Metro series "Redux" - AVOID

[Mánagarmr]

This is my review posted on Steam after 18 hours of gameplay TRYING to like it.

In my honest opinion. Redux offers some texture upgrades and some better character and mutant models. Personally, I've grown fond of the more creepy design of the mutants from the original game and therefor am not a fan of the new models, but arguably they look better.
However, the lightning model in this remake is absolutely sheit compared to the original. In this game it's completely binary. Either you are lit or you are not. There is nothing inbetween. This produces a jarring "pop in" when you get near enough to a light source and suddenly you light up. In addition, this applies to the lightning effects overall. They are very sharply defined and flashlights look MUCH worse in this game compared to the original. There are no more projected lights. Lights are instead bitmapped and produced by shaders, causing a much worse picture overall. Lightning is also nowhere near as smooth as the original, causing the world to look sterile and artificial, rather than gloomy and atmospheric.

Stealth takedowns and stealth knockouts make an entry as well as quick-keys for throwables and melee attacks. That's a big plus. You can wipe your gasmask from dust, snow and blood which is neat. However, the drawbacks FAR outweigh the positives.

AI for humans is all but brain dead. They have no accuracy whatsoever so the only time you are really going to die (even on Ranger Hardcore) is when you screw up badly and get stormed or get caught out without cover. Stealth mechanics are so hideously simplified that the AI will not see you even if you stand right in front of their face, but not lit. They do not react to sounds around them unless it's extremely close, making stealth a child's play. In addition, the binary lightning engine makes stealth a frustrating experience as you might suddenly just POP out of stealth because you happened to cross that silly border too close to a light source.

In 2033 original you can instead see on your arms, weapon and overall on the world how light it is, and the lightning system has multiple layers and is gradual rather than binary.

In closing the mutant AI is frustratingly gamey in Redux. Even though you have 3-4 NPCs around you that are far nearer to the mutants than you are, most mutants will just ignore them and beeline towards you, making most mutant battles a silly backpedaling-while-firing fight rather than a tactical fight with the help of NPCs. Mutants are also much more bullet sponges than they were in the original, causing even Ranger Hardcore to feel more gamey, which is not a good thing.

In addition the hit detection is changed in Redux. It's much more simplified compared to the original. In Redux, a thrown knife is an instant kill no matter where you hit your enemy (humans that is. Mutants are far more resilient). Provided you actually hit to begin with. The hit detection is remarkably glitchy and I've had more than one arrow, dagger, whatever pass straight through an enemy. Gone is the very detailed hit detection of the original where you really had to aim for exposed skin to make a clean kill with the knife or pneumatic weapons. If your knife hit a piece of armor, a pouch or even an arm or a leg, the enemy would be alerted to your presence and not just stiff up and die.

In short, do I recommend this? Sadly I do not. In the beginning I could ignore all the texture bugs, the animation bugs, the excessive clipping and the awful voice acting. But as the game progressed in came horrible AI, severely dumbed down stealth and lightning mechanics and a huge downgrade how hit detection is made. I implore you not to fall for the "shiny" and get this. Instead, buy the original and experience Metro 2033 as it was MEANT to be. This is just another terrible consolitis game.

[Wingflier]

Sad. I've never been a big fan of the Metro series myself, but if you're looking to get into it, it's currently $3 at the Humble Store for the next few hours:

https://www.humblebundle.com/store

The original I mean, not the redux.

