Metro 2039's Stranger wears Spartan armor, but Renegade is making sure nobody mistakes him for a hero
People in the Metro can look at the Stranger's Spartan armor and see salvation. 4A Games would rather make that assumption uncomfortable. The protagonist introduced for Metro 2039 is an exile with a violent history, little interest in freeing the population from Hunter's regime and enough determination to go through anyone standing between him and an unrevealed target.