Metro: Last Light pre-order & Ranger Mode details under Deep Silver

So! Ranger Mode.

What is limited about the Limited Edition and how will pre-orders work?
The first run of copies (the limited part of the Limited Edition) will include Ranger Mode. If you pre-order Metro: Last Light, you are guaranteed to get one of the Limited Editions that include Ranger Mode.


Tell me ALL about Ranger Mode in Metro: Last Light
Ranger Mode is expanded from what it was in Metro 2033, and took quite a bit of development to implement it fully into Metro: Last Light as an optional mode that works with the entire campaign.

If you know Ranger Mode from Metro 2033, you'll know the basics. Higher bullet damage for both you and enemies, so Rambo-ing is no longer an option. Less ammo in the world, fewer gas mask filters, fewer medkits, reduced longevity for gas mask filters and battery power, and a higher rate of fogging for the gas mask.

You'll also have a larger inventory for throwing knives (10 instead of a standard 5) to make Stealth more feasible. At the same time, you can only carry 2 instead of 3 weapons at the same time.


What about that weapon and the 100 MG rounds?
In addition, a special AKSU weapon and 100 Military Grade rounds are part of Ranger Mode and only available in Ranger Mode. So these weapons won't make the regular campaign too easy. You can use the AKSU and the Military Grade ammo to upgrade and increase your odds of survival in Ranger Mode. If you happen to lose/swap out your AKSU or sell it, the merchants will also have the AKSU for sale in Ranger Mode.


Give me the HUD details!
HUD/UI in Ranger Mode:
- Most of the HUD and UI, is disabled in Ranger Mode
- All of the HUD and UI is disabled in Ranger Hardcore
- No tool tips or prompts
- No crosshairs


How does Ranger Mode work as DLC?
Anyone who buys Metro: Last Light after the Limited Edition has run out of its limited supply, or who buys it second hand, will still be able to get Ranger Mode as DLC from the day of release for 400 MS Points/$5/€5/£3.99.

I don't think anyone who is thinking about getting the game on release day or the first week won't have Ranger Mode for free, though. After the looooong wait and all the delays, you'll have Ranger Mode with the game when you finally have it in your hands on May 14/17.


What else is new for Ranger Mode in Metro: Last Light?
There are a few small changes to the campaign with regard to weapons but I'm not going to spoil them. Find out when you finish the game, twice!


Why didn't you add anything else or make Ranger Mode free?
As you may know, Metro: Last Light was available for pre-order last year when the game was still being published by THQ, and tons of retailers and online shops had their pages up already. In the end there was a lot involved with changing all of that and starting from scratch, not to mention it's not as easy as it may seem to remove things that were offered already (or if you had put money down on a pre-order).

There's a lot of dev time involved with Ranger Mode, which is why it is a paid DLC.

Having said that... While this is what the previous offer was under THQ, we're also working on some cool extras and the Steam pre-order bonuses; stay tuned for that. We just have to finalize some last details but I'll have more info soon.


No Collector's Edition? What about the community ideas?

There were actually plans for a super limited Collector's Edition (CE) with special items, many of which were based on community requests. These things take a LOT of time to plan, produce, and manufacture (think half a year or more), and cost a lot of money up-front to order the production of thousands of units for fans around the world. The plans sadly ended up being scrapped by THQ as their financial state didn't allow for the investment. The rest is history.

Once Deep Silver took over the publishing duties for Metro: Last Light and tried to make sure the game would still make it to fans' hands without a giant delay, we didn't have time to start work on a CE. Doing a CE would mean a massive delay for everyone, whether they wanted a CE or not, because you have to release these things alongside the release of the game. It's too bad, and if we would've had more time we would've loved to do one. But in the end we decided to focus on getting the game finished and released with a minimal delay instead.

 

Where did you pre-order the key? Just wondering where people do it
If it was at GreenManGaming or any place like that, it should be the Limited Edition.

 

There were a lot of questions, which one did you mean? If you are referring to the Q&A, we're getting the answers as soon as possible.

 

Correct. The game is a Steamworks game, so unless you prefer to have a physical box, it doesn't matter if you buy it on Steam or not. The key included in the box is a Steam key.

 

I've seen this question pop up a lot, so thanks for asking here where I can answer in detail.

When it comes to game development and planning production, DLC is often a factor these days. Now, I wasn't involved with development under THQ (nor do developers let publisher community managers decide on these things) but generally things like DLC are planned separately from the main game.

A studio works on the game, and at some point starts working on DLC if most of the game is finished. Or DLC is outsourced so the core team can keep working on the game, if it's a small team or if the team needs that time to finish the main game. How it is done differs from studio to studio, and from project to project. One part of production is complete, staff is freed up, and start working on DLC while the rest of the team keep tweaking and polishing the main game.

In the case of Metro 2033, Ranger Mode was a paid DLC on Xbox 360 and free for PC. For Metro: Last Light, at some point it was decided to do this again because people liked Ranger Mode.

It takes quite a bit of time to make sure the campaign in Ranger Mode is perfectly balanced and is worth replaying the entire game for on this mode. It's not just "remove the UI and increase bullet damage and that's it." That's where dev time comes in, and where you pay devs to spend time creating such a mode apart from the main game. When THQ decided to fund development of Metro: Last Light and what the sequel would need this second time around, they could've said "Nah we don't need to spend money on that" or "We will but we'll release it later like the first time." It ended up with a "Yes" for Ranger Mode and having it available on the day of release rather than months later.

Fast forward to late January. Deep Silver takes over publishing for the game, less than 2 months before it's supposed to be in stores. We took a look at the game, and pushed the release date a bit to add some time for polishing the game (including Ranger Mode) and making it as good as possible. Not gonna lie, we definitely also could use the time on the publisher side to deal with all the paperwork involved with the move between publishers, and to restart work on creating trailers, screenshots, getting it playable at an event like PAX East, getting the press some hands-on, and all that jazz. Metro 2033 was a cult hit, and one that didn't get the exposure it deserved if you ask me. Metro: Last Light improves on so many aspects of Metro 2033 that we also thought it deserves to be noticed by players and not get lost just by rushing it out. In the meantime 4A could continue work on the game while Deep Silver sorts out the rest.

Bear in mind that you also have to manufacture discs, packaging, and ship it around the world before it's in stores, so the middle of May isn't that far away as far as development work is concerned. You've probably seen announcements about a game being "Gold" some time before the release date, which means it's ready to start printing discs etc. But we also didn't want people to have to wait for the game for too long -- it had been such a long wait already.

With the game almost finished and using the bit of extra time for final polishing by the dev, we kept the pre-order deal THQ had before. The reality is that you can't have a pre-order bonus if that bonus content is free. However, you can make sure that as many of the fans as possible -- who had been waiting for years -- will still get it for free by having Ranger Mode included in the Limited Edition (which is available until all those copies sell out in stores), and using pre-orders as a guarantee to get one of those copies.

And that's where we are now.

I hope that explains it a bit!