[Mánagarmr]

The original is great overall. It sure has its flaws, but those are hardly fixed in Redux either

[KingIsaacLinksr]

So I just ran into a game-breaking bug, and then crash. Basically, in the turret-section cart mission of this game, (Chapter 5 I think) you can have your night-vision-goggles stuck permanently on the entire time, making it impossible to aim at anything. Bravo guys, this bug completely broke me. How this completely skipped playtesting, I have no idea. There is no fix. Going to have to agree with Mana on this, do not buy this game. I was willing to overlook some of the more annoying issues with the redux, but this bug just pissed me off, as I would have to restart an ENTIRE LEVEL ALL OVER just to avoid it a second time around. >=(. I am pissed.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

My Steam Review of Metro 2033 Redux. You can read it via this link here if you want: http://steamcommunity.com/id/KingIsaacLinksr/recommended/286690

I figured with the Redux version that 4A games would bring us the game that they wanted to originally put out along with all of the enhancements, lessons learned over the years and new features their engine could bring to the table. Boy, this was not what I was expecting...

It’s surprising how many bugs still made it through to release. I encountered my fair share and also read about the others encountered on the forums. For example, in the original Metro 2033, the “Trolley Combat” level had a game-breaking bug where the scripted sequence could get completely broken. This required you to restart the level as you couldn’t progress forward anymore. Now, take the Redux version in the same level. There is a bug where if you entered the previous scripted sequence before the level with your night vision goggles on, the game will force them on before you enter the cart, making it nigh-impossible to kill enemies. Only solution to fixing this? Restarting the entire previous level all over and making certain to not put the night vision goggles on before the scripted sequence that causes the bug. I am baffled how these bugs (among others,  as the same script-breaking bug apparently exists in Trolley Combat. Nice.) made it to release. Especially when it involves the same level that was reported to be very buggy the first go around.

Sure, I’ll give them some credit. The graphical atmosphere is improved with more special effects and post-apocalyptic textures compared to the original. That’s pretty easy to see from the original with entire rooms made to look more decrepit and affected by the nuclear fallout. Texture texture quality is also significantly better than before. Facial animations don’t look so odd and dated either, though at times the characters look...look like they were transplanted poorly into new bodies. The Physics engine is also better and far less sensitive compared to its predecessor. UI also looks more modern and up-to-date though it gives less information than the previous game did. Not sure how they managed to pull that off.

I do disagree with their assertion that the lighting system, AI and weapon handling is better. Mutants feel far more bullet-spongy (even at Ranger difficulty levels) and there’s been some reports that hit-boxes aren’t as good as they used to be. I noticed how headshots at point blank range with a shotgun wouldn't kill the easier mutants. How it handles secondary weapons is a 180 in the wrong direction. Instead of your grenades, knives and other related weapons being easily accessible from keys 6-9, they stow them all away in a single key that is changed by holding tab and moving your mouse in the direction of the weapon you want to use. What. The. Heck. Doing this during combat is overly difficult. This is a consolitis change and I absolutely hate it. Additionally, the AI seems extremely random and unfocused in its thinking. I’ll have some attempts at the level where the AI will completely ignore me and go for the other NPCs around me. Other attempts will result in the entire horde of mutants zerging and overwhelming me. It feels extremely schizophrenic and if this is truly Last Light’s AI engine, I’m not looking forward to playing the sequel.

The stealth system is probably the worst change of the bunch. Instead of having a nuanced three-level stealth system, that at least gives you a chance to recover from almost being seen, it throws it all out for a binary in-stealth and no-stealth system. One little touch of light on you and you will be immediately spotted by the AI. Due to this, it seems like they had to dumb down the AI so that even if a human guard is five inches from your face, they won’t see you so long as you’re in the dark. I have a screenshot to prove this. It’s hilarious and sad at the same time.

This remake/redux is an avoid. If you want to experience the best of Metro 2033, the original is the better way to go. The graphics are better, sure, I can agree to that and the optimization is much better than the original. I can definitely agree with that assertion. But the downgraded stealth system, same amount (if not possibly more?) of bugs, less enjoyable combat and quirkyness caused by the port to the new engine doesn’t make it worth it. I was willing to overlook some of these problems until I ran into the game crashing bugs. At which point, I figured I was better off investing my time into finishing the original rather than dealing with this port that could have used a few more rounds of QA and playtesting.