The story is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name, where survivors of a nuclear war have taken refuge in the Metro tunnels of Moscow.

Players control the silent protagonist Artyom, a man who must save his home station from the dangers lurking within the Metro.

Glukhovsky chose 4A Games to adapt his novel due to the studio's location in Ukraine, and their expertise in developing first-person shooters.

Critics gave the game positive reviews, with praise for its horror elements, detailed environments, and interesting plot.

Metro 2033 was profitable for THQ, selling more than 1.5 million copies by June 2012, though the publisher felt that their marketing efforts were rushed.

A sequel titled Metro: Last Light was released in 2013, with Deep Silver acquiring the publishing rights from THQ after their bankruptcy.

The game features traditional guns like a revolver, assault rifles and shotguns, as well as more inventive weapons like a pneumatic crossbow.

[9] Since the game has a large survival horror focus, the player often has little ammunition, and must scavenge for supplies from caches or dead bodies.

If the player is compassionate to the people living in the tunnels, such as giving the homeless some military grade ammunition, they may be able to watch a different cutscene at the end of the game.

[15] Inside the metro, food, water, and supplies are scarce which lead to the formation of factions; Most notably the "Hanza," the "Red Line," and the "Rangers of the Order."

The overall tone that the game tries to encapture is a grim and melancholic feeling, as well as displaying the miserable lives of people who have survived the great war.

Animals such as rats or bears have mutated into horrific monsters, while the air in many areas becomes heavily irradiated and impossible to survive in without a gas mask.

Before leaving to track the Dark Ones, Hunter gives Artyom his dog tags and tells him to present them to his superiors in Polis, the "capital" of the Metro.

With Andrew's help, Artyom sneaks out of Red Line territory but is subsequently captured by their enemies, the neo-Nazi Fourth Reich.

The alternate ending gives Artyom the choice to destroy the laser guidance device, citing a last-minute realization that the Dark Ones were using the hallucinations to make peaceful contact.

[18] Years before Glukhovsky was offered a book publishing deal in 2005, he uploaded the manuscript of the novel to his personal website, leading a number of game studios to approach him for a potential adaptation of his work.

[17] Glukhovsky was open-minded about studios creating new chapters in his Metro series, describing this as "as much of an honor as getting the book screened and turned into a movie", and hoping that this would grow the audience for his fiction.

[19] He also felt that a game adaptation would allow him to focus on other projects, leaving the Metro universe in the careful custody of other artists.

[17] Glukhovsky ultimately chose 4A Games because they shared an "Eastern European mindset", both having a first-hand understanding of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He was also impressed with the team's previous work, as well as their pitch to adapt Metro as a first-person shooter, since the book reveals the thoughts of the protagonists (though it is written in the third-person).

[26] Since it was not practical to turn every major plot point into a cutscene, the studio instead strove to create an immersive atmosphere by using both environmental storytelling and incidental conversations.

[44][45] Most critics agreed that the game was a compelling and engrossing experience undermined by inadequate gameplay systems and poor artificial intelligence.

[11] Eurogamer's Jim Rossignol also liked the campaign's variety and cinematic sequences, highlighting how "the action is expertly punctuated with unexpected experiences".

[1] James Stephanie Sterling from Destructoid felt that the story was "decent" and the themes were "intruiging" and "powerful", but expressed disappointment that it was not as fleshed out as the source materials.

[3] GamePro's Tae K. Kim felt that there was not enough context for an otherwise strong backstory, as he "never fully understood the world", making the game an awkward entry point to the fiction of the novel.

[51] Rossignol described the game world as one that is "heaving with apocalyptic detail", and praised the gas masks for inducing a "claustrophobic feeling".

[3] Kim also praised the 4A Engine for "bringing this desolate and sad world to life", and applauded the developers' effort to interweave gameplay with the narrative.

They heavily praised the game's overall atmosphere but especially the enhanced gameplay and graphical update with IGN's Mike Reparaz saying "Redux is overall a much smoother, more enjoyable, and better-looking way to experience Metro 2033.

CEO for THQ, Brain Farrell, added that due to the low cost of development in Eastern Europe, modest level of sales would already guarantee Metro 2033 as a commercial success.

[58] While the exact sales of the game have not been revealed, Deep Silver announced that the Metro Redux collection sold more than 1.5 million copies in April 2015.