Happy 15 Year Anniversary to Metro 2033 ( The Game )
Metro 2033 is a dark psychological horror novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Metro 2033 is a first person survival horror shooter. Same name but very different vibe. In both you play as Artyom who must travel across the metro in order to save his station. The spooky atmosphere is present in both but the book has that anxiety to it that I just don’t feel while playing the game. The novel gives a lot more scenes and context then in the video game but the sense of dread isn’t as overwhelming.
A wise man once told me that if I read the book first it would ruin the game and that was true. The book was fantastic, and the game just couldn’t hold a candle to it. I love first person shooters with silent protagonists but I felt that Metro 2033 should have been a psychological horror game akin to Resident Evil. The tense atmosphere and mystery would have complemented that genre much more than an action heavy FPS. I understand that shooters was the hot money maker at the time, plus they were ex-devs of S.T.A.L.K.E.R which is a FPS, but this is just a personal opinion I have after reading the novel.
The novel and game are very similar, the way things shake out are a little different but the core of the story is essentially the same. I felt that the personality of Artyom in the novel was different then what we saw in his notes and the level splash screens. In the novel Artyom is basically going through a coming of age story whereas in the game he is already confident, sure of himself and knows what his mission is. That is to say he is much less interesting as a character.
The game is more of a reimagining of the book and I think it would be much better to read the novel after playing all the game. The book and games are different and both are good in their own ways. I liked Metro 2033 as a game but I didn’t like it as much as I liked the novel and that leads me to thinking about all the things it could have been.
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