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Mutants and paranormal phenomena in the Metro universe.
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Mutants
Giant Amoebas
Strange spherical amoeba-like creatures found inhabiting the D6 bunker. They are spawned from strange "pores", pulsating creatures that stick to walls and floors.
- Action Bomb: The Amoebas themselves run up to you and explode.
- Blob Monster: As the name implies.
- Mook Maker: The amoeba pores.
Demons
Winged bat-like creatures found on the surface. They are extremely aggressive, attacking humans and other mutants alike.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Happens twice in the first two games while you're being attacked by other Mutants. While at the Library in Metro 2033, a Librarian charges Artyom and nearly has him done for when a Demon takes notice and swoops into the window to steal an easy meal - the ensuing battle between it and the Librarian gives Artyom a chance to escape to the basement.
- In Last Light, Artyom is pitted against a Bog Shrimp AKA a massive and angry Alpha Male Shrimp when a Demon catches its attention during the fight. The two roar at each other and both flee from the scene when it's clear they don't want to fight each other - the Demon back to the skies, and the Shrimp back into the waters.
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Badass Decay: In 2033 and Last Light, the Demons are a serious threat that, unless eliminated quickly in very specific circumstances, can be a danger for the majority of a level. In Exodus, once the Caspian level is started and the player has access to incendiary rounds for his Tikhar, they are easily sniped out of the sky with a couple well-aimed shots of said ammunition. - Death from Above: Frequently attack humans on the surface. They're really tough and really dangerous.
- Falling Damage: One of their favored damaging techniques against Artyom is to swoop in to grab him, fly him into the air and then drop him for high damage, or to outright kill him. Because of how deadly this is, Demons should always be fought where you can duck and cover when they fly in for the kill.
- Giant Flyer: Large and winged.
- Lightning Bruiser: They move quickly, and can soak up a lot of damage.
- Mama Bear: In Last Light in the level The Dead City, you have to scale a building to reach its roof. There a Demon tries to knock you off, and when you finally get up you can see that the Demon is backed up against its nest with both it and its children hissing and roaring at you to back off. There's a corpse with ammo and a diary entry in the nest, so provoking its wrath for both those rewards is something to consider.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Two particular Demons — one in the Library, and another on the Tower — will relentlessly pursue you until killed or driven off.
Librarians
Giant humanoid creatures encountered in the Moscow State Library. They are extremely intelligent and extremely dangerous, but it is possible to avoid fighting them by staring them down. They come in two variations: regular Librarians, and Black Librarians.
- Artistic License – Biology: If they are mutated gorillas, staring them down would be an act of provocation that would get you beaten, like with real life gorillas.
- Badass Bookworm: It is implied in Last Light that they are capable of reading the books found in the library.
- Berserk Button: Don't turn your back on them or shoot them, or they'll attack immediately.
- It Can Think: Librarians are highly intelligent, even capable of setting up traps. At one section in the library, there is a bullet on a hole on the wall and if the player attempted to pick it up, a Librarian will attempt to pull the player from the other side. If the player can avoid this by picking up the bullet from the other side of the wall.
- Killer Gorilla: Their faces and posture imply they are mutated gorillas.
- Lightning Bruiser: Really large, really fast, really strong.
- Made of Iron: Can take a large number of bullets before going down. You're advised to avoid pissing them off.
- Savage Setpiece: Unlike the other mutants, they aren't interested in killing you unless provoked, and even then, you can successfully stare them down without violence.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: Stare them down long enough and you can avoid fighting them. Display any submissive behavior (crouching or turning your back), and they will kill you.
- Underground Monkey: Black Librarians are only found in the library's basement.
- Was Once a Man: It's implied they may have once been people. Or they're mutated gorillas. It's theorized in-universe the reason you can stare them into compliance is that looking into human eyes reminds them of the humanity they lost.
