Today, 4A Games and Deep Silver pulled the wraps off the next entry in the METRO series: 2039. Courtesy of Xbox, the team at 4A provided some insight into the next entry including what players can expect from the game world, gameplay details, and technical approach when the game releases this winter.
Courtesy of Xbox Wire, we also have further details on the setting, gameplay, and environmental storytelling that has been shaped, in part, by the Ukrainian war.
After Metro Exodus expanded the scope of the series’ world, Metro 2039 will return to its roots in the Moscow Metro, going “back to the tunnels and leaning into what makes Metro, Metro,” according to Creative Director Andriy ‘mLs’ Shevchenko.
All the various independent factions that previously populated the Metro have now been united under a fascist dictatorship, led by a literal Fuhrer. You will play as The Stranger, “a recluse plagued by his violent nightmares, forced to undertake a harrowing journey back down to the Metro, a place he swore to never return,” as described by Co-Creative Director and Lead Audio Designer, Pawel Ulmer. Notably, The Stranger will be the series’ first fully voiced lead protagonist.
The cinematic reveal trailer took us into one of The Stranger’s nightmares, bouncing around associatively between grim and violent moments and images from throughout his traumatic life, never knowing what is truly real. On waking in the present, he starts heading, with grim determination, back down into the Metro.
This will be the darkest chapter in the Metro saga yet, according to Ulmer. “We are not romanticizing the post-apocalypse, or making a theme park out of it. Metro has always been a more tragic view on our actions as humanity.”
The presentation ended with a brief clip of mixed gameplay and cinematics, our first taste of what Metro 2039 has in store. Set in a ruined Metro station, we see hallmarks of the series – familiar hand-crafted weaponry, gorgeous visuals, and a preference for using in-game objects rather than a traditional UI, most notably The Stranger’s watch ticking down. We see some glimpses of exploration, with The Stranger looking to examine a body slumped against a pillar, before we get an action setpiece.
The Stranger is attacked by Nosalises – returning monsters that resemble ferocious moles, with the size and proportions of gorillas – which have crashed down into the tunnel leading to the station. The sequence gives us a sense of the tactical nature of combat – The Stranger chooses to rush down an escalator rather than take on the fight immediately, but upon readying his weapon it misfires, seemingly indicating how the player will need to pay close attention to ammo and maintenance. As a Nosalis begins to maul him, The Stranger pulls out a knife and stabs the beast in its neck.
As they turn back to escape, we see a kneeling older man with an assault rifle, guarding a populated Metro tunnel, giving us a quick look at the kinds of settlements we’ll be able to visit. The Stranger quickly crawls backwards as two more monsters bear down and the heavy metal doors slide shut just in time…
Every detail of Metro 2039’s world will be deliberately handcrafted to create a sense of history and lived-in specificity. Shevchenko described this approach to narrative level design as “frozen stories.” These aren’t your grandma’s environmental storytelling skeletons and graffiti, but rather areas thoughtfully staged with items, bodies, and props to allow observant players to piece together micro-narratives throughout the environment.
“Nothing is prefabricated – everything is unique and grounded,” explained Executive Producer Jon Bloch. “When you walk into a room, it’s clear that a person lived there. You can feel what they were doing right before they left or died.”
A recurring theme throughout the presentation, both implicit and explicit, was how Metro 2039 has been informed by the majority-Ukrainian studio’s recent experience of war from the invasion of Russia. It even led to the entire planned story of this game being reworked to reflect the real lives of the people making it.
“Everything we had planned for the next chapter of Metro changed,” said Bloch. Dmitry Glukhovsky, who wrote the novels the games are based on, has returned to help craft the story for Metro 2039, all while living in exile from his native Russia for criticizing the government, including for its invasion of Ukraine.
“The meaning [of our games] has always been about preventing war,” said Ulmer. “But now,” Shevchenko added, “war is our reality, and our message has shifted to be about the consequences, the cost of silence, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom.” Ulmer continued: “When Russia’s full-scale invasion began, it changed the lives of everyone in the studio – but more so of our team and families in Ukraine. Even today, the majority of our team works from various locations around Ukraine.”
“Reality forced us to take a different approach, told from a uniquely Ukrainian perspective, but this is still a Metro story, in the Metro universe,” said Shevchenko.
If you simply want to experience the cinematic trailer, the team also released the official reveal trailer today as well:
