Chase (Metro 2033 Level)

"It was the first time I had left the safety of my home station. It troubled me that I haven't told my stepfather the truth; I would not be heading straight back from Riga. But Hunter was depending on me."

- Level description Chase is the second level in Chapter 1 and is a fairly short action/horror level. During the level, Artyom encounters an anomaly, a ghost, and a Dark One for the first time.

Overview
Chase begins essentially where Exhibition left off. Artyom, Eugine, and company begin their hand cart trip. However, once they approach the next station, Alexevskaya, they are notified by Peter that the tunnel has collapsed and needs to be cleared. Figuring the risk is worth it, Boris makes the decision to take a decaying side passage to bypass the station. On their way to Riga again, the caravan begins to move through this new tunnel. The tunnel itself is inhabited by more than one lurker, as a multitude of ghosts can also be seen on the sides of the tunnels with the use of a flashlight. Their influence is not positive on the caravan and the members begin to pass out. As an anomaly approaches the caravan from the rear, the caravan drifts into a Dark One's ghost. The last conscious member of the caravan, Artyom, passes out.

Following a strange vision in which Artyom sees Hunter trying to kill a Dark one, only for him to be killed. Then, several Revolver shots can be heard from a distance, killing the Dark One. Artyom awakens to find the caravan slowly rolling down the rails with the anomaly out of sight. As Artyom awakens Eugine, however, it is apparent that the danger has not passed. A horde of nosalises starts chasing the caravan. Artyom fends them off and protects Eugine and the other members of the caravan as they try to outrun the horde, but fails to save the Riga merchant. While doing so, Eugine eventually hands Artyom his Duplet to make the job easier. After this, Boris wakes up and helps Artyom fight off the horde.

As the caravan reaches the outskirts of Riga, Artyom is knocked off the cart by a nosalis. After he hides and waits for the horde to pass, he sprints to Riga's defensive line - where the crew waits for him to climb the hand cart, seconds before the flamethrower is put to use.

In the Novel
Chase is not featured in the novel, however, the level does take many parts from the book.


 * The caravan passed through Alexevskaya without any trouble but along the way to Riga, ghosts are encountered via sounds in pipes. The symptoms of the people in the game are quite similar to that of which they have in the novel. Artyom doesn't pass out, however, and only hears an ear-splitting ringing in his ears, which can be heard in the game.
 * Neither the anomaly nor the nosalises are present in the novel.
 * The ending of the level pays tribute to a different section of the book in which Artyom's original home station is overrun by thousands of rats. He, along with Sukhoi and a few others, manage to escape via rail car to a neighbouring station, Begovaya, which has a flamethrower. The flamethrower is used for several straight minutes to kill the pursuing rats.

Trivia

 * If you're playing on "high damage" difficulty (Ranger Easy/Hardcore, but normal Hardcore should work as well) you can easily kill all the attacking nosalises with nothing but Artyom's knife.
 * Some of the nosalises will be too far away for the knife's melee attack.
 * A lurker will be running ahead of the cart after passing the airlock checkpoint.
 * Once knocked off the cart if the player turns away from the roadblock and proceeds down the tunnel they will encounter quite a number of black nosalises which upon contact will result in extreme damage, often resulting in instant death.
 * It's impossible to save the Riga merchant.
 * The Riga merchant gives the player a good overview of the current state of affairs in the metro. He mentions Hansa tightening its borders and fighting between the Reich and the Red Line escalating.