Metro: Last Light shows you how not to do a silent protagonist

Why do we still have silent protagonists? Or rather, why do we still use them so badly?

I've been catching up with Metro: Last Light recently, or perhaps known by it's less catchy name: 'Miserable and Bleak Soviet Apocalyptica: The Game.' Whilst I'm being drawn in by it's world, the atmosphere, I am constantly being taken out of it by the way my character stares dumbly at people whilst they talk at him. By the end of what's laughably called a conversation, I wordlessly go do what they said. It's gone from unsettling to really creepy, and it's putting me in mind that my character is the world's ultimate doormat.

No, this doormat is way to interesting for Metro's main character.

I doubt I would feel this way if I was playing the first Metro game, but I'm playing a sequel. Silent protagonists are great for putting yourself into the situation, but that's not really relevant now. My character, WhatsHisNameSki, has done stuff without. Done a lot of stuff the last game. A lot of world changing, morally ambiguous stuff. So what this character has, strictly speaking, is character. He's no longer the blank slate; his slate has been appropriately muddied with experiences and life choices and the fuck I know of any of it, making the doormat feature of my personality super awkward.

I live in terror of playing Half Life 2 again and finding myself unable to enjoy it because of the shared mutism.

Twice now I've ran into old friends, who've greeted me warmly and I've stared at them quietly for a bit, before getting bored and rifling through their stuff for ammo, which they've either politely ignored me thieving what precious little they have left of they view it as an endearing character trait of mine, and if it is, I'd love the game to share it with me. What's WhatsHisNameSki likes, dislikes, what's his parents like? Does he have hobbies? Does he like ham? I would really like to know. Fucking seriously. Tell me - something - about this dude. His room was sparsely decorated - it had a box of books in, so he might like reading? But I couldn't see the spines so I have no idea what he reads (aside from the Metro series of book ha ha get it?)

My only other insights into him is a little internal monologue between chapters and his diary, which apparently he writes ahead of time for everything that'll happen in the day and scatter them randomly about the level ahead of him, because adding collectable items is a quick an easy way to extend game length of reasons.

So clearly he's a amnesiac time-traveller.

The internal monologue has indicated he doesn't like communist, but he dislikes Nazis way more. Well yip-dee-fucking-doo, everybody dislikes communists but hates Nazis more. Also he's sort of conflicted about killing the last Dark One off, but Grr Grr Duty Grr. Actually, come to think about it, the last time I passed a mirror the developers never bothered to animate the character in. So I have no idea of what my character looks like along with no knowing what he is. Aside from being a vampire, obviously. An amnesiac time-travelling vampire.

It's a definite pity, because god damn is this word interesting. The very first opening fight is against the Dark Ones, who look weird and toothy and as you drop each one, they turn into your mates and that is creepy as all hell. They get into you mind, but my character has somehow communicated with them before, which no one has accomplished before or even though possible. So I'm an amnesiac Chosen One time-travelling vampire.

But I'm a post-apocalypse nut, and this is one of the few downsides. As stated, the world is vividly interesting - mankind stuck after the bomb in old Russian metro stations - and the scavenging aspect to survive on the poisoned surface really appeals to me. What's especially interesting the the weird physic phenomenon on the surface. I was wondering around on a crashed plane, and my partner warned me to keep it together. Keep it together, geez. What, is my dude well known for having an over-active imagination? Do I need to add it to the bullshit list I made up? It's getting kinda long now.

Well, it turns out that the world itself gives you an over-active imagination, as we both starting having flashbacks of the plane's final moments. It really killed my partner, as to escape the smoke filling the cockpit in the flashback he ripped off his gasmask... and proceeded to choke on the poisoned air of the surface. A little later, whilst dicking around looking for bullets and filters dead men started to appear in the corners of my vision, and I ended up crawling out as they got more real. Well done Metro: Dead Space taught me to explore through my fear, you taught me to stop exploring as it's terrifying again.

Then I run into another person who talks around me for a bit, and I'm completely taken out of the experience.

Say something! Anything! TELL ME YOU LIKE HAM.

This is not to say silent protagonists are inherently bad. I'll contrast another - Isaac Clarke from the first Dead Space. Now Isaac Clarke didn't speak, and was ordered around a lot. Fair enough, you're a low ranking engineer, and most of the orders you're getting involve the phrasing 'for god's sake fix this part of the ship before we all die,' which doesn't necessitate much response other than 'yep, on it.' No leisuerely chats between friends, here. But we know we're looking for his girlfriend (look, a relationship!) we know he's scared out his damn mind, and everything else has been stripped out to put you in the place he is so you are likewise scared. Unlike Metro, your weapons are cobbled together tools for the most part, and you lumber around in a heavy rig suit, taking away the super-soldier feel. By the time Dead Space 2 rolls around, having survived and grown some, Isaac talks and is his own character SEE METRO. That's what you do. In horror games, a blank slate can be key for helping you to immerse yourself in the threat.

And don't try to contradict me by saying Metro is both a horror game: once you have a shotgun and thus can apply said shotgun to threat's face the horror is suitably diminished.

Pictured: Reassurance (in noisy form)

Want to have a silent protagonist with a past? Make it mysterious, and make it the point of uncovering it. If your past is spread over previous games, and you keep running into prior acquaintances, then trying to justify your inability to open your damn mouth and say, no, I don't want to go down the spider's nest alone where the horrible spiders that eat your eyes and lay eggs in the empty sockets are, as that sound's fucking stupid...

Well, it get's rather daft, see?

That being said, please don't mistake this bitching as that I'm not enjoying Metro: Last Light, that while your character may be bland the world certainly isn't, and I look forward to seeing what the amnesiac Chosen One time-travelling vampire becomes next. I'm hoping for a robot!