Nosalises
Nosalises are the most common mutants encountered in the underground. Man-sized, bipedal creatures that resemble heavily mutated moles, they are often encountered in large numbers. They come in several different variations.
- Blinded by the Light: Due to their adaptations to see in the dark, Plated Nosalises are blinded by Artyom's flashlight.
- Underground Monkey: Comes in several variations.
- Dark Nosalises: Can take and deal more damage than regular nosalises. Encountered in the levels near the end of 2033.
- Winged Nosalises: Can jump further and move faster, and possesses a sonic attack that can stun the player, but can't take as much damage.
- Albino Nosalises: Only encountered in the Dungeon level in 2033.
- Plated Nosalises: Only encountered in the Caves level in 2033. They are much stronger and can take way more damage than standard nosalises, but don't attack in groups and are blinded by your flashlight.
- Novosibirsk nosalises are encountered in that city's tunnels in the final level of Exodus. They look slightly different from their Moscow cousins, with a vaguely trunk-like snout, but are every bit as aggressive.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Plated Nosalises are scared away by Artyom's flashlight.
- Zerg Rush: Often attack in large groups.
Lurkers
Quadrupedal mutants that resemble giant naked mole rats or dogs. They are mostly encountered within the Metro, where they reside in holes within the tunnels.
- Fragile Speedster: They're really fast, but can't take much damage.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: They look like giant mutated rodents.
- Tunnel King: They like to hide in and pop out of tunnels and holes.
Liana
Mutated plant-like creatures found inhabiting the surface.
- Combat Tentacles: They use their tentacles to whip at passersby.
- Invincible Minor Minion: You can't truly kill them. If you shoot them they curl up for a few seconds but then get better. Since they're immobile, it's hardly a problem.
- Planimal: Implied, they bleed red when shot.
- Plant Mooks: Mutated plants.
- When Trees Attack: They appear to be heavily mutated vines or trees.
Shrimp
Mutated crustaceans. They are often found in or near bodies of water. Female shrimps look like regular non-mutated shrimp, except with no eyes and a giant sucker mouth, while male shrimp look a lot like plate-armored creatures with toothed mouths. A handful of Bog Shrimps are also encountered as boss creatures.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Male Shrimps are heavily armored, making it less than ideal to shoot them in the carapace. Their underbellies are softer and more vulnerable to damage, but while advancing on you they make sure to cover their weak spot with their armored claws unless they're winding up to attack.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female shrimp have giant mouths and no eyes, but otherwise, look just like oversized regular shrimp. Male shrimp look like a cross between a praying mantis and a xenomorph.
- Eyeless Face: Female shrimps have no visible eyes, with just a huge sucker-like mouth.
- Foreign Queasine: They apparently taste delicious when eaten with beer.
- Giant Enemy Crab: Mutated shrimp.
- Lamprey Mouth: Female shrimps have this.
- Underground Monkey: Comes in several variations.
- Hatchlings: Juvenile Shrimp. They scavenge dead bodies, but are otherwise harmless.
- Amphibians: Larger, heavily armored shrimp. Only found on the surface.
- Bog Shrimp: Giant armored shrimps found on the surface. You only fight one alive, but it is much more dangerous than the other Shrimp variants.
Watchmen
Quadrupedal mutants that resemble dogs. They are often encountered on the surface.
- Savage Wolves: They certainly resemble wolves in appearance and behavior.
- Zerg Rush: They often attack in packs.
Spiderbugs
Giant mutated arachnid-like creatures that inhabit dark and abandoned underground areas.
- Animalistic Abomination: Artyom theorizes they may not be mutants created by radiation, but rather a race of underground monsters that existed since times immemorial and used to shun humanity, but now that they sense humanity is dying, they grow bolder and seek to reclaim the surface.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Are only vulnerable when flipped onto their backs.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Male spiders have stingers.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant mutated spiders, with traits of Scorpions.
- Cobweb Jungle: Cobwebs can be found everywhere in tunnels where they've taken up residence.
