As teased earlier in the week, Metro 2039 has been fully unveiled as a “harrowing” singleplayer horror-shooter that – following the roaming Metro Exodus – takes the FPS series back to the ruins of a nuclear-ravaged Moscow. Per Kyiv-based developers 4A Games, however, it will be “told from a distinctly Ukrainian perspective,” exploring the threat of autocratic tyranny with very much intentional parallels to Russia’s ongoing invasion of 4A’s home country.
Set for release this Winter, Metro 2039 casts you as The Stranger, a mentally troubled (and, unlike original protagonist Artyom, fully voiced) survivor forced back down into the metro’s depths. Besides mutated monsters, he’ll also find himself up against the Novoreich, a new Fuhrer-led regime that’s seemingly managed to unite the underground’s warring factions – but with a campaign of “propaganda and misinformation” keeping everyone in line.
Here’s the trailer, which was also part of the more in-depth showcase stream.
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The game’s darker tone and renewed focus on psychological horror are evident, The Stranger being tormented by grim hallucinations and memories that may or may not be his. The glimpse of actual game near the trailer’s end also confirms the return of multiple Metro staples: the warning beeps of an air-monitoring wristwatch, the toothy beasts potentially lurking behind every ticket barrier, and the wanton mucking-up of gas mark visors.
Also obvious is Metro 2039’s newfound political bite. The Stranger’s nightmares reflect real-life scenes of Russian aggression and jingoism, both in Ukraine and beyond – the Novoreich’s kidnapping of chained-up children a clear reference to the Putin government’s abductions of Ukrainian kids, possibly also evoking past crimes like the Soviet Union’s forced deportation of Kalmyk families after World War II. A later scene shows yet more children obediently repeating the Novoreich’s “destroy or be destroyed” slogans in a classroom, mirroring Russia’s policy of ‘teaching’ highly nationalistic and often violent pro-war propaganda in schools, usually under the pretense of extinction-level persecution threatened by perceived enemies.
While swathes of the games industry cut ties with Russia after the 2022 invasion, it’s still rare to see such strongly critical stances against the war within games themselves. Even the Ukrainian-made STALKER 2, a developer of which was killed in action after joining the armed forces, chose to subtly celebrate Ukrainian’s own culture instead of gunning for the those who’d erase it. Yet 4A are keen to emphasise how Metro 2039 has been shaped by their own circumstances, saying the game’s story shifted after 2022 “to focus acutely on choices, actions, consequences, and the cost of securing a future.”
While it’s not directly based on a particular book, Metro 2039 once again sees 4A collaborating with original Metro series author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Glukhovsky, a Russian native, was himself forced into exile after criticising the war in 2023. A Moscow court later sentenced him in absentia to eight years in a penal colony on charges of extremism. I’m guessing they won’t be preordering.
