Want to play Metro: Last Light’s DLC for free?

In mid-May, news emerged that only players who pre-ordered or paid for Metro: Last Light’s Ranger Mode DLC would gain access to the “hardcore” difficulty mode; but it’s been uncovered that the mode has been there all along.

A Reddit user by the name of InkBubble played around with the game’s registry value and found out how to unlock the mode, which 4A Games and Deep Silver wanted you to pay for.

DSO Gaming provided a guide on how to access the Ranger Mode DLC.

Open regedit
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Valve/Steam/Apps/43160
Create a new String value called ListOfInstalledDLC with Value data 222801
Open game – New game – Select Hard Ranger Mode

The Metro: Last Light folder may have a different value than “43160”, but the rest of the guide remains the same.

While the mode is now playable regardless of whether you paid for it or not, it does spark the debate of where the industry is heading – should we really be paying for difficulty modes? Should we be paying for content that is available from the start, and just “hidden”?

Do you think you are scamming the developer and publisher by enabling this difficulty setting via the Windows registry? How should console gamers feel about this as they aren’t able to fiddle with things? Let us know what you think in the comments below and on the MyGaming forum.

Thanks to The Joker for picking up on the story on the MyGaming forums.