Bolshoi meets world

Discovering Metro: Last Light’s terrific theatre

FORMAT PS3 / PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV 4A GAMES / RELEASED 2013 / SCORE 9/10

Talk about effective scenesetting. The tenth level of Metro: Last Light serves up one of the best pieces of interactive storytelling you’ll find in any game, let alone a mutantmurdering FPS. This dystopian shooter is filled with moments of quiet character building, and no set-piece stands out more than Artyom’s captivating trip to an underground theatre.

As Metro’s futuristic Moscow has been levelled by nuclear war, a night on the town enjoying Hamilton while necking prosecco is never going to be on the cards for its populace. Still, just because bloodthirsty mutants roam the remains of Red Square, it doesn’t mean the slivers of humanity who exist in the city’s underground system can’t enjoy a little culture. Enter Last Light’s wonderfully executed theatre stroll.

As Artyom pursues the last surviving Dark One, he’s afforded a little downtime at the Bolshoi Theatre. Of course, seeing as people can no longer live on the surface, Joseph Bové’s worldfamous opera house can only exist as a dingy little auditorium that shares space with a sleazy bar, slums, and filthy pig pens. Yet despite the setting, hope remains. Whether it’s eavesdropping on old war tales, watching a man make shadow puppets in a dimly lit alcove to entertain a group of besotted children, or listening to a creaky accordion player gamely banging out ditties onstage, humanity endures.

While it’s easy to recall Metro: Last Light’s crunching shootouts, five years after its original release, no memory burns brighter than shuffling through that ramshackle theatre. Nuclear war or not, the subterranean show must go on.