Dark Ones
They do not speak. They do not shout. They simply open your mind and show you what they see.
The Dark Ones are mysterious creatures that inspire terror throughout the Moscow Metro. They are initially perceived as the primary threat facing the station VDNKh, which is subject to increasing attacks from them. Artyom confesses that several years before the main story, he and a friend went to the surface at the neighboring station Botanical Gardens and were unable to seal the exit, and the Dark Ones have been using this entrance to the metro ever since. Hunter intends to gather intel on the Dark Ones, and in the event he does not return, Artyom must carry a message to Polis with news of the threat.
Lore & Background
The Dark Ones are creatures that attack VDNKh and are described as inspiring terror throughout the station. They are the reason Hunter seeks out Sukhoi and Artyom. Artyom believes the Dark Ones have been using an entrance at Botanical Gardens that he and a friend left unsealed several years before the main story. Later, Artyom has a vision that relates to dreams and nightmares he has been having. He realizes the Dark Ones had been trying to make contact, unable to communicate with the human survivors within the metro in a meaningful way, before they found Artyom. Artyom re-evaluates their behavior and realizes that what was seen as aggression were actually attempts to make contact, which were only met with violence.
Reader's Guide
The Dark Ones are not a playable character but a living riddle that haunts Metro 2033. They appear through scripted sequences and hallucinations that bleed into gameplay—your screen warps, audio distorts into a low hum, and the air feels thicker. These psychic attacks are not just effects; they are the Dark Ones trying to touch your mind. In combat levels, you can fight them, but the game constantly nudges you to hesitate, to wonder if the thing shrieking in your head is really hostile. Your final decision—to destroy them or spare them—isn't just a choice; it's the moral anchor of the entire story, one of the earliest examples in a first-person shooter where a single moment of mercy or wrath rewrites the ending.
More in Characters
Elsewhere in Metro 2033
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced