The Stalin Subway is a First-Person Shooter video game developed by Orion Games and published by Russia's Buka Entertainment.
Post-war Moscow, 1950s - in a setting loosely inspired by the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, recently-promoted MGB officer Gleb Suvorov is caught in a revolution started by a rogue KGB general on his first day of duty. Uncovering a conspiracy to obtain a secret nuclear weapon and to detonate it in the middle of Moscow, Gleb managed to obtain help from GRU operative Natalia Mihaleva, working with her to prevent the attack and locate his father, a scientist involved in the conspiracy and arrested by rogue KGB agents.
True to it's title, most of the game is set in Moscow's subway system (and, according to The Other Wiki, is one of the first games to extensively feature the Moscow Metro, a trait followed later by You Are Empty and Metro 2033) with plenty of stages requiring navigation through underground tunnels, stations, and battling rogue officers on moving trains.
A sequel, Red Veil, was released in 2008, this time focusing on Gleb Suvorov's Love Interest from the previous game, Lena. Now a married couple, in the middle of the Russian Revolution, Lena was inevitably stranded in the middle of Moscow and must find a way to rendezvous with Gleb.
The Stalin Subway and Red Veil contain examples of:
- A.K.A.-47: The game actually features the actual AK-47 class assault rifles used by actual Russians, given the setting. They're identified as "Kalashnikov Machine Carbine, Ak-47 Class" however.
- Abandoned Mine: One of the levels in the first game is set in an abandoned mine shaft, with a particularly difficult area where Gleb needs to jump on planks to cross a chasm in near total-darkness.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Present in both games, with Gleb and Lena infiltrating the spacious Moscow sewers while battling large numbers of enemies. They'll often need to wade in knee-high sewage in the process.
- Almost Dead Guy: When Gleb uncovers his father, imprisoned in a cell after being tortured to near-death by KGB agents. Without his shoes and his clothes a total mess.
- Alternate History: Set in an alternate version of the 1950s with a corrupt KGB head trying to usurp Stalin.
- Camping a Crapper: You'll often come across mooks in toilets, that you can execute while they're busy with their... business. Red Veil has one notable moment where Lena, after gunning down various enemies, enters a loo where a mook is seated on the toilet seats, who wisely raises his hands to surrender the moment Lena steps in with a gun. (Oddly enough his pants are pulled up - maybe he's slacking off in the toilet instead of taking a dump?)
- Car Chase Shoot-Out: Red Veil has one of these when Lena, on the run from KGB agents, hijacks a random civilain's convertible and orders him to drive at gunpoint. Cue multiple vehicles filled with mooks in pursuit, with Lena seated in the back shooting away while being shot at.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Used somewhat in both games:
- In the original: Enemies with invinciblity are used to block off areas the game doesn't want you going, though at least the objectives usually warn against fighting them.
- In Red Veil: A similar thing is used with enemies that suddenly do ALOT more damage than normal and without any warning that you're going the "wrong" way, these enemies can still be killed but the areas past them are just dead ends, this can be especially devestating considering the much rarer health (and non-existant outside of multiplayer armor) in Red Veil.
- Crate Expectations: Shooting up wooden crates and boxes in the first game would yield extra ammo, health, and other pickups though they were removed in Red Veil.
- Cutting the Electronic Leash: In the first game, Gleb realizes something's amiss when on the phone with his dad, a high-ranking KGB scientist, only to hear KGB agents abducting his father over the phone. Gleb's father even briefly swears at him to cut the line.
- Demoted to Extra: Gleb in Red Veil, whose name was mentioned briefly in the opening FMV and doesn't appear in person until the final scene. The Player Character is instead relegated to Lena.
- Distressed Dude: Gleb becomes this in the second game.
- Enemy Chatter: Both games have various instances where mooks can be heard chatting if Gleb or Lena is out of sight.Mook 1: We're swelling here, and out there our guys are playing with Spartek!
Mook 2: I heard that Paramonov will play for Spartak today.
Mook 3: Don't worry! Today Blikov and Trolimov will play.
Mook 1: Yes, but they have Chernyshev as goalkeeper, it's hard to get through him.
Mook 2: It'll be a great game!
Mook 3: Yes, and it's the day when we are on duty underground!
[Gleb steps in and shoots everyone in the faces] - Guns Akimbo: Gleb can use dual pistols to take names in shootouts.
- Hostage Spirit-Link: Present in both games:
- In the original, the player has two squares above their health bar, each square will turn red if the player kills a civilian and if the player kills 3 civilians in one level, they will die.
- In Red Veil, Lena will instantly game over if she kills any of Oleg's troops which can be an issue considering they look identical to the hostile enemies.
- Limited Loadout: In Red Veil, Lena has a limit to the amount of weapons they can carry, and trying to lug more than three firearms around will lead to this notification:Cannot get the unit: not enough space
- Locomotive Level: As expected in a game whose selling point is featuring the Moscow Metro, the original game have plenty of missions where Gleb travels between stations only to realize the train carriages are loaded with enemy agents. Cue a massive shootout as Gleb moves from the train's back to it's front, and a few areas Gleb might lose a life from falling on the tracks (ditto for any unfortunate mooks).
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite taking place in Russia, the NPC's and many of the characters in the first game have pronounced Brooklyn accents due to the localization studio being in New York. The sequel averts this, but likely because they didn't have money to outsource the dub and just did the voices in-house, which are less professional but do at least sound Russian.
- Out-of-Character Alert: In the opening FMV, Gleb realize something's amiss when his father cusses at him through the phone."They are arresting everyone! Drop the phone!!! Are you deaf? I said, drop the phone, bastard!!!"
[Line went dead] - Parents in Distress: Gleb's father was abducted in the first game's opening credits, right in the middle of a phone call with his son. It's up to Gleb to locate him, which Gleb eventually did - almost dead in a cell filled with captured political prisoners, after a lengthy interrogation process.
- Real-Place Background: The game's level designers recreates various locations in Moscow as accurately as possible to the real deal, with levels taking place in the KGB Lubyanka Building, the Kremlin, Moscow State University, most of the Moscow Metro, the Red Square and Stalin's bunker.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: Some alternate covers of Subway sees Gleb aiming a pistol on the players. For the sequel, Red Veil, Lena does this on the main cover.
- The Unreveal: At the end of the first game, Gleb guesses Lena isn't really KGB but she doesn't reply who she really works for, in Red Veil we see Lena meet up with an old ally called Oleg but it's still never stated who she works.
- Vulnerable Civilians: Gleb and Lena often comes across non-combatants in their games, from subway maintenance workers to train passengers and Moscow residents, which could be killed by stray bullets. As they are the heroes who Would Not Shoot a Civilian, gunning down too many innocent folks fails their mission.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Gleb reunites with his father, only for his father to urge him to stop the villain's plans while leaving him behind in his cell. After all, being heavily injured, Gleb's father won't be of any help and would just get in Gleb's way.You'll go... you took an oath. Go and save the people. Go!
