush through the game and don’t explore nor take your time to listen to dialogues. Take from the poor, never give back and accept ammo when offered.
SPARTAN MODE IS MY PREFERENCE FOR THIS ENDING.

Closure

There is a lot more I would like to dig deeper into when it comes to Metro 2033 but, alas, others have done it before me. Unlocking achievements, collecting diaries, finding safe keys – all of those guides are already here and I just wanted to offer a little bit of my own insight into the game.

“Good luck out there, Ranger!”