The Stalin Subway

About

The Stalin Subway is a single player shooter game. It was developed by Orion Games and was released on September 19, 2014. It received neutral reviews from players.

"The Stalin Subway" is a First Person Shooter-style game where the events take place in post-war Moscow. The game allows to plunge into the depressing atmosphere of the Stalin's period and to play as a Soviet officer.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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59%

Audience ScoreBased on 258 reviews

story12 positive mentions

graphics13 negative mentions

Unique historical setting in Soviet Moscow during the early 1950s with political intrigue and espionage.
Engaging storyline combining Cold War conspiracy with atmospheric underground and urban environments.
Satisfying gunplay with a variety of Soviet-era weapons, and interesting gameplay elements like ricocheting bullets and destructible objects.

Numerous technical issues including crashes, long loading times, bugs in level design, and lack of widescreen support requiring community patches.
Dated graphics and animations with poor AI leading to frustrating combat experiences and repetitive level design, especially in underground areas.
Awkward controls, slow movement, poor voice acting, and inconsistent story presentation that hinder overall enjoyment.

story
63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
65%
16%
The story of The Stalin Subway is a fictional, conspiracy-driven Cold War narrative set in historically inspired locations across Moscow, blending authentic Soviet-era atmosphere with a plot centered on political intrigue and assassination attempts against Stalin. While some players find the story intriguing and atmospheric, others criticize it as confusing, underdeveloped, or comical, with mixed opinions on its historical accuracy and overall narrative quality. Despite technical flaws, many appreciate the unique setting and storytelling approach, though it is generally considered a secondary aspect compared to gameplay.
- “Players take on the role of Gleb Suvorov, a loyal Soviet officer who becomes entangled in a dangerous plot involving high-ranking military officials and a hidden nuclear device.”
- “One of the most interesting aspects of The Stalin Subway is how it blends real historical elements with fictional storytelling.”
- “The Cold War atmosphere, Soviet political tensions, and rumored secret infrastructures provide a believable foundation for the game’s narrative, even though the conspiracy plot itself is entirely fictional.”
- “The rest of the story is some uninteresting political bull-dropping that I don't even care about.”
- “The plot is lackluster at best, involving you as a 'good guy' KGB officer trying to save your father from being purged.”
- “The story and progression is completely crap.”
graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
57%
24%
The graphics are generally considered outdated and basic, reflecting early 2000s or mid-2000s standards with low detail and technical issues such as glitches and limited settings. While some players appreciate the nostalgic or atmospheric design and real-world architecture, many criticize the game for poor graphical fidelity, awkward animations, and a lack of modern resolution support. Overall, visuals are passable for a low-budget or older title but fall short compared to contemporary AAA shooters.
- “Even the graphics are stunning!”
- “The visuals are actually decent and the levels look pretty good, especially since I enjoy seeing real-world architecture through the lens of Quake 3 era brush-style level design, and there are weird little flourishes like the bullets bouncing off metal, or NPCs having recurring conversations.”
- “It has good graphics, the designers made their job very well, you feel somehow dragged back in time.”
- “Character models and animations are fairly basic, and the graphical fidelity does not match the level of detail found in larger AAA shooters released at the same time.”
- “To get the game to run at all you have to install a fan patch, and most of the graphics settings are in a separate config executable you have to go digging for; you can't even set the resolution in the game itself!”
- “The graphics are bad for 2006; the music does not fit the environment, the voice acting is horrendous, the enemy AI is prone to aimbot, some bugs here and there, etc. - besides all that, the story and some of the environment makes it excusable to play the game.”
gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
66%
20%
The gameplay is rooted in old-school, early 2000s first-person shooter mechanics with straightforward shooting and linear level progression, offering a nostalgic but dated experience. While it includes some unique elements like ricocheting bullets and bunnyhopping, the gameplay is often hindered by technical issues, slow movement, frustrating enemy AI, and repetitive design. Fans of historical and conspiracy narratives may find the gameplay engaging enough, but overall it is clunky, slow, and lacks refinement compared to modern standards.
- “By anchoring its gameplay in a tense period of real-world history, the game attempts to offer an experience that feels more like a political thriller than a conventional action shooter.”
- “Although the core gameplay focuses on shooting and progression through linear levels, the developers included a few additional mechanics intended to add variety.”
- “The mechanics are solid, and the controls feel tight.”
- “The gameplay is clunky and slow, the weapons are in some cases fine, and in other cases awful, and probably the biggest problem is the enemies do too much damage.”
- “The game's heavy emphasis on physics really made the gameplay tedious and sometimes outright unplayable.”
- “My main criticism of the gameplay would be that reload time and movement speed are painfully slow and can cause frustration when there are a lot of enemies around.”
