So I was heading through the Reich zone early in the game and ran into this:

Looks like they killed it due to a mutation. Nazis suck.

Or maybe it just died from malnutrition/poison/disease? Or maybe the mutation was going to cause nothing but lifelong intense pain for the child and they did it a favor?

I don't think that you can immediately jump to conclusions about any decisions in a world like Metro's based on as little evidence as "mutated baby's head in a cement barrel". They might have considered ending its misery the humane thing to do in the face of pain, suffering, and uselessness - I doubt a place like Metro has the room for a person that can't contribute anything.

...sorry, I just finished reading "The Road", and the ideal is never present in that book.

I like to hope that the asset artist who put that barrel together has envisioned this huge story line as to how that happened and who / what the child is and we'll never hear of it, just as though you were really down there in the Metro crawling through the muck and darkness.

Also blegh.

Well considering that shortly before this the Nazis executed someone because his skull was not the ideal length and width, I find it hard to believe they had a valid reason for doing this.

@reisz: Yeah, that's what I love about the game and series actually. So much personality in the environment.

...geez.

That's um....that's really messed up. At first when I saw that screenshot I thought "That's clearly just a doll..." and then I saw it in more detail. Yeesh. I really should read the Metro 2033 book, huh.

Kinda looks like a doll to me.

Sounds like just the game for @Rorie.

We need to call Kotaku....

Cement doesn't come in barrels, it comes in bags.

Also, Baby In A Cement Barrel is one of my favorite Cannibal Corpse songs.

@fearbeard

Because it is? I haven't come around to playing Last Light but I remember there were all these creepy dolls laying around in 2033. I'm pretty sure this is a doll.

Yeah, I think that's a doll. At least, I really hope that's a doll.

indeed

this post is a nuclear missile

If you wanna know something real fucked up. If I recall correctly there is a story during the holocaust that some of the Jewish people hid in the sewers (or some kinda underground system) And one of the ladies had a baby. However it would not stop crying. So to prevent them from being found the baby was drowned.

I'm pretty sure "buried in cement" doesn't count as a mercy killing.

spoilers

Seems weird to me that they only sunk it half way.

If it's in there because it's dangerously irradiated then really they should've made sure it was all the way in- and furthermore how did it not sink straight to the bottom anyway?

Is 'Baby in a Cement Barrel' the new 'Women in Refrigerators'?

(and yes, I think it's a doll also.)

Dude, you've got some messed up ideas about euthanasia.

@fearbeard Reminded me of the dolls in Alice Madness Returns (last chapter)

Well, it was a 2AM post and I wasn't thinking much.

Man I got to say as someone with several ancestors who went to the camps and were killed by the nazis I was not prepared for that part of the game. It was not a negative experience per se but it triggered an emotional and adrenaline response like I rarely get from games anymore. It was pretty cool though and I'm glad the developers bring you through some dark and disturbing stuff. That atmosphere you could cut it with a knife! I haven't played a game this immersive in a while. Its been a bit hand holdy and i've been spending a lot of time being led around. Hopefully the game opens up and gets more challenging.