- The Dreaded: To the Nazi's in the facility where Artyom and Pavel were imprisoned. They walled off the infested sections of the tunnel, and soldiers talking about it are sure that whoever enters that place is a dead man walking.
- Giant Spider: Not gigantic, but much larger than a normal spider.
- Immune to Bullets: Their armored upper sides cannot be damaged by bullets.
- Shock and Awe: Sam's Story adds an electrically-charged "Zap Spider" variant, found only in extreme radiation zones and capable of interfering with electrical equipment in addition to shocking foes.
- Super Spit: In Exodus, the female Spiders gain the ability to attack at range by spitting webbing. Besides blinding you temporarily, it hits hard enough to damage your gas mask.
- Weakened by the Light: Light actually hurts them.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Like the plated nosalises in the original game, they are weak to light, except this time, it can even kill them when exposed to long enough.
Biomass
A giant mass of...biomass that has taken up residence on D6's nuclear reactor.
- Blob Monster: Its incarnation in Redux especially, due to attacking you with the same biomass it's made of.
- Brown Note: The biomass is heavily implied to have been responsible for a phenomenon where anyone who looked at the stars in Kremlin would mindlessly begin to run towards them. Presumably this was a luring tactic used by the Biomass to catch prey. Notably, after the biomass is killed and the Rangers take over D6, the Kremlin stars stop having their psychic effect and players can look at them in Last Light without any harmful effects. The biomass' psychic abilities are further demonstrated in the novel, where anyone near it is compelled to walk towards it and be consumed. It manages to kill three people this way before Miller, Artyom and the others wake up from its psychic effects after it consumes a child.
- Combat Tentacles: Uses its tentacles to try and knock down the crane you're riding in. In Redux, this is averted, due to the tentacles being replaced in favor of a radioactive slime attack.
- It Can Think: It's apparently quite intelligent, and will attempt to destroy the crane Artyom is operating, as if it knows how the reactor operates and that Artyom can hurt it this way.
- Killed Offscreen: When you defeat it in 2033, it's not dead, just weakened. The Rangers have managed to kill it by the events of Last Light, after taking over D6.
- Meat Moss: A meaty creature that thrives on radiation.
- Mook Maker: Has several amoeba pores that spawn Amoebas.
- Psychic Powers: In the novel, the biomass has some kind of psychic power that attracts people and compels them to throw themselves in the biomass where they're swallowed and digested. It's heavily implied that this is the reason why looking at the stars on top of the Kremlin makes you run inside the building, never to be seen again.
- Nuclear Mutant: It appears to live off the reactor's radiation.
- Was Once a Man: It's implied to be the after product of the biological weapons that were used against Kremlin. This is the reason why D6, which theoretically should have housed remnants of the Russian military and government, is deserted, with the occasional pile of empty shells. NATO biological weapons turned some of the survivors into Biomass, which then devoured the rest even as they tried putting up a fight.
Nosalis Rhino
A huge female nosalis that attacks you in Last Light.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Its back and head are vulnerable.
- Bullfight Boss: As its name implies. You can trick it into smashing into support beams.
- Flunky Boss: Attacks with the support of regular nosalises.
- King Mook: A nosalis brood mother.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: It'll just keep charging into the walls and pillars without regard for its own welfare.
Bear
A mutated bear that resides on the surface.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Her back is vulnerable when she's being attacked by Watchers.
- Bears Are Bad News: Obviously. The mother bear is extremely resistant to gunfire.
- Body Horror: Like all mutants, but most notable is the bear's seemingly-exposed spine.
- Mama Bear: A literal example. She's trying to protect her cubs from Watchers. After beating her, she'll be wounded and the Watchers will go for the kill. You can choose to help her, or let them kill her.
- Mighty Glacier: Really strong, but really slow.
- Non-Malicious Monster: As the baby Dark One notes, she's just trying to defend her cubs.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: Part of the fight against her involves getting the Watchers to swarm her so her weak point will be exposed.
