For many publishers and retailers, convincing you to commit to a day one purchase before anyone's played/reviewed their game is a big win, and pre-order bonuses are a handy way to entice customers and bank sales estimates before launch day. As these promised bonuses grow in heft and significance, we face increasingly frustrating dilemmas about where and when to put money down for new games.

Metro: Last Light's hardcore "Ranger Mode" is a particularly thorny example. It's advertised as "the way it was meant to be played" on the front page of the Metro site, but is If that's the case, why isn't it available to everyone who buys the game? Is it really, as implied, the definitive Metro experience? We put the question to Huw Beynon, global brand manager at Metro: Last Light's publisher, Koch Media, who explains why it was segregated out as a pre-order bonus.

"Offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail"

"Game makers and publishers now live in a world where offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail, and Ranger Mode seemed like the best choice since it was a mode for hardcore fans who would most likely pre-order the game, or purchase it at launch in any case," he says. "We rejected requests to make story content or additional missions exclusive. We also rejected requests to make this a timed exclusive."

Ranger Mode was added to Last Light's precursor, Metro 2033 after launch as "a direct response to the demands of the hardcore Metro community." It removes the HUD, makes enemies tougher and increases the scarcity of ammunition, which can also be used as currency in the Metro world. It sounds like a big feature. The ad phrasing makes it sound essential. Beynon suggests otherwise.

"We do not recommend Ranger Mode for a first playthrough, and this is made very clear both in-game. We expect Metro fans will want to try Ranger Mode for a subsequent playthrough, and we think that for this hardcore player, Ranger Mode offers a richer experience - but only once you've clocked the game at least once."

The difficulty mode will be "included in all copies of the initial manufacturing run While a pre-order guarantees this 'Limited Edition' it is not a requirement." Ranger Mode will be available to buy on launch day as DLC at $5/£3.99 - "the lowest 1st Parties would permit us to charge for content of this nature" Beynon suggests.

"We took all the steps we could to ensure that, while still offering retailers a pre-order incentive that met their needs, we did not force players to pre-order, or make them wait to get this content," he says.

Our review of Metro: Last Light will go live on Monday. How do you feel about pre-order bonuses? Do you pre-order or pre-purchase often, or do you prefer to buy games on day one?

I think Metro: Last Light may be locked in an attempt beat Bioshock Infinite for most trailers released this year. It won't work: as many as there have been so far, to usurp Irrational's ridiculous throne 4A would still need to drop a new video every day, right up to the game's May 17th release. Not that it'll stop them from trying. This time: Will protagonist Artyom lead humanity to salvation? Will he stab hundreds of people in murky post-apocalyptic tunnels? Are the two mutually exclusive? Probably not.

More specifically, we meet Anna - crack sniper for Artyom's Spartan Order of Rangers. She's a bit of a pessimist. But then, if you're constantly defending against mutants, fascists, cultists and heavily armed militia, you'd probably struggle to see the lighter side too.

If you've had your fill of moving pictures, read our comfortingly static Last Light preview here.

The apocalypse was never going to be easy. It's meant to be a desperate and wretched struggle for survival against exhaustion, the decaying world, and probably mutants. But humans aren't the only ones that have to suffer. PCs do too, if these Metro: Last Light system specs are anything to go by. While there's a broad scale of requirements - the minimum being admirably inclusive of older systems - the optimal rendering of the murky, oppressive underground is going to need a seriously robust rig.

Minimum

Windows: XP (32-Bit), Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 2.2 GHz Dual Core e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 2GB
Direct X: 9.0c
Graphics Card: DirectX 9, Shader Model 3 compliant e.g. NVIDIA GTS 250 (or AMD equivalent e.g. HD Radeon 4000 series) or higher

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 275 or higher
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Recommended

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 2.6 GHz Quad Core e.g. Intel Core i5
RAM: 4GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 580/660 Ti (or AMD equivalent e.g. 7870) or higher

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 580/660Ti or higher
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Optimum

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 3.4 GHz Multi-Core e.g. Intel Core i7
RAM: 8GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 690 / NVIDIA Titan

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 690
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Metro: Last Light is out May 17th.

