History YMMV / Metro2033

* AdaptationDisplacement: The game is vastly more available and well known than the book. Some Steam versions of the game actually try to avert this by including digital copies of the novels.

* MostAnnoyingSound:
** The VaderBreath effect you get when wearing your mask. The sound where Artyom starts losing his breath (specially when outdoors) can count as this as well.
** Both [[GoddamnedBats the Nosalis]] and the Lurker are guaranteed to make your ears bleed, regardless of the sound volume.

* EarWorm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0FMz2ejSk Market.]] It's far too awesome to forget.

[[AC:The Video Game]]

** You're stuck in the middle between a war of Nazis vs Communists and both of them want to kill you as well as each other. "Political extremism is bad whether it's far left or far right."

* BrokenBase: Among the fans of the books you can find people with vastly different opinions on the ''Metro 2035''. The controversy revolves mostly around two things: The main character and the changes brought to the setting.
** Artyom. Some see him [[TookALevelInCynic becoming far more cynical]] as a natural development and a new take on a rather bland protagonist. Others see him as a complete {{Jerkass}} who neglects his wife, has little respect for anyone and endangers himself and the others for little reason.
** TheReveal. [[spoiler: In essence, there is a secret organization that controls the entire metro from behind the scenes. The main conflict of ''Last Light'' is described as a rather minor incident, the main factions are reduced to pawns and the Dark Ones are stripped of their role in the story and dismissed as just another breed of mutants.]] This twist purposefully and blatantly makes the plots of ''Metro 2033'' and ''Last Light'' essentially pointless and flat-out {{Retcon}}s some of the plot points, but some do appreciate it for shedding some a light on the series and futhering its main {{Aesop}} even further.

* ATeamFiring: A common complaint against the game is the lack of feedback on whether shots hit or miss. Depending on skill level, this trope may or may not be in effect because of this. Might be somewhat {{justified|Trope}} considering the quality of the firearms you find.

* DuelingGames:
** Compare with VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}, in which a youth has lived underground his entire life, and must embark on TheQuest to the surface and beyond.
** It's basically ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'', except [[PipeShooter more linear]]. Bonus points for 4A Games actually being founded by a couple of people who were involved with Stalker's development, specifically the underground lab levels. Both are also based on sci-fi novels by Russian authors. In the Russian version, [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels the "Ranger" difficulty levels are actually called "Stalker" levels]], probably to indicate [[HarderThanHard how much fun you'll have playing them]].
** Plot-wise it's also reminiscent of ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'', which had pretty much the same premise, only with demons instead of mutants.

* GuideDangIt: You can hear "Filters for sale" being advertised at Armory... but you [[PlayerPunch can't buy any]].

* {{Woolseyism}}: Pops up a good number of times in the novel. The translation can be overly literal and sometimes things just flat out don't make sense when rendered into English.

** You're stuck in the middle between a war of Nazis vs Communists and both of them want to kill you as well as each other. [[spoiler: Even after you and Pavel escape from Nazi capture, Pavel betrays you anyway because of his blind loyalty to the Red Line.]] "Political extremism is bad whether it's far left or far right."

* DuelingGames: Compare with VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}, in which a youth has lived underground his entire life, and must embark on TheQuest to the surface and beyond.
** It's basically ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'', except [[PipeShooter more linear]]. Bonus points for 4A Games actually being founded by a couple of people who were involved with Stalker's development, specifically the underground lab levels. Both are also based on sci-fi novels by Russian authors.
*** In the Russian version, [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels the "Ranger" difficulty levels are actually called "Stalker" levels]], probably to indicate [[HarderThanHard how much fun you'll have playing them]].

* GoddamnedBats: Appropriately enough, {{Demon|icSpiders}}s. Only encountered above ground, spend most of their time flying around above you, annoying as hell when they decide to dive-bomb you. If you're particularly unlucky, a Demon can even stunlock you by divebombing you while you're still recovering from being divebombed ''until you're dead.''