The Dark Ones
A strange species of humanoid mutants residing in the Moscow Botanical Gardens. They are feared by the Metro citizens for their unusual psychic powers. They are possibly descended from humans who evolved to adapt to the post-apocalyptic surface world.
- Ambiguous Situation: Are they a "natural" mutation of humanity, or are they genetically-modified humans created by the Russian military before the war?
- Adaptational Heroism: The first book leaves it more ambiguous whether the Dark Ones are indeed intending to live in symbiosis with humanity or if they are just planning to use their psychic powers to turn humanity into a Slave Race. This is best seen when Artyom asks them if humanity would really live with them as equals or would their coexistence be just a form of forced servitude for humanity. The Dark Ones instead deflect the question, leaving it up to the audience to decide what their true intentions are. In the game they are no doubts behind their benevolence and in the canon Redemption ending of Last Light they save Artyom and the remaining Rangers from the Red Line.
- Big Bad: In 2033, both the game and the novel, but they are more of the Anti-Villain variant, albeit they are still a threat to the Metro's survivors.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the good ending to Metro: Last Light they intervene in the battle for D6 at the last minute to save the Rangers from an overwhelming Red Line assault.
- Bioweapon Beast: There are hints such as a cache of them hibernating inside D6 that they originated as a secret military project before the war.
- Brown Note: Their psychic powers can drive humans insane, intentionally or unintentionally, by mere proximity.
- Clash of Evolutionary Levels: Brought up in both the novel and the game by Hunter and Alex/Sukhoi. The Dark Ones are referred to as Homo Novus, the next step in evolution that will make humanity obsolete and eventually extinct. Unlike several examples where this is Hollywood Evolution, it's Justified: for starters, the Dark Ones are actually able to thrive on the surface, whereas humans can only (barely) survive in the metro, and the Dark Ones utterly wipe the floor with human soldiers in combat. They are simply more adapted to survival than humanity.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Anytime they fight humans it's this due to their Psychic Powers and sheer toughness. It's a good thing they don't actually want to destroy or enslave humanity and want peace.
- They inflict this on the Red Line army at the end of Metro: Last Light if you have enough morality points to get the good ending.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite their freakish appearance and powers, they just want peace with humanity.
- Empty Shell: This is what they do to humans if they come in contact with them. It's not actually malicious.
- Endangered Species: In Last Light, after most of them were killed in the missile strike at the end of 2033.
- Humanoid Abomination: They are humanoid creatures with incomprehensible powers and they're actually peaceful.
- Humans Are Psychic in the Future: They (may have) evolved from heavily mutated humans, and have psychic powers strong enough to drive people mad.
- I Am Not a Gun: If they originated as a Russian experiment to create super soldiers then their behavior and mindset would mean they moved behind their original purpose and they chose their own destiny.
- Made of Iron: Even without the psychic powers making them extremely dangerous foes, they're apparently very though to gun down.
- Mind Rape: Their psychic attacks which are actually an attempt to communicate telepathically destroy the mind of most people, leading to a painful death.
- Obliviously Evil: All they want to do is make peace with humanity, but their powers are strong enough to drive most normal people insane. They do not seem to understand the traumatic effect their telepathy has on humans.
- Only Fatal to Adults: Children are unaffected by the psychic influence of Dark Ones. In a twist, they will inherit this resistance when they grow up if they have interacted with a Dark One in their youth.
- Otherworldly Communication Failure: The Dark Ones are universally feared by the denizens of the Metro as terrifying boogeymen that can fry the brains of humans simply by approaching them. As Artyom learns, however, none of this is intentional on the Dark Ones' part. They mean no harm: in fact, they want to coexist with humanity, but unfortunately their Psychic Powers are so potent that human minds can't handle it. Each time the Dark Ones reach out to try to telepathically communicate with a human, it drives the human to madness. It doesn't help that they are only able to communicate vague concepts to Artyom, with the occasional disjointed word thrown in here and there. They really don’t know any more about humans than humans know about them, despite their efforts to bridge the gap.
