Developer 4A Games has shared first details of Metro 2039, the latest entry in its gritty post-apocalyptic horror shooter series, which is scheduled to release this “winter” on PlayStation 5, Xbox series X/S, and PC.
Metro 2039 tells the story of the reclusive Stranger, a fully voiced protagonist plagued by nightmarish visions, who reluctantly returns to the grim subterranean world of the series, where the survivors of a nuclear apocalypse carve out an existence in the remains of the Moscow Metro system.
Much has changed since the events of 2019’s Metro Exodus. The Metro’s previously warring factions, flooded by propaganda and misinformation, have been united under a new banner, the Novoreich – a brutal totalitarian regime led by a new Führer, the legendary Spartan, Hunter, who promises a bold new future aboveground. All this scene-setting is relayed, albeit in surreal fashion, by Metro 2039’s striking announcement cinematic; a nightmarish sequence of unsettling visions introducing us The Stranger’s troubled inner world.
There’s not much more to report in the way of specifics, but 4A Games did discuss its vision for Metro 2039 in a developer First Look accompanying the announcement. The studio, which is still predominantly based in Ukraine, says it’s aiming for a “much darker tone this time around”, telling its story from a “unique Ukrainian perspective”. Developed amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country, 4A says that while the series has always been about preventing war, its message this time has shifted to be about the consequences of war; the “cost of silence, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom”.
Metro 2039 is described as a hand-crafted, story driven single-payer campaign where you’ll “feel the weight of the rotting world pushing down on you, forcing you deeper into your claustrophobic nightmares.” It’s a journey – crafted in conjunction with Metro author and exiled critic of the Russian government Dmitry Glukhovsky – that’ll show the “worst of humanity” as it focuses on “choices, actions, consequences, and the cost of securing a future.”
All this is being developed using 4A’s own engine, with the goal of creating a “hauntingly beautiful” world. And that includes hand-crafted, naturalistic environmental storytelling the team is calling “frozen stories”. Existing alongside the game’s more explicit storytelling, these are intended to immerse players, push their “imagination further”, and give anyone curious “many opportunities to learn more about the world of Metro”.
4A says to expect “the intensity of darkness, the intimacy of closed spaces, and the feeling that every step forward, every decision made, has a cost” when Metro 2039 launches for PS5, Xbox series X/S, and PC (via Steam and Epic) this winter. And there’s some hints of that in the studio’s showcase.