* HarsherInHindsight: In 2014, eastern Ukraine descended into civil war, which is probably one reason why the ''Metro'' franchise was temporarily put on hold after the release of ''Last Light.'' One aspect of this civil war [[LifeImitatesArt is that]] [[https://news.vice.com/article/how-ukraines-war-became-big-business-for-the-underworld bullets are now being used as currency]] in the separatist regions.

* MostAnnoyingSound: The VaderBreath effect you get when wearing your mask. The sound where Artyom starts losing his breath (specially when in outdoors) can count as this as well.
** Both [[GoddamnedBats the Nosalis]] and the Lurker will guarantee to make your ears bleed, regardless of the sound volume.

** It is actually a NarmCharm for a native Russian language speaker, at least in the respective dub.
*** In Russian, Bourbon calls them Cykи (Suki), which means bitches. Cyka (Suka) is the singular.

--> [[spoiler:'''Stepan''': BORIS! My friend! WHY?... The bastards! Boris, I swear on your memory - they won't rest while I'm still alive!"]]

*** [[spoiler:And yet Stepan doesn't mind that you loot his (Boris') corpse for ammunition and morphine.]]
*** [[spoiler:Considering how no one complained all the times you did before, it may be common practice.]]
*** [[spoiler:Keep in mind that Boris was killed by nosalises, not by Reds or Nazis. Nosalises are pretty much mindless mutants, and yet Stepan acts like they're an evil gang of murderers.]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The fine print on the anvil says : "War and nukes are BAD."

* ThatOneLevel: The Library. There's a part where you're on a fetch quest, your enemies are Librarians, and there's no real sense of where to go because you may end up backtracking to the beginning of the section. Also, hoped you decided to stock up on ammo, because Librarians eat bullets like candy.
** Just knife the damn things and run behind columns to get your health back. This even works on Ranger Hardcore.
** [=NPCs=] actually instruct you to stare the Librarians in the face and back away when they approach, which means you can slip by without fighting them. Unfortunately the game can be inconsistent with this regardless of where your crosshair is facing.
*** [[GuideDangIt Though they don't tell you this in-game]], you have to be ''standing up'' to stare them down. If you're crouched/sneaking (as any sane player will be at that point), the beasts will consider you submissive and attack. Stay upright, look it in the eye, back up slightly when necessary, ''keep your finger off the trigger'' ([[MadeOfIron you'll just piss it off]]), and don't turn your back until it leaves the room.
*** Thankfully in ''Redux'' version, this level become ''significantly'' easier as Librarians A.I. become more consistent and you can stare at Librarians while crouching.
** It is also one of the levels where you almost perpetually need to keep your mask on, and filters are few and far between. Hope you stocked up!

* MostAnnoyingSound: The VaderBreath effect you get when wearing your mask.
** Lurker shrieks.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2uVfCy4s1U Ending Theme]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_mmMAukry0 The Tower]]. It sums up Metro's bleak, oppressive setting perfectly. It's also playing during the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome game's prologue]]. And in ''Redux'', it even plays during the final approach to the titular Tower.

* HarsherInHindsight: In 2014, eastern Ukraine descended into civil war, which is probably one reason why the ''Metro'' franchise has been put on hold after the release of ''Last Light.'' One aspect of this civil war [[LifeImitatesArt is that]] [[https://news.vice.com/article/how-ukraines-war-became-big-business-for-the-underworld bullets are now being used as currency]] in the separatist regions.

** The war between the Fourth Reich and Red Line becomes less silly and more unfortunate after fights between neo-Nazi and neo-communist groups started emerging in the United States in 2017.

* GoddamnedBats: Appropriately enough, {{Demon|icSpiders}}s. Only encountered above ground, spend most of their time flying around above you, annoying as hell when they decide to dive-bomb you.

