Cloth Mask

Lore & Background

In the aftermath of the nuclear war that devastated the surface, the tunnels of the Moscow Metro became the last habitable spaces for the scattered remnants of humanity. The air down below is thick with fine radioactive dust kicked up by trains, ventilation shafts, and the constant grinding of the underground world. Surface expeditions, meanwhile, face pockets of toxic gas and irradiated zones where even a few unfiltered breaths can be fatal. Against this backdrop, the Cloth Mask is the universal minimum: a wad of fabric, a strip tied behind the head, and a prayer that the air is not too bad today. In Glukhovsky's novel, cloth respirators are the everyday gear of the tunnel communities. They are cheap, common, and inadequate. Characters who can afford or scavenge a proper gas mask with a chemical filter are considered better off; those who rely on cloth are either poor, new, or in a stretch of tunnel where the air is merely dusty rather than lethal. The mask is not a hero's equipment. It is a survivor's afterthought, the thing you tape together when your real mask is broken and the next station is still a long walk away. In 4A Games' adaptation, the Cloth Mask is placed deliberately as Artyom's starting protection, a mechanical reminder that the player is at the very bottom of the survival hierarchy. Its low gas-resistance rating means that any area with significant gas toxicity will punish the player who has not yet found a better mask. The item's design—simple, unadorned, visibly worn—reinforces the franchise's aesthetic of desperate, improvised survival in a world where even breathing is a luxury that must be rationed.

In Their Own Story

The tunnel stank of wet concrete and old rust. Artyom pulled the cloth tighter over his nose, feeling the coarse weave press against his lips with every breath. Somewhere ahead, the distant clank of a train on the Dzerzhinskaya line vibrated through the soles of his boots. He could taste the dust—fine, grey, settling on the back of his throat. The cloth caught some of it. Not enough. He'd seen what happened to the guy at the Koltsevaya checkpoint who'd run out of filter and kept going with nothing but a rag. Three breaths. Maybe four. Then his face went grey and he just… stopped. Artyom adjusted the strap behind his head and kept walking. The cloth was all he had tonight. It would have to be enough.

Reader's Guide

In Metro 2033, the Cloth Mask is the lowest-tier respirator in the game's equipment system. It provides the smallest amount of gas resistance and offers only basic dust filtration. It is the mask Artyom begins the game wearing, and it remains available as a cheap fallback at shop terminals throughout the campaign. You do not craft the Cloth Mask; it is found as a pre-made item. It can be picked up from the ground in early tunnel areas, purchased at low cost from station vendors, or simply kept as a spare in your inventory in case your better mask is damaged or its filter is spent. Swapping to the Cloth Mask is a deliberate risk: any area with moderate or high gas toxicity will deplete your health rapidly if you are relying on it. Mechanically, the Cloth Mask occupies the respirator equipment slot and cannot be used alongside a gas mask. Its protection value is the lowest in the tiered mask system, which progresses from cloth-based options up through rubber gas masks with chemical filters to the heavy-duty variants. The practical takeaway for players is simple: it is a stopgap. Use it to cross a short stretch of dusty tunnel, but do not enter a known gas pocket wearing only cloth. In the novel, the Cloth Mask carries a social weight as well as a mechanical one. It marks the wearer as someone without the means or connections to secure a proper filter, a quiet signal of poverty in a world where even breathing equipment is a commodity.

Did You Know?

• The Cloth Mask is Artyom's default respirator at the very start of the Metro 2033 game, placing the player at the lowest tier of protection before any upgrades are found.
• In Glukhovsky's novel, cloth respirators are the common gear of poorer tunnel dwellers, while proper gas masks with chemical filters are treated as a significant upgrade or luxury.
• The Cloth Mask's name in the game distinguishes it from the rubber or canvas gas masks that follow it in the tiered equipment system, each offering progressively greater gas resistance.
• The mask's deliberately crude, improvised design mirrors the franchise's broader aesthetic: in the Metro, even the act of breathing is something you have to scavenge, trade for, or make do with.