Metro 2039‘s announcement came as something of a shock to fans who’ve been dying to see the series return, with the seven-year gap between entries laying the groundwork for a very engrossing and horrifying adventure. The post-apocalyptic horror-shooter has some of the most memorable scares of the 2010s, with a trilogy of great games giving players the chance to explore a ruinous version of Moscow. The follow-up to 2019’s Metro Exodus has been seven years in the making and complicated by real-world events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Given the bleak critical appraisal the series has always had on Russian aggression and policies, it’s no wonder that Metro 2039 takes things even further thematically. However, that doesn’t mean the game won’t feature the horrifying monsters and intense firefights that have always defined the series. Here’s everything we know so far about Metro 2039 and how its lengthy development cycle impacted the finished game.
Developed by 4A Games, the Metro series has had three mainline games to date, as well as a remastered release of the first two games and the VR-exclusive Metro Awakening. The series is set in a grim alternate timeline, where a nuclear war devastated much of the world. Players take on the role of survivors in the ruins of Moscow, using the underground metro tunnels for shelter as they confront dangerous factions of survivors and the mutated monsters that have risen out of the destruction. Metro: Exodus was the most recent entry to the timeline, with Metro 2039 taking place four years after the events of those games.
The preview for Metro 2039 reflects a darker place, where a new despotic faction has risen up in the ruins of the world and established itself as a new faction known as Novoreich. Led by the vicious Hunter, the group has unified many of the survivors under a brutal dictatorship. This seemingly includes targeting children to add to their ranks, with the cinematic trailer teasing that at least one exiled soldier is willing to venture into the tunnels to try and find those who have been lost. The use of surreal imagery and grim hallucinations seems to be the work of the Dark Ones, a race of mutated telepaths who have a much more complex morality than they initially appear and who briefly appear in the trailer.
The Metro series hasn’t gotten a new mainline game in seven years, with Metro Exodus launching in 2019. While Metro Awakening helped tide fans over when it launched in 2024, the VR prequel was a much more specific adventure than the sprawling horror of the mainline. Development on Metro 2039 reportedly began not long after the launch of Metro Exodus, with 4A Games doing their best to work around the challenges of the pandemic lockdowns. However, a greater complication arose in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. 4A Games is primarily based in the latter nation, forcing the developers to adjust to the new challenges presented by the conflict.
In a developer video shared with the press as part of the preview for Metro 2039, the team reflects on the struggles to get family members to safety and the realities of making a game while having the ability to quickly flee to a bomb shelter in case of emergency. This had an undeniable impact on how the team approached Metro 2039, leading to a revamp of the story that put more emphasis on exploring the ramifications of strongmen rulers taking charge by force and the consequences of fighting back against those regimes. These challenges all contributed to the lengthy development cycle for Metro 2039, but notably never derailed the project.
The Metro series has always had a deeply political undercurrent. This is a major part of the creative DNA of the entire franchise, reflecting the works of Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovsky’s original Metro novel. Glukhovsky’s novels have forced him to flee Russia, but Glukhovsky has remained a collaborator with the team at 4A Games to make sure the new title feels perfectly attuned to the tenor of the series and the tone of the times. This is clearest with the fanatical Hunter, who has taken over alongside his Novoreich regime. Brutality and propaganda are the keys to his strength.
In the preview video shown to members of the press, the team at 4A Games noted how realities of their situation had a profound impact on the dark storytelling and heavy themes of Metro 2039. While the moment-to-moment action may be driven by shoot-outs with totalitarian soldiers or horrific confrontations with mutated monsters, Metro 2039 is a game about resistance in the face of devastation, the cost of fighting back, and the importance of doing so anyway. With the short preview of gameplay hinting that Metro 2039 will actually increase the tension and broaden the future of the franchise, it’ll be fascinating to see where the series goes from here.