- Poor Communication Kills: Their well-intentioned attempts at communicating with humans causes Mind Rape, and the humans understandably interpret this as hostile, starting the events of the first game and (canonically) ending with their near-total genocide.
- Psychic Powers: Have the ability to psychically influence humans. Even their ghosts have strange powers.
- Remember the New Guy?: Inverted. In Metro 2035 barely anyone mentions the Dark Ones and those who do view them as largely unimportant. Artyom himself seems to be under the impression that the Dark Ones had been all killed by his hand, seemingly forgetting how they saved him in Last Light.
- When Artyom returns to the surface in Novosibirsk in Exodus, shortly before his first encounter with a Blind One, a Dark One can briefly be seen watching him from a nearby rooftop, then it vanishes. It is unclear if it's really there or just another radiation-induced hallucination. If it is real, it begs the question of whether Artyom hears the Blind Ones' thoughts due to the Dark One trying to help him again.
- Super-Soldier: They may or may not have been created by the Russian military before the war to be this.
- Touched by Vorlons: Artyom met a Dark One in his childhood during a trip to the surface. This encounter meant that he's highly resistant to paranormal phenomenon and he can communicate with or resist the Dark Ones, whereas normal adults have their mind destroyed.
- The Unfought: They are never encountered as gameplay enemies.
- Was Once a Man: Maybe. They may have evolved from humans who remained on the surface after the nuclear apocalypse or they may have been the result of scientific experimentation before the war which would explain why there is a bunch of them locked up inside D6.
Tsar Fish
A large aquatic mutant living in the Volga river that is worshipped by the Church of the Water Tsar.
- Giant Animal Worship: Silantius and his cult are roughly Christian in dogma, but venerate the giant mutant catfish as a divine messenger/instrument of God, or a personification of His wrath. The fact that it seems to be attracted to electronics also informs their rejection of technology.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Artyom can kill the fish at the end of the flooded terminal by luring it with a bell or corpses and then dropping a pile of metal debris onto it.
- It Can Think: The fish surprisingly intelligent as it tries to knock Artyom off a platform by slamming into pillars and walls.
- Monster Whale: Despite it is identified as a catfish, it displays behaviours similar to that of a whale; being making whale-like calls, being able to attack preys on the shore by sliding in and out of the water and displays a degree of intelligence.
- Nuclear Mutant: Zigzagged. Pre-war documents and audio logs Artyom can find indicate that a study was being conducted on some kind of chemical spill in the Volga River before the bombs dropped, and that whatever was released into the water was causing some of the fish to grow substantially larger than normal, though they do not indicate anything on the massive scale of the Tsar Fish. It's possible that the effects of the nuclear, chemical, and bioweapons amplified the artificial growth, or maybe it just got that big after twenty-odd years. Eavesdropping on the boat crew's conversation reveals that this one is not unique. Others like it can be found elsewhere on the river, and one of them almost caught one using a dead dog for bait (almost, that is, the fish capsized his boat and almost ate him instead).
- Sea Monster: More like river monster. It is likely that it was a catfish (or possibly a sturgeon) that was mutated as a result of consuming radioactive waste at the bottom of the river.
- Super-Persistent Predator: It can be seen chasing after Artyom throughout the Volga chapter, be it on land, water or even in a flooded terminal.
Humanimals
Feral mutated humans encountered on the surface.
- Body Horror: Their bodies have been heavily mutated by the radiation; they most notably posses digitigrade feet.
- Our Zombies Are Different: These "zombies" are feral mutants descended from humans.
- Technically-Living Zombie: They're living humans that have been mutated and devolved.
- Was Once a Man: They are descended from feral humans left on the surface and mutated by radiation.
The Master of the Forest
Another giant bear, this one found inhabiting a river valley in Metro Exodus.
- Arc Villain: Of the Taiga level in Exodus.
- Bears Are Bad News: For obvious reasons, it has been the bane of the Children of the Forest across Taiga and they fear it for a greater measure.
- Disney Villain Death: How Artyom manages to beat it by stabbing the bear to its eye.
- The Dreaded: The pioneers and pirates fear it so much surviving an encounter with it impresses them.
- Guide Dang It!: The way to beat it during the second encounter requires the player to stand in a specific spot while tossing molotovs at it to trigger a cutscene. During the fight itself, there is no indication that this is what the player needs to do aside from a bonfire near where the player needs to stand and a cluster of molotovs for them to use nearby.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Master of the Forest is a name that is dreaded by the Pioneers and even the murderous Pirates for a good reason.
- The Juggernaut: Will go through any obstacles and barely fazed by explosives. If provoked, it can mow through a group of people, as shown when the bear pops out through a group of Pirates and Pioneers after Artyom was caught through a net, and a Pirate tried to kill it, but instead resulted in an Epic Fail moment that murdered the Pirate violently.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Bears a very similar resemblance to the Bear that was seen in Last Light as they are solitary mutants that both reside above the surface. However, the Last Light Bear is a Non-Malicious Monster who only protects her two cubs, while the Master of the Forest is a vicious predator who attacks anything on sight, be it Artyom, the Pirates or the Pioneers.
Blind Ones
Gorilla-like, blind mutants living in the Institute in Novosibirsk.
- Ambiguously Human: The Librarians brought a few doubts about being simply gorilla with their ability to read and their weakness to being stared down reflecting their humanity. The Blind Ones take it a step further as you can hear their thoughts and they are human-like.
- Composite Character: The Blind Ones are a cross between the hulking simian biology of the Librarians and the Psychic Powers of the Dark Ones.
- Eyeless Face: They have no eyes at all. To be precise, their heads seem to have thick folds of skin grown over where their eyes should be.
- Final Boss:
- During Artyom's trek to the Akademgorodok institute in Novosibirsk, the chasing Blind One near the finale served as the final hostile threat to Artyom.
- The Blind Ones also act as the final, biggest threat to Slava during the finale of The Two Colonels, serving as the DLC's de facto Big Bad.
- Handicapped Badass: Being blind doesn't stop them from murdering Artyom if they manage to catch his scent.
- Killer Gorilla: Similarly to the Librarians, they are mutated gorillas.
- Psychic Powers: Given that you can hear their voices in your head as they hunt you, they almost certainly possess some kind of them, although the Dark One that Artyom momentarily glimpses in Novosibirsk may also have something to do with it, assuming it's not a hallucination.
- Sense-Impaired Monster: They're blind, and make up for this deficiency by having Super-Strength, being Nigh-Invulnerable and taking a ton of ammo to take down, having limited Psychic Powers capable of causing a Mind Rape to anyone nearby, and being rather smart for mutants.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Solitary, giant hulking creatures with a simian biology roaming around public institutions, as well as them having human-like intelligence makes the Blind Ones very similar to the Librarians. However, unlike the Librarians who are non-hostile creatures but can be hostile to Artyom when provoked, the Blind Ones are creatures who have Psychic Powers and are blind like their name, albeit they use their sense of smell to catch Artyom, and will prey at Artyom at any given opportunity when his scent is close to them.
Worms
Huge, mutated leech-like creatures found in the Metro of Novosibirsk.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Their appearance is foreshadowed when Artyom enters the Putrid Tunnel and sees the Nosalises that had been chasing him attacked and devoured by the large Worms.
- Instant Leech: Just Fall in Water!: Falling into the murky waters of their lair results in Artyom getting tiny, immature Worms stuck to his armour and mask. This can also happen if he gets hit by the larger ones' spit, implying that they reproduce asexually...in their stomachs apparently?
