4A Games’ seven-year hiatus will be broken not just with an announcement, but with the promise of the darkest journey in Metro history. Dmitry Glukhovsky, co-writer and creator of the universe, added fuel to the fire: Metro 2039 will be darker than anything the series has ever seen. And that, incidentally, is a serious promise from a franchise where nuclear ash and moral dead ends are standard fare.
“This Metro game will be darker than anything you’ve seen before,” Glukhovsky wrote on