Nvidia giving away free digital copies of Metro 2033

Nvidia is distributing free codes for THQ’s Metro 2033 on its Facebook page. The company is giving the codes in exchange for “Liking” its Facebook page. The promotion is set to last until December 25. The Metro series takes place in a post-apocalyptic Moscow where, in the wake of a nuclear war, humanity has taken to the country's elaborate metro system for refuge.

The first game was notable for being highly atmospheric and having a unique economy where bullets were the currency. This opened up questions to the player about whether any given bullet is more useful when being shot, or when being traded for either a few better bullets, or a lot of worse bullets.

Enter the bleak world of Metro 2033

Recently, THQ had released a gameplay trailer for the upcoming sequel to Metro 2033 – Metro: Last Light. The trailer shows some in-engine footage as well as some gameplay, all while a Russian guy is quoting the Genesis. Judging from the trailer, the game will be sticking to its survival horrror roots, but will also have extensive outdoor areas to explore and kill monsters in. The game also seems to be sticking to being as atmospheric as Metro 2033 was, with claustrophobic levels and messed up mutants.

Back in November, the company had released a live action trailer for Metro: Last Light. The trailer doesn't show any gameplay or in-game graphics, but aims to flesh out the world of Metro instead. It is the story of some of the survivors of the Armageddon. According to the developers, "They fled to the refuge of the Metro and escaped Armageddon. Now beneath the toxic wastelands, these lucky few adapt to survive in this new and inhospitable world, an unrelenting purgatory."

Metro: Last Light takes place several months after the first game. All the major factions of the underground Metro system are preparing to fight over the D6 bunker. Last Light is set to be a direct sequel to 2033 and will be seeing a release on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC in March 2013.

Metro: Last Light was originally announced back in June during this year's E3. During the announcement, head of THQ, Danny Bilson said, “This game improves on the original in every way - it will have more polish, deeper and more sophisticated gameplay, and satisfyingly visceral combat, without losing what our fans loved about the original. Metro: Last Light is another artful piece of game development from an Eastern European studio that will thrill and terrify anyone looking for a more cerebral experience than your typical first person shooter."

While the game is being released for other platforms, the company has no plans for a port to the Wii U. 4A Games' Oles Shisktovtsov had told NowGamer that the Wii U has a "horrible, slow CPU". Huw Beynon reiterated the sentiment, saying that the company could not justify the required effort. "We had an early look at it, we thought we could probably do it, but in terms of the impact we would make on the overall quality of the game -- potentially to its detriment -- we just figured it wasn't worth pursuing at this time," Beynon said in the interview. "It's something we might return to. I really couldn't make any promises, though. Given the size of the team, and compared to where we were last time, just developing for the PlayStation 3 is a significant addition."