Metro 2039, the latest instalment in the Metro series from Ukrainian developer 4A Games, is due for release in February next year. A hands-on preview of a section from around halfway through the game reveals a darker, more polished experience, with a new protagonist and significant gameplay upgrades.
A darker hero for a darker time
The most immediate difference from the original trilogy is the absence of its hero, Artyom. Players now take on the role of The Stranger, a fully voiced character described as sounding like a growly Slavic Batman. He is on a mission to kill Führer Hunter, the chief spartan and former people’s hero who has started a propaganda-based war to recapture the surface from the ‘novo-Reich’ while brutally subjugating the people of the Metro.
The preview section included the station of Sevastopolskaya and two missions to the surface. Much of the station was walled off to prevent spoilers, but the remaining areas are richly textured, with shadowy, detailed environments and the series’ trademark overheard conversations.
Gameplay and combat upgrades
Production values have received an obvious upgrade compared with the first two Metro games. A UV light lets players find hidden messages, while an oxyacetylene torch and breaching charges open up previously blocked pathways. Weapons have been updated, with blueprints offering upgrades and entirely new guns to assemble at crafting tables.
Enemy AI has been overhauled. Human foes are not so suicidal as mutants, calling for back-up and investigating, but retreating and trying to bait players into the open or using RPGs to blow them out of cover. This makes for varied firefights, with stealth regularly subverted into open warfare.
Environmental storytelling and development
The environmental richness includes scenes the developer calls ‘frozen stories’ – tableaux of death, with skeletal remains reaching for a gun or a child’s drawing amongst the remnants of a family’s final struggle. This fleshes out the broader tragedy of its world, co-opting exploration into storytelling.
With five months of development time left, the impression is of a mature, polished game that remains infused with Metro’s charismatic bleakness – albeit with a faint glimmer of hope. It is even more impressive considering what has been achieved in a country at war. The game is being developed in post-invasion Ukraine, with support from teams working internationally.
