War still rages between disparate political factions based at various tube stations, and there are still a lot of things that go bump in the night, namely mutants, or as Ukrainians perversely like to call them, anomalies. The story is that people are still stuck under the ground, shitting in a bucket and waiting to die, the entire course of their brief pointless existence barely taking them more than 500 yards from where they were born.

As such, story duties have fallen to the lead designer, with the blessing of his mate Dmitry. Glukhovsky did bash out a follow-up to his best-selling novel, logically enough called Metro 2034 (also the game's original working title) but it was deemed a more esoteric art-house affair not suitable for a videogame plot. If you didn't catch last year's alleged 'cult hit,' there's a hefty PC demo of Metro 2033 knocking about that should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from both the original and this sequel, which carries on from where the last game left off. I want nothing this societys got, Im going underground. It's a fascinating insight into the cultural aspect of videogame development, and one that is all the more jarring given that Metro Last Light receives its UK unveiling barely an hour after a run-through of the new Saints Row game, an absurdly cartoony affair developed in the US. I now have a fake sun light I sit with for an hour every day just so I don't shoot myself.' Ukraine is just as depressing as hell, especially in the winter. 'Because Ukraine is a depressing fricking place. 'There's no way this game is made anywhere other than there,' says executive producer Dean Sharpe, his haunted features at odds with his Robbie Savage perm. Referencing its geographical origins is more than mere flippancy, however, as the Ukraine-based American producer of sequel Metro Last Light confirms. Based on a novel by young Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, it was set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow where a handful of survivors took refuge in the city's hermetically sealed underground system, a world noticeably bereft of primary colours, and largely short on laughs. Home to 4A Games, their debut title, Metro 2033, was an unremittingly bleak affair. If it's true that art imitates life, we're glad that we don't live in Ukraine.

Where is the metro last light benchmark