Strategy Informer  

Metro 2033 was an "unpolished gem" for THQ which they "came to realise a little too late," but despite this it went on to sell over a million copies on PC alone. It's moved from "cult-hit" to "bonafide hit."

Now the developer is working on sequel Metro: Last Light, which continues Artyon's journey. Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky had to provide a "completely new story and plotline" for the game.

Last Light takes place during Metro 2034, however it wasn't adaptable to a video game reveals THQ's Huw Beynon, and so Glukhovsky gave them new material.

"For Dmitry’s involvement in the first one, he lent us the whole story. We tried to stay true to the major plot; all of the key characters, and then a lot of the thematic sentiment within there. The story of the first one is really Artyon’s coming of age story, where he starts," describes Beynon, in an interview with AusGamers.

"He’s a young man who’s never moved more than 200 yards from the station where he lives, and he’s trusted with this huge responsibility of which he’s not even sure of the importance of." Of course it was a video game and so had to strip out some of the book in order to stay fun for the gamer and keep up the pace. Metro 2033 let the player make a choice for Artyon at the end of the game, but Last Night assumes the canon of the more "cynical ending".

"So when we approached Metro: Last Light, there is no continuation of Artyon’s story," explained Beynon. "Dmitry wrote 2034, and it’s a different style of book entirely, and really not suited to a videogame adaptation. We worked out that we wanted to continue telling Artyon’s story, so we went back to Dmitry and he basically came back again with a completely new story and plotline, to take Artyon’s character further in a really interesting way."

"We explore some slightly different themes in Metro: Last Light, which starts in a very different position. He’s a little bit older and wiser; he’s also trying to live with the consequences of his decision from the first game, and there’s some really interesting stuff to explore there."

"So having laid out the plot and story for us, Dmitry continued to contribute on specific story design elements, provided additional dialogue for the game, and let the studio focus on, I guess, the scenario design. So the process isn’t really that different from what it was with 2033 -- Dmitry’s been very involved in it."

Huw Beynon says things are very different in terms of backing from THQ with Metro: Last Light. The first suffered from a lack of production support the studio would have liked and "didn’t get the lasting support at the same time," but THQ are now 'aware' of the IP gem they hold in their hand.

Check out the full interview between Huw Beynon and AusGamers.

Metro: Last Light releases on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC in Q1 2013.

Source: AusGamers

Related games: Metro: Last Light (PC), Metro: Last Light (Xbox360), Metro: Last Light (PS3), Metro 2033 (PC), Metro 2033 (Xbox360)