You too will know the joys of fighting humans and mutants as you vie for control of a doomsday weapon, comrade. 4A Games has released the first survival guide tutorial for its upcoming Metro: Last Light first-person shooter. The video familiarizes would-be Rangers with the inherent dangers you'll face in the Metro itself, the destroyed surface wasteland and the transition tunnels between the two areas.

Based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel "Metro 2033," Metro: Last Light focuses on life within Metro, the last surviving underground city after the nuclear fallout of 2033 as well as the conflicts between the factions vying for resources, power and control of a rumored doomsday device. Running on 4A's proprietary engine, Last Light is set for a May 17th release date on all platforms. The game features the voices of Lance Henriksen, Nolan North, Khary Payton, and Patton Oswalt—at last combining the talents of "Bishop" from "Aliens" and one of the greatest geek comedians to ever live in one video game.

Metro: Last Light system requirements (minimum)
• CPU: 2.0 GHz dual core CPU, Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom X2
• RAM: 1GB
• Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible card with 512 MB RAM. Nvidia 200-series or AMD Radeon 3000 series cards.
• Operating system: Windows XP SP2
• DirectX compatible audio card
• 7.5 GB of hard disk space

Metro: Last Light system requirements (recommended)
• CPU: 2.6 GHz quad core Intel or AMD processor, Intel Core i5, AMD Phenom X4
• RAM: 2GB
• Graphics: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible card with 1GB of video memory, Nvidia 400-series or AMD 5000-series.
• Operating system: Windows 7
• DirectX compatible audio card
• 7.5 GB of hard disk space

The mutants in Metro 2033 were objectionable enough, but the guys that really took the biscuit were those underground Nazis, who appear to have returned in full force for Metro: Last Light. The following trailer shows a terrifyingly well-equipped subterranean army training for war - presumably a war against returning hero Artyom, and his plucky chums from the Metro 2033 station. Last Light, you'll remember, is out this May, so old Arty doesn't have much time to prepare.

Here's the trailer. After you're done, be sure to check out our recent preview.

4A's Metro: Last Light escaped being lost forever in the murky tunnels of development limbo after Dead Island publisher Deep Silver picked up the game when THQ's light sputtered out. Its original March release date took a bump into May after the sale, but in an interview with VG247, Deep Silver Global Brand Manager Huw Beynon says the delay is purely because of administrative busywork and not a snag in the game's actual formation.

"Obviously the release date has been pushed back a little bit as the studio re-engages with a new publisher and tries to figure out QA, submissions and all the stuff you have to do behind the scenes," he explains. "But we’ve not lost too much time on the development of the game, and it’s essentially going to be the same product we planned to release in March. We’re just really excited it’s not been too traumatic for the studio, and I am confident that when the game comes out it’s going to be great."

That's a relief to hear, especially when Last Light looks poised to bring more of the bleak, atmospheric scurryings and shootings of a ruined Moscow's surviving populace first seen in Metro 2033. Metro: Last Light launches May 14th in America and May 17th through Europe. We'll have more to share soon—a new demo of the game is being brought by the PC Gamer Tower tomorrow.

And sigh of relief. While the various new owners of THQ's properties were always going to forge ahead with those games already close to completion, there's something about seeing a firm, solid release plan that takes the edge off the uncertainty that's plagued the period. Today, Deep Silver announce that Metro: Last Light will launch May 14th in America and May 17th through Europe.

While any release date is great news, it's still a delay from the original planned March launch. Koch Media CEO Dr. Klemens Kundratitz explains the delay: "The new release date is the ideal way to strike the balance between bringing the best out of Metro: Last Light and not keep the fans waiting longer than necessary. We won’t leave that time unexploited and will work closely together with 4A Games to make the game even better. It will receive all the attention it deserves."

I've got big hopes for this. Despite some rough edges, it was an excellently bleak and atmospheric shooter - a sort of linear S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with some great pacing and enough variety to keep it consistently engaging. Judging from the game footage 4A dropped back in December, Last Light should be a faithful follow-up.