- Meat Moss: Their lair is covered in a viscous organic film that reacts to light and movement, and occasionally extends worm-like tendrils, but it seems to be distinct from the Worms themselves.
- Non-Indicative Name: They're called Worms, but they look much more like giant leeches. The larger ones resemble oversized bobbit worms with their fanged maws.
- Organ Drops: The bodies of the smaller ones can actually be salvaged for use as crafting materials.
- Super Spit: Both the large and small Worms attack by spitting acidic mucous at Artyom.
- Your Size May Vary: Comes in two varieties: a smaller, dog-sized version that clings to walls and spits acid, and a MUCH larger one that swims through the water and can either spit or attack directly.
Paranormal Phenomena
Ghosts
The ghosts of those who lost their lives. They are usually only visible if one shines a flashlight at them or from the corner of your eyes.
- And I Must Scream: Their entire existence seems to be this.
- Barred from the Afterlife: According to Khan, the apocalypse destroyed both heaven and hell, leaving the ghosts nowhere to go but to haunt the places where they died.
- Doing In the Wizard: Exodus implies that ghosts are actually radiation-induced hallucinations, as all ghosts are encountered near radiation hotspots. On the other hand, the ones seen in the Volga have no such excuse.
- Interface Screw: Their nearby presence in Last Light and Exodus is indicated by colors becoming desaturated and slightly blurry.
- Living Memory: They are forced to repeat their final moments forever.
- Living Shadow: They take this form in 2033, and are only visible when light is shined on them, or out of the corner of your eyes. In Last Light and Exodus, they appear as either this or gory, semi-transparent silhouettes.
- Non-Malicious Monster: As the baby Dark One notes in Last Light, many ghosts are just lonely and scared, latching on to anyone living who passes by.
- NPC Roadblock: In 2033, some of them block Artyom's way. The first time, Khan makes them clear the way by praying; the second time, they will block the exit of the level until Artyom helps Metro dwellers repel a mutant attack.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Living shadows that relive their last moments repeatedly. Touching one will seriously injure, if not kill, you. Ghosts can even be of mutants or inanimate objects, like trains.
- Tomato in the Mirror: According to the Baby Dark One in Metro: Last Light, they don't even know they're dead.
- Whispering Ghosts: Another sign that they're nearby is inaudible whispering that grows louder and louder the more you stay near them. Until it brutally stops and they vanish.
Anomalies
Anomalies are strange orbs of electricity. Little is known about them, except that they are extremely dangerous, shocking anyone who gets near.
- Big Damn Heroes: Each time they show up, they helpfully electrocute a number of mutants attacking you. Played With in that it doesn't care about rescuing Artyom, it just moves around randomly killing everything that moves.
- The Dreaded: Feared by mutants and humans alike. Even your Ranger companions are afraid of them.
- Living Motion Detector: Well, for a given value of "living". Khan advises Artyom not to move when the Anomaly is around, and this saves their lives. It apparently only kills things that move.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: They seem to be attracted to large amounts of electricity, as Khan notes in the Last Light DLC. In Exodus, Silanius uses this to convince his cultists to swear off electric equipment.
- Shock and Awe: They periodically release large bursts of electricity.
- Will-o'-the-Wisp: They certainly resemble them.
"The Great Door"
An unusual phenomenon that attacks Artyom and Bourbon when they fall into a drainage room at the beginning of the Lost Catacombs level of Metro 2033. It takes the form of a giant shadowy "door" that tries to draw people in.
- Eldritch Abomination: We have no idea what it is, except that it tries to kill anyone who falls into its room.
- Genius Loci: A possible example, considering it has led a number of other explorers to their deaths in the same room. It may be actively malevolent, or else completely detached from human morality.
- Hell Gate: It may be a reference to one, seeing as it kills anyone who falls victim to it.
- Hell Is That Noise: We don't actually hear it, but Bourbon claims that it "sings" and says he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.
