Tower Pack (DLC)

"Nothing to fear Ranger... This might hurt a little, but only a tiny bit... you'll barely feel a thing..."

- Huw Beynon

The Tower Pack DLC is the second DLC pack for Metro: Last Light and was released on September 3rd, 2013 on Xbox 360 and Steam, and on September 4th, 2013 on PSN. It was billed as a "unique solo challenge to Metro veterans" before its release. The DLC costs $4.99 / £3.99 / €4.99, or is included in the price for those that have already purchased the Season Pass. The developer blog for this DLC is here.

Overview
The Tower Pack is a fearsome challenge for every Metro fan, with a huge emphasis on combat and gunplay - there are no stealth sections; 4A Games decided to focus on the FPS side of Metro: Last Light because they felt the hugely-improved gunplay (from Metro 2033) was not displayed enough in the main campaign, where almost every encounter can be avoided by using stealth. As such, players who are used to stealth may have trouble adjusting. The Tower features an online leaderboard for comparisons with other Metro veterans, but can only be accessed if the player is online.

The Tower is set in a vague period of time, 7 years after the events of "the great war" (World War III), with the character playing as a remnant soldier of Central Metro Command. Due to an injury to his leg keeping him from assisting in some important event the Metro Command remnants are planning, the Captain is sent to help the D6 scientists, Chukotski (Chook) and Anastasi (Geek), with their new combat simulator. Players have to fight their way up through a heavily-guarded tower inside this virtual combat simulator, with each level increasingly more difficult. The simulation is packed with hordes of enemies, mutants, and other deadly threats, including boss enemies from the main campaign.

Almost every weapon from the game is available, including some DLC weapons, but the level begins with a very small selection of basic ones, such as the Ashot and Kalash; the player character has the opportunity to use more as they progress. For every kill the player character (or any AI allies) make they will gain a few MGRs, but it's advisable not to shoot these as they are used as currency to buy ammunition boxes, AI allies, and other powerups. At the end of each mission the player is able to see their score on an overhead screen, and can check their score on the leaderboard at any time through the pause menu.

In between missions, Chook and Geek communicate with the Captain, telling him what the next level will entail and if he has unlocked new weapons - occasionally one can hear them talking to each other afterwards (possibly because they have forgotten to turn the speaker off), discussing previous experiments, events, and the simulation itself.

After completing the final level, the captain exits the simulator, and is greeted by a large and smiling audience. The grand total score of the player's efforts is shown on another electronic board. Chook and Geek celebrate the captain's success, stating that there is no way the plug for the project could ever be pulled now.

Reception
The Tower Pack has received mixed to negative reviews, with much of the criticism directed towards the level of extreme difficulty - especially on the Ranger difficulties. Many reviewers had mixed reactions to the AI, with friendly units seen as incompetant while enemies appeared more intelligent than ever. Reviewers also criticized the repetitive nature of the "generic" looking levels, though there was other praise over interesting arena design. Albeit not perfectly executed, many fans and reviewers agreed that the DLC's largest strength was the improved combat gameplay over Last Light's original gameplay.

Trivia

 * The timeframe of the Tower Pack (as stated above) is very ambiguous, with multiple points pointing to either 7 years after WW3 (2020) or 7 years after the Battle of D6 (2041). A concise blog has been created with screenshots giving evidence for both sides, so that you can make your own assumptions.
 * The Kshatriya mission hints at the fact that the soldiers seen in the Tower Pack could be the leftover soldiers from Central Metro Command, as the twins have a conversation about how many members of the Polis council flooded into D6 several years after the war started, and the possibility that they came from D6 originally.
 * The problems with D6's reactor that are discussed by Chook and Geek may in fact be the Biomass taking over; or, if it's after the Battle of D6, could simply be the old reactor failing.
 * Chook and Geek are a reference to the classic Soviet children's book Chuk and Gek.
 * Unlike all other entries in canon series, the Tower Pack doesn't feature the Red Army. This could possibly mean that the Red Army was permanently wiped out during the Battle of D6, while the Nazis remained, or they had not yet been created during the 7 years after World War III.
 * But again, this doesn't explain why the Nazis are around only 7 years after the war.
 * In the Metro 2033 Redux level "D6", when Artyom gets on an elevator with Miller near the end of the level, if one looks down out the elevator doors, the tower machine can be seen on the bottom floor near some missiles.
 * This may suggest more that the Tower level takes place 7 years after World War III, as it has already been built by Central Metro Command.