So what do you guys think will be happening? Here's some stuff i'm thinking of, evidence to support your theories are not required. 1: Dark Ones are gonna be a big part of this. 2: Artyom's past may be explored in further detail. In the E3 gameplay Artyom experiences a flashback of him on the train with his mother. Then later on he sees a ghost and we can hear a voice familiar to his mother ethereally calling. It could either be Artyom's subconscious OR dark ones using this against him. Human on Human war will be a big thing. and the threat of humans completely wiping themselves out will be much larger this time around. Like we decided the fate of the Dark Ones in 2033 i think that the final fate of the humans will be altered by the player depending on how they interact. I don't think the person on the (current) cover art is Artyom, he's not wearing the watch nor does he wear the standard gas mask. And i'm sure the devs haven't plonked him onto there for no good reason. He's important, i'm sure of it. Okay that's all i can scrape together for now. Your turn!
My theory: There were several parts to D6, not the only ones what we had seen. Apparently there were many "keys" or "keycards" that were required to access different levels of D6. The secret of this lies with SOME of the rangers and the military officials. But probably one stalker entered D6 from above the surface. This is practically a safe route because there are no cave-ins which have you take several detours to reach D6. When the stalker came back, he spoke too much and was taken a prisoner. When Artyom frees this prisoner he encounters the single dark one who was left from the attack. This dark one tells Artyom what needs to be done, but his comrades think something else. The story might either end in a cliffhanger or we get a choice. Edit: There might be several other sites like D6, as Miller says "Stalkers have reported several functional missile bases still left intact".
amd955ben560's theory sounds very logical and highly possible. I'd go for that. On another thought, I have to share the same theory about knowing more about Artyom's past. Why? Well, in Metro2033 we were thrown into a well-developed story that started at its turning-point twenty years earlier. Though we mainly know what caused the apocalyptic world of Metro, the origing of it is still just a cloudy uncertain thought. Seeing visions of When-The-Bang-Happened would be quite satisfying and confirmative of those cloudy and uncertain thoughts.
I believe Artyoms past will play a big role in the game this time around. If you've seen the new Gameplay video you'll see Artyom stood with who I assume is his mother on a train and then the cutscene ends and you then explore the surface with Pavel I think the prisoner is probably a ranger, MAYBE Hunter but I doubt it. No I don't believe he's dead. He doesn't die in the books and you see him give you a pistol at the end of the game so I don't believe he's dead tbh. The plot is probably to stop the warring factions from obtaining control of D6. I dunno if the dark ones will be in LL, maybe they will. If not they will most probably haunt Artyoms dreams etc since in one of the gameplay demo things it says Artyom is racked with guilt.
Spoiler ign already said that the baby darkone (from the prologue comic) is the prisoner. And that artyom is trying to stop a war, and save it so he can save the metro...
i think like beebopa said dark ones will play a big part, but there was a part in one of the videos where it showed a mutant, that looked like a new kind. it may be a complelty new kind of storyline that involves the dark ones and this kind of enemy.
-Footrace to D6 by all factions -Reds get there, obtain chemical weapons -Reds begin to gas/intoxicate stations in testing -Nazis obtain secret weapon (baby dark one) -Artyom and the Rangers steal the baby dark one back (mysterious prisoner) -Dark One doesn't trust Artyom in the beginning, but sees his intentions are pure -And then..........