- Intoxication Ensues: Falling into the Great Gate's room causes you to suffer hallucinations, and in Bourbon's case, he starts ranting about the door "singing".
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is it a malevolent spirit, or just a hallucination caused by the toxic gas in the room?
- Nothing Is Scarier: Its "singing" is unheard but is apparently extremely unpleasant to listen to. And we never get any idea what the hell it is. The room it's in is just a place where reality stopped functioning normally.
"The River of Fate"
Another anomaly of the post-apocalyptic Metro system introduced in the Khan level of Metro Last Light. It's apparently dangerous to most people, but it helps Artyom on its journey by granting his wish to "undo his fate" and atone for the destruction of the Dark Ones..
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's described as amoral despite its massive influence on reality around it.
- Dem Bones: Skeletons in the vicinity can somehow move thanks to its power.
- Eldritch Abomination: A relatively benevolent one by Metro standards, it's not dangerous (to Artyom and Khan at least) and even helps the former on his quest.
- Evil Phone: Not quite evil, but Artyom can pick up a ringing phone in a nearby tunnel and hear the voice of his long dead mother.
- Genius Loci: It has the power to grant wishes. According to Khan it's somehow dangerous to most people.
- Make a Wish: Grants those, as long as they're related to fate or forgiveness.
- Reality Is Out to Lunch: Diving in the river can take you to a different place and time, and help you "change" your fate. The area around the river is similarly anomalous, with phones where one can hear the voices of the dead, and skeletons that move.
- Rock of Limitless Water: Where the water comes from and where it goes isn't clear, but considering the general weirdness of the place this is fairly minor.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Subverted. It actually helps Artyom somehow change his future.
"The Darkness"
"The Darkness" is a strange phenomenon in some areas that prevents you from using any electronic light sources, hence the name.
- The Corrupter: A bandit in Last Light, who allegedly lost his former crew to the Darkness, claims it can do this. Weak-minded humans can fall under it's influence, manifesting as a desire to stay in it, black tentacles pouring out of their mouths and eyes and going berserk when somebody turns on a light near them.
- Demonic Possession: If the bandit telling the story above is true, then the Darkness can take control of people that lack the mental fortitude to resist its influence.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: Its presence disables your flashlight and night vision goggles. Somehow it doesn't affect your night vision ''scopes'' or your Laser Sight.
- Nothing Is Scarier: It has no visible presence except its interference with your electronics, manifesting when you enter and exit it in the form of electric crackling sounds and static flickering.
- Tentative Light: Its presence in the game is to create a creepier atmosphere by disabling your stronger lights, forcing you to advance slowly by the flame of your lighter and pay attention to the environment.
"The Master"
"The Master" is a psychic phenomenon that compels people to go wander in Metro tunnels, never coming back.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is there really a "Master" somewhere in the tunnels? Or is it just a (sub)urban legend?
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Master seems to have this effect on those unlucky enough to fall prey to it, with the person in particular becoming enthralled to the point of resisting and escaping any attempts to capture or restrain them, then directed to walk off into the nearest tunnel and to their doom.
- Cosmic Horror Story: If it really exists, then it means that at any time anyone in the Metro may just be brainwashed into wandering into a dark, uncharted tunnel and never being seen again. Nobody knows why people are chosen or what happens to them.
- Eldritch Abomination: There's something out there compelling people to enter abandoned tunnels and never being seen again.
- Nothing Is Scarier: It's never encountered, only heard about in conversations.
- Psychic Powers: How it seems to work. Individuals affected will stop their activities all of a sudden and walk in the nearest tunnel, only saying "I've been summoned by the Master" over and over. Trying to stop somebody "summoned" will only result in the affected breaking off his holders or, if somehow restrained, chew through their bindings or crawl away.
- Unseen Evil: The only thing that’s known about the Master is the effect it has on its victims. Everything else about it, including appearance, motives, and even the ultimate fate of those who fall under its sway, just raises more questions than answers.
