Metro endings explained: how karma worked in 2033, Last Light and Exodus

Spoiler warning: this guide names and describes the endings of Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light and Metro Exodus. Each of the three games has a good and a bad ending, and which one you get is decided by a hidden karma system that rewards small actions: listening, exploring, sparing enemies who surrender and helping people. How endings and karma will work in Metro 2039 is not known; 4A Games has not explained it. If you want a spoiler-free look at the new game, read our Metro 2039 overview instead.

Spoiler warning

Everything below reveals how the three main Metro games end. If you are about to play them for the first time, the only thing you need to know is this: play attentively, don’t kill everyone who stands in your way and help people when you can. That is what the hidden system rewards.

For a plot summary of the whole series, read our story recap.

How the hidden karma system works

Metro 2033, Last Light and Exodus each have two endings. Which one you see depends on a hidden moral system. Players and guides call it karma or moral points, and 4A Games itself calls it the “Karma system”.

You collect moral points for small things that are easy to miss: listening to conversations between characters, exploring, sparing enemies who give up and helping people who ask for it.

The key word is hidden. The game never shows you a counter or a number. A good or bad deed is only hinted at, subtly, and you won’t see a menu with your score.

Metro 2033: Enlightened vs If it’s hostile, you kill it

Metro 2033’s two endings match two Steam achievements:

• If it’s hostile, you kill it. (“Become a true ranger”) – Artyom fires missiles at the Dark Ones.
• Enlightened (“Find the truth”) – the secret ending.

The missile ending is the one the series continues from. In Metro: Last Light, Artyom is “burdened by guilt” over it.

Metro: Last Light: Redemption vs C’est la vie

• Redemption (Save D6) – a young Dark One, together with the other Dark Ones, saves the defenders of D6. This is the good ending.
• C’est la vie (Destroy D6) – Artyom sets off the charges and dies.

Here the karma system decides whether Artyom survives the game at all.

Metro Exodus: Your Destination vs Eternal Voyage

• Your Destination (Assume command of the Order) – Miller sacrifices the last dose of the cure, Artyom survives and takes command. This is the good ending.
• Eternal Voyage (Save Anna by paying the ultimate price) – Artyom dies and Anna survives.

Exodus goes a step further than the earlier games. Your karma affects not only the ending but also how your companions behave.

Typical good actions across the series

The system is the same idea in all three games. These are the actions that count towards the good ending:

• Listen to conversations between characters instead of rushing past.
• Explore the levels.
• Spare enemies who surrender.
• Help people who ask for help.

In Metro Exodus, guides add a few more specific habits:

• Knock enemies out instead of killing them where you can.
• Don’t kill people who surrender.
• Do what characters ask of you.
• Don’t attack neutral groups.

You don’t have to play as a pacifist. Fighting is part of the game and the good ending does not require a no-kill run.

Which endings are canon

• Metro 2033 – the missile ending (If it’s hostile, you kill it.). Last Light continues from it.
• Metro: Last Light – Redemption.

If you want to see where each game sits in time, our series order guide has both the release order and the story order.

Metro 2039: what 4A has and has not said

4A Games has only said in general terms that Metro 2039 tells a darker story with clearer morality, moving away from moral greyness. How the karma system and the endings will work in Metro 2039 has not been officially explained. We don’t know whether the game has multiple endings, how they are triggered or whether karma works the same way as before.

Metro 2039 launches on 4 February 2027 according to 4A Games and Deep Silver as of 13 November 2026. Once it is out, we will rewrite this section.

Join our Discord and tell us which ending you got on your first run: GamersTogether Discord.

FAQ

Information verified on 13 November 2026. We will update this article after Metro 2039 launches. All guides are in our Metro 2039 section.