Undercity (Metro Last Light Level)

"For some reason I was genuinely glad to see Anna, my pain in the ass partner...She finally stopped those wicked jokes of hers. Looks like she's ashamed of having left her partner at the battlefield."

- Level description

Undercity is the nineteenth level in Metro: Last Light.

Overview
Arguably the eeriest and most unnerving level in the whole game alongside Regina, Nightfall, and Dead City. Artyom must venture through the mysterious and dangerous catacombs underneath Sparta base in an attempt to rescue Anna, who has been taken hostage by the traitorous Lesnitsky.

The eponymous undercity turns out to be a series of enormous, naturally-formed caverns, to which the church's basement and catacombs are connected to. Though they bear signs of human habitation going back hundreds of years, it's apparent that up until recently, these caves had been untouched for at least a century. Rediscovered by the Rangers after setting up camp in the church above, subsequent expeditions into the caverns have revealed that access to the Metro tunnels is possible.

However, they avoid traversing it whenever possible, and with good reason: the area is home to a nest of nosalises. And though the Rangers are reluctant to admit it, the caverns make them feel uneasy as strange things have been known to happen there.

There are an incredible amount of nosalises here, which can be very troublesome since Metro: Last Light adds a limit to the amount of ammo you can carry. You can buy ammo in the beginning of the level if you are running low. However, in some places, one can use stealth; throwing knives are recommended. If you are not skilled in stealth and want some heavy firepower against these enemies, the Saiga-12 and RPK-74 are recommended. You can get them on previous levels or buy them at the start of the level. On some occasions you will have to fight packs of nosalises anyway, and there will be a boss battle with the rhino near the end of the level. All this can use up a lot of ammo, so it's advisable to take a few claymores to use against the rhino. On Ranger modes, this kills her in two hits.

This level also introduces yet another strange phenomenon, known as the Darkness. Similar to the "Dark Star" anomaly, it is a rarely encountered phenomenon with inexplicable effects on its environment. Unlike the aforementioned Dark Star however, the Darkness is formless and invisible; its presence is only known by its effects on electrical illumination, preventing the use of Artyom's flashlight or night vision goggles. Your only source of portable lighting is your lighter, which you can use to ignite some torches found throughout the level. Should you wish to shoot while using the lighter, adding a laser sight to your weapons to help with accuracy is recommended. Night vision scopes are unaffected, however, and can be used to navigate the Darkness with ease.

On several occasions throughout the level, Artyom can hear gunshots and see muzzle flashes in the distance. The first time is when he's walking down a ramp after you kill the nosalis in a QTE after the lift is destroyed. The next is after going through the door that requires a crank to open. On each occasion, upon reaching the location of the gunshots, several heavily mutilated human corpses and dead nosalises are present. There are many other recently killed men, who seem to be part of Lesnitsky's squad given their uniforms, that can be found, with their gear or ammo laying around them and up for the taking.

Diary Entries​
None.

Moral Points
Gain: Lose:
 * Just before entering the catacombs, there is a body near a table with a radio reaching for a tape recorder/player. Play the tape of the Ranger's last words regarding the Reds taking Anna into the catacombs for a point.
 * After entering the catacombs, the Darkness will disable Artyom's flashlight. After moving forward past several lightable torches in the dark, the church bell will ring, and when it does, several bloody ghosts will briefly appear in the tunnel ahead. Wait for them to disappear to earn a point.
 * One is automatically gained as Artyom is lowered deeper into the catacombs on the elevator, just before the nosalises attack.
 * Shortly after being knocked off the elevator, Artyom turns the corner to see a nosalis pack moving through the tunnels. Witnessing this earns you a point, and a second can be earned if they are allowed to pass without being attacked.
 * A point can be earned by following the path of the nosalis pack to a small Christian shrine consisting of Eastern Orthodox icons and candle stands.
 * After descending the small lift and encountering the winged nosalises, a point can be earned by approaching a skeleton with a custom quadruple-barreled duplet near some spiderwebs.
 * Shooting at the nosalis pack after getting knocked off the elevator deducts a point.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, the nosalis rhino won't move after the cutscene. It will simply stand there and look at Artyom and knock him back if you get too close, without an animation or damaging effect. Restarting from the previous checkpoint will fix this.
 * After your first encounter with the nosalises (ambush on the lift) you will come to a point where there are several more nosalises eating corpses. On top of a bag near one of the corpses is a duplet that has no handle. This, in theory, would make the gun very impractical to operate. However, the missing part does not affect the weapon gameplay-wise and it can be picked up and used like any other Duplet found in the game.
 * It is possible to avoid the ambush when you call down the lift by hugging the lever behind the handle, this can potentially cause no nosalises to spawn letting you avoid the fight entirely