Another day, another rumoured new-gen re-release gets confirmed with Metro 2033 and its sequel, Metro: Last Light, coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC this summer bundled under the title Metro Redux.
As with this year’s Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and the upcoming The Last Of Us Remastered, the critically feted Metro games will be making their new-gen debut with a fresh coat of HD, with developer 4A promising 60fps for both games. However, not satisfied with mere graphical polish 4A have tweaked further to bring an impressive array of improvements:
- Metro 2033 has been rebuilt using 4A’s proprietary engine, employing remastered visuals, lighting, particle effects and dynamic weather and destruction while Last Light‘s visuals also receive visual upgrades courtesy of the latest iteration of the 4A Engine;
- Metro 2033 also receives enhancements to AI, combat and stealth mechanics as well as features originally introduced in Last Light, such as the ‘mask wipe’ mechanic, weapon customization, and silent kills and takedowns;
- Metro: Last Light receives new melee animations, fan requested ‘check watch’ and ‘check inventory’ features as well as all previously released Season Pass content adding up to a further 10 hours of singleplayer gameplay;
- The option to play both games either in 2033‘s more survival horror-oriented ‘Survival’ playstyle, or ‘Spartan’ playstyle which reflects Last Light‘s more action-oriented gameplay;
- Ranger Mode returns to both games, allowing you to play minus HUD and using hardcore rules.
If you’re not interested in the bundle, which will retail at $49.99, the games will also be available separately as digital downloads for $29.99. Linux and SteamOS versions are promised for later in the year.
Basically, it seems that 4A and Deep Silver are not screwing around with this one. While the start of this new generation has seen a lot of re-releases of previous-gen games, it’s not a new thing either. As the excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena proved, the start of a new generation can provide something of an Indian summer for fan and critic-endorsed underdogs; just as the first Riddick game Escape from Butcher Bay gained a new lease of life from getting a cross-generational reprise, Metro comes in with a similar reputation and just as much potential to steal gamers’ hearts all over again. With the start of this generation feeling even more barren of quality games than usual thanks to the slew of delays afflicting the first wave of new-gen games, it’s the perfect opportunity for a franchise like Metro to stake a claim on the new platforms.
Confession time: My total experience of the Metro games is attempting to play 2033 on my old PC, which damn near melted under what was for the time a very CPU-intensive game. I certainly liked what I saw and intended to go back to it, but it ultimately became yet another of those Steam sale casualties you never quite seem to get round to again. This re-release sounds like the perfect opportunity to jump back in, given the amount of gameplay tweaks 4A are claiming. The worst aspect of these franchise compilations is always the dilemma as to whether you skip to the newest release, which usually has the most refined gameplay, or go in chronological order. By both enhancing and giving options as how you want to play both games, 4A seem to have gone a long way towards making that decision easier for players.
These re-releases may have attracted the ire of a lot of gamers, but when done right they can shine a light on great games that may not have received the attention they deserved on their first run, and it certainly sounds as if 4A have taken this release seriously. Thankfully we won’t have to wait too long to see how Metro scrubs up for the new generation.
