4A Games has dropped the first look at its upcoming sequel, Metro 2039, the next chapter of the post-apocalyptic first-person shooter franchise based on Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novels, promising a much darker tone, a return to the dangerous metro tunnels, and a brand new protagonist.
As unveiled via a six-minute-long trailer comprising mostly cinematics, Metro 2039 will be centred on a new hero, The Stranger, a fully voiced protagonist who seems to be plagued by harrowing visions of his past at what looks to be an orphanage where he grew up, leading him back to the dangerous underground.
Following the events of 2019’s Metro Exodus, the trailer also unveiled the game’s new enemy faction, the Novoreich, which is formed by the previous factions united under a single banner and a new Führer, Hunter, whom fans will recognise as one of the Spartan Rangers and an ally of the previous protagonist Artyom, first seen in the original 2010 game, Metro 2033.
In a first-look reveal showcase accompanying the new trailer, developer 4A Games also teased that the game will be “much darker in tone this time around”, and that being a studio based predominantly based in Ukraine, the heart of an ongoing invasion by Russia, the sequel will tell its story from a “uniquely Ukrainian perspective”, with a message surrounding the “cost of silence, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom” that reflects the consequences of war.
Developed using 4A’s proprietary engine, the studio also added that their goal is to create a world that’s “hauntingly beautiful”, crafting natural environmental storytelling that it dubs “frozen stories”. While it remains to be seen how these elements will coexist with the game’s more traditional narrative structure, a brief snippet of in-engine gameplay footage at the trailer’s end shows off just how much its technology has improved over the years, with a shot of a new mole-like beast that looks more impressive than anything seen in the game franchise so far, alongside showing off its improved next-generation lighting and environmental destruction effects, and what looks to be a new weapon type.
Best of all, fans don’t have to wait too long to get their hands on the game, as Metro 2039 will launch in Winter 2026 for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Adan Jimenez
