Alexander Brown

A short, contained, classic Metro experience. Around 2 hours at it was all over. Some technical improvements were made to the already impressive ray tracing effects on PC. To showcase their prowess, the developers made the primary weapon of the player character, Colonel Khlebnikov, a flamethrower. And by primary weapon, I mean only weapon. Despite its condensed length, I found the combat felt pretty one note and repetitive by the end. Jump scare, spray flames until room clears, a few quiet tense, rusty corridors, repeat. The hammy English VO does contain some occasionally clumsy lines, but I did find the story to be entertaining. It's almost like a vignette, with the entire emotional arc of the main game but taking place over a much shorter time span. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but the parallel timelines of the two lead characters intersect cleverly, and I found the characterization and portrayal of fatherhood to be endearing, if a little overwrought at times. Without spoilers, the last few sections of the game lean heavily into the horror aspect of the survival horror experience found in the Metro series. The excellent sound design and clever gameplay balance choices made with the inclusion of the flamethrower create some genuinely tense sections. Your flashlight is removed, instead replaced by the flickering yellow flame of your weapons pilot light. The reduced visibility and arsenal, coupled with the slower aiming and reload times force a more cautious pace, even compared to the full games already contemplative speed. This DLC's blessing is also one of its biggest drawbacks in my opinion. Its short length meant that it was over before the reduced, repetitive gameplay could overstay its welcome. Any longer, and I think it would have become monotonous. On the flip side, this $8 dlc feels like a side quest that CD Projekt Red would have released for free with a patch for The Witcher. I dont know if that says more about the pricing of the DLC, or how good of a developer CDPR is. I wasn't upset to have spent that amount of money on this content. I enjoyed it. Just be aware that, if you're purchasing this expecting the depth of gameplay found in the main game, you'll be disappointed. It's a contained, directed experience, which tells a good short story, and continues (on the PC at least), to be an impressive technical achievement.