Been playing fine until the "Defense" mission where you have defeated the swarm of creatures and begin to explore the far end of the station platform. I get constant black screens then CTD when those smaller creatures attack.

GPU temps are fine ~58 or so at the time. Since everything previous was ok, why is there a problem now?
Also playing GTAV and MGS Phantom Pain without any crashes or glitches.

GeForce Titan X, 12 GB video ram
WIndows 7 SP1, 16 GB system ram

Edit: I found some saves on the internet and continued from the point after that. Made it right to the very last point and it continues to freeze as I'm about to deal with the dark one.

I would not recommend this until it is patched. This version 1.0.0.3 is pretty old. I think there have been at least 4 updates on Steam since this one, most recently on Oct. 26th.

OMFG I've got the exact same problem. 3 years later, and it's still not fixed in 2.0.0.2 (A).
I've had nothing but problems trying to play this "game"...

Level "Defense":
Everything's normal, 120+ FPS, until a few seconds in after the checkpoint before the little creatures - the game freezes. After like 5 seconds, it's back to 120+ FPS. I keep playing for 1 or 2 minutes, aaaaand CTD.

Did you ever solve it...? If it's gonna happen again later on, internet savegames won't do me any good, either...

Same here....even the temporary freeze. Craps out every time.

I managed to work around it. Try this: https://www.gog.com/forum/metro_series/metro_2033_redux_technical_solutions

Haha, thanks. I actually just came back to say that I figured out turning off Advanced PhysX made it so I could get throught hte level.

Man, oh man....I have a bug now with ADS. I didn't make it too far after the Defending chapter. Just outside to where you run into a group of Nazis lowering a ladder into the area you are emerging from. I have the NV sight on my airgun and every time I take a shot with it...freeze...crash...

I can't believe this game gets so much praise when it's such a hot mess.

Had exactly the same issue. Disabling "enhanced PhysX" did the trick for me.

I'm playing Last Light right now, and, guess what!
Crash. Same-ish symptoms.
What is it with Metro and this one exact and very characteristic CTD bug midway through somewhere...

Chapter 13, "Bandits". When trying to go to open the gate, that section.
First it freezes for 2 seconds first, then it runs fine. But after a while (juuuust short of completing the section) it crashes. I'm on my 6th try by now. Unskippable menu on startup each time gets soooo annoying, as well.

I'll try to disable PhysX now to see if that does anything.

*Edit:
Yeah IDK if it was because of how fast I got through the segment or because I disabled PhysX, but I'm through now.

*Edit2:
Aaaand that's it, end of the road. Disabled PhysX already, but after the Big Momma / Rhino fight, after the cutscene with the water, the game just CTDs now.