So the game play started out like one would expect of any FPS title. It looked rather bland, that was until the full view of the environment came into play. This would have to be one of the big selling points of Metro: Last Light for me. It is very dark and eerie. I am not talking about the tunnels either here. The terrain is also just as desolate and creepy to move about, even more so when your hand pump flashlight begins to die out. Just what I like to see in my games; a nice, deep level of environmental immersion into horror.

While I'm on the topic of immersion, I need to talk about the UI or HUD for Metro: LL. It pretty much doesn't exist at all. It is quite literally just the entire viewport and the protagonist's arms and weapons. "But how do you keep track of ammo and other things?" Well you will have to gasp literally watch the clip of your weapons to see how much you have left. The closest thing that there is to a HUD element is a watch that counts down how long until you need to change air filters on your gas mask. I am a fan of this style of viewport in games. First, it doesn't have anything to burn into my screen during long hours of play. Second, it adds a deeper level of immersion to the game world and for a horror game that can be one of the making or breaking points.

Moving on from there, there was one more thing that caught my attention to define MLL as not just another dark shooter. That is the startle/shock factors in the game. They are in there as well as the creep factor. There was also an attempt at another "RE dog through window" scene. Even though I did not get overly 'scared' by the scene, most likely because I wasn't behind the wheel, it is great to see someone really trying for that effect again. It is also nice to see a new perspective on a post apocalypse supernatural story and how it can be scary for those who don't fully know the culture.

I'll be completely honest; I am now looking forward to Metro: Last Light more than I thought I would when going into this demo. I just wish that it wasn't so far off, but at least that means we will be seeing quite a bit more in the coming months. Metro: Last Light is slated to hit the PS3, XBox 360 and PC sometime in the first quarter of 2013.