** Artyom. Some see him [[TookALevelInCynic becoming far more cynical]] as a natural development and a new take on a rather bland protagonist. Others see him as a complete {{Jerkass}} who neglects his wife, has little respect for anyone and endangers himself and the others for little reason, considering it to be an example of a major CharacterDerailment.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2uVfCy4s1U Ending Theme]].

** And any of the game's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rz2HvRMvEE three]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DURTatgmp8A guitar]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcaIUdCd0vA pieces]]. Similar to what was done in STALKER, you can also hear guitarists playing around a fire at many of the non-hostile Metro stations.

* EarWorm: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr1ha1E22jw Market.]] It's far too awesome to forget.

**

*** Thankfully in ''Redux'' version, this level become "considerably" easier as Librarians A.I. become more consistent and you can stare at Librarians while crouching.

*** Thankfully in ''Redux'' version, this level become considerably easier as Librarians A.I. become more consistent and you can stare at Librarians while crouching.

*** You don't even have to be standing for them to ignore you. At least in the ''Redux'' version.

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: ''Film/{{CHUD}}'' meets ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. Alternately, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' (post-apocalyptic nuclear holocaust setting) mixed with equal parts ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' (only [[HeroicMime you]] can save the world) and ''VideoGame/BioShock'' (substituting subway tunnels for ocean floor ones). It could also be ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' with a heavy dose of ''Franchise/SilentHill'' for atmosphere.

* {{Woolseyism}}: Pops up a good number of times in the novel. The translation can be overly literal and sometimes things just flat out don't make sense when rendered into English.

* GuideDangIt:
*** You can hear "Filters for sale" being advertised at Armory... but you [[PlayerPunch can't buy any]].

* ATeamFiring: A common complaint against the game is the lack of feedback on whether shots hit or miss. Depending on skill level, this trope may or may not be in effect because of this. Might be somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] considering the quality of the firearms you find.

* GoddamnBats: Appropriately enough, [[DemonicSpiders Demons.]] Only encountered above ground, spend most of their time flying around above you, annoying as hell when they decide to dive-bomb you.

** The russian aligned Donetsk People's Republic also has a special forces battalion named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Sparta%22_Battalion Sparta Battalion]], named after (and using the insignia of) the ranger organization in the game.
* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/{{Metro 2033}} Oh my, where to start?]]
** NightmareRetardant: You quickly learn that nosalises aren't big enough to fit in the narrow pipes the game likes to make you crawl through, and lurkers won't follow you in (for no particular reason), so these sections lose a lot of their tension. [[spoiler: This makes one JumpScare in the Lenin Library very effective, when a Libraran's arm reaches for you out of a side-vent.]]
* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: Contrary to [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames the usual norm]], the game received many positive reviews and is a good seller on Steam. ''Redux'' takes this further by having a metascore of 90/100, indicating critical acclaim.

** Sometimes, you will hear enemy humans yell "DAMN!DAMN!DAMN!"
** The death of [[spoiler: Boris.]]

** The whole conflict between the Communists and the Nazis is loaded with narm. Even assuming that ideology can overcome the need for basic survival, how [[SeriousBusiness seriously]] the followers of each side take it starts bordering on absurd. It feels like both sides are UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WarReenactors, only they shoot at each other with ''actual'' bullets.
* ScrappyLevel: The Library. There's a part where you're on a fetch quest, your enemies are Librarians, and there's no real sense of where to go because you may end up backtracking to the beginning of the section. Also, hoped you decided to stock up on ammo, because Librarians eat bullets like candy.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The fine print on the anvil says : "War and nukes are BAD."
** Another anvil more particular to Artyom's own story: [[spoiler: "Don't try to destroy something you don't understand simply because you are afraid of it."]]
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: While the original game is no slouch on the graphical front, ''Redux'' uses the new 4A engine, and it look ''gorgeous.''

* {{Woolseyism}}: Pops up a good number of times in the novel. The translation can be overly litteral and sometimes things just flat out don't make sense when rendered into English.