[occasional minor spoilers]

I originally bought Metro 2033 Redux in 2018 when it went on sale for $4 or so. I was looking to burn a hole in my pocket, and the game looked interesting, so I bought it. And subsequently dropped it.

A couple of months ago, I decided to give it a second chance because I now had Metro Last Light free on Epic Games and Metro Exodus from Humble Bundle. I, again, dropped it around the same spot in the game. I skipped it to play Last Light (dropped it), and skipped that one to play Exodus (new favorite game).

Finally, I got around to buying the book series around 2 weeks ago. I finished reading Metro 2033 the other night, so I decided I'd give it one final try, and I'm glad I did.

The intro to the game is janky as hell, but it either wore off quickly, or I just got used to it. Either way, as soon as I got past that area I dropped it twice at, I started having a much better time. Now instead of focusing on how unpolished the game was, I was excited to see how the devs portrayed characters, creatures, locations, and plot. Of course, a lot of content was changed, added, or cut from the book, for better or worse, so much so that it's an entirely different beast than the book. Characters have new personalities, stations have different names, plot is shortened by cutting off certain sections, creatures are removed or recreated with artistic liberty, the fear and tension is created with scary monsters and tense music instead of existential dread and almost cosmic horror, etc. etc. Artyom is now a silent protagonist, but the devs got around this to add content from the book in the form of passing conversations. Instead of having Artyom drawn in by the stars on the Kremlin, a guy talks to his mate about it in your home station, stuff like that. It's really cool. Another thing I enjoy is the combat. While there aren't many guns to choose from and the game doesn't tell you about many of the mechanics, the combat is still challenging and fun. The AI occasionally breaks, but for the most part it's enjoyable blasting through hordes of weird mutant dog things. I also like the stealth sections, as they're well-designed, unlike another game I'm thinking of (looking at you Metro Exodus, you can do better). The sound design and music are fantastic as well, so are the surprisingly good graphics. But where this game really excels is it's atmosphere and horror. The great library used different tactics to scare the player than it does to scare the reader, but it's every bit as terrifying as it was in the books.

In conclusion, the game can be janky and broken at times, but it's a genuinely fantastic experience in every possible way. I highly recommend it for both new players and fans of the books, as it's different enough to keep you guessing, while being similar enough to keep you invested.