After almost 8 years I finally finished the game and I loved it! The reason it took so long is because back in 2010 I bought the original Metro 2033 and initially had one of those stop/start, install/uninstall relationships with it because it ran really rough for me at the time and I would always end up stopping at a certain point because of performance. Years later Last Light came out and it ran better and then Metro 2033 Redux came out immediately after so I bought it when on sale. Thankfully I didn't delve too far into LL when I decided to stop and try to finally get into the Redux version of 2033 which I have been playing now for the past couple of years. Except for SSAA off, I can run everything else maxed and it has played smooth and is beautiful. I finally finished it today and man what a great FPS! I'm happy to have finally been able to get into and progress in the game after all these years.

I went through the game on normal settings but towards the end of the game it started to feel way to easy. So now that I'm ready to dive into Metro Last Light I think it would be a good idea to try playing on hard or on one of the other modes. I don't own LL Redux but I'm hoping my original LL still performs how I remembered it. I think that was the whole point of 2033 Redux was to refurbish the game in the newer and better LL engine.

Can anyone who has played these recommend a good challenging setting as well as make sense for me what the two modes are? I'm guessing the Spartan mode will be too much for me but normal didn't seem to be enough in 2033. What exactly is their survival horror/slow burn mode? How does it work and does it mean it makes to game too easy or can it still be challenging?

Anyhow I'm hoping to dive into LL once I get it installed and my experiences so far with these games makes me look forward to the new one coming out with an open world. I still plug away at Stalker but it has taken me even longer to get into that series. I have Stalker SoC Complete install and play it off an on. I just start to really miss story after awhile. Maybe they just have a slow start and I need to give it more time. The farthest I've ever gotten is past the Garbage area where you go and meet that guy at the research center and he sends you down into the sewers for the first time. I eventually get chased by something and come out on the other side but I've never continued beyond that point. Does the story and gameplay start to open up? I love the jankiness of it and appreciate the fact that its not story telling on the level of the Metro games but does it start to get more interesting later on?

I recently played through all of these games as well. The Misery stuff can be seen in another thread. I also had an itch to revisit SoC, and chose the Autumn Aurora mod. Highly recommended, and I prefer it over Complete. Grittier graphics, new interface, some new weapons, and all over the top of the community bugfix.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/autumn-aurora-compilation-mod

Looking forward to Exodus.

So I've never played the Metro series, but they've always intrigued me. I've played quiet a bit of Stalker in the it's various incarnations. For SoC finishing the Agroprom Undeground (the part you just finished), gets you into the game proper. By now you have an idea how the game works, you've finally got a decent gun or two (you did snag a good AK-74 right?), and from there things open up a lot. The quests are still the fetch and carry, find and kill, or find and talk to (but let's be honest aren't all quests usually a variation on that?). You'll start to get a lot more of the game's backstory too, as you start to get right in the middle of everything.

-Jenrick