music
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
62%
20%
The game's music receives mixed feedback, with some praising the catchy, upbeat, and thematically fitting soundtrack, especially the menu music and certain tracks, while others criticize its repetitiveness, ill-fitting style, and audio-related game crashes. Many users recommend disabling the music to prevent instability issues, which significantly impacts the overall experience. Despite technical problems, the soundtrack holds a certain charm and stands out as one of the game's stronger aspects.
- “The music is fitting; the theme is really, really good and well made.”
- “The menu's music is awesome, big cheers go to Julia Lytkina for that; instant favorite for me.”
- “Voice acting and general sound is amazing, not to speak of the awesome soundtrack.”
- “Also turn music off to fix crashing.”
- “The music plays the same tracks over and over again.”
- “First thing first, if you want a pleasant experience playing this game turn off the music in the config file.”
stability
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is plagued by numerous severe bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly impact playability, including freezing, unresponsive doors, and AI issues. While some bugs can be mitigated with patches, stability problems like game freezing, crashing on loading screens, and menu freezes persist, making the experience frustrating yet occasionally entertaining. Overall, the game's stability is poor and requires multiple fixes to be reasonably playable.
- “Barely playable at all because of severe bugs and glitches.”
- “Ok... so further on and the game has game breaking glitches like doors that refuse to open, tell you you need a key, go back get the key, nothing opens.”
- “Having the music turned on causes a lot of instability issues such as random crashes, random freezes on loading screens.”
humor
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor largely stems from its unintentionally hilarious elements, including nonsensical storylines, atrocious English voice acting, absurd physics glitches, and awkward cutscenes. These flaws, combined with cheesy propaganda and quirky gameplay moments, create a cult charm that players find amusing despite—or because of—its low production values. Overall, the humor is rooted in the game's B-grade quality and comedic imperfections.
- “The game's one saving grace is a completely nonsensical story which is hilarious.”
- “An unintentionally hilarious gem.”
- “Solid level design and atmosphere, a historical setting involving Cold War intrigue, nostalgic gameplay mechanics from '90s shooters, a hilariously bad dub, ridiculous enemy AI, endless communist propaganda, it has it all!”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its tense, oppressive Cold War setting, highlighted by memorable Moscow metro stations and secret underground facilities that immerse players in Soviet-era espionage. While some find the repetitive underground levels and unclear narrative detract from the experience, strong sound design and a mysterious tone effectively create a mood of secrecy and dread. Overall, the unique blend of historical intrigue and atmospheric tension is a key draw, despite occasional flaws in level variety and clarity.
- “By weaving these locations into the narrative, the game creates an atmosphere filled with secrecy and tension, reinforcing the sense that the player is navigating through hidden layers of Soviet power.”
- “The Moscow metro stations, with their distinctive architecture and ornate design, are particularly memorable, and the industrial bunkers and secret facilities effectively convey the oppressive atmosphere of Cold War espionage.”
- “A unique, oppressive atmosphere that's helped by the game's good sound design.”
- “The atmosphere was dull, confusing and "dark" (mysterious even) because you have no idea what is going on and can't distinguish between friend or foe.”
- “There was some atmosphere in a few maps, but usually they were repetitive and poor looking. The game lacks open areas, with only about two, one near the story's start and one at the Kremlin.”
- “Solid level design and atmosphere, a historical setting involving Cold War intrigue, nostalgic gameplay mechanics from '90s shooters, a hilariously bad dub, ridiculous enemy AI, endless communist propaganda, it has it all!”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The game suffers from severe optimization issues, resulting in poor performance and long loading times, such as menus taking excessively long to open. Overall, the optimization is notably inadequate.
- “Also don’t worry about the performance.”
- “Not optimized.”
- “Really poorly animated game, opening the menu would take years, poorly optimized, just don't buy it.”
- “Horrific optimization is the least of this game's problems though, that would be everything else.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional experience, with a beautifully crafted story that has moved players to tears and evokes strong nostalgia upon replay. However, some technical issues like mouse freezing at the main menu can affect the experience.
- “This is the best game ever created, and I have literally broken down into tears several times at how heart-wrenchingly beautiful the story is.”
- “Playing it again made me feel so nostalgic.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is generally regarded as weak and uninspired, lacking depth and meaningful progression.
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is criticized for being tedious and occasionally frustrating due to the heavy emphasis on physics, which can negatively impact the overall gameplay experience.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's monetization includes ads that catch players' attention, particularly those interested in WWII or post-WWII themes, suggesting it leverages historical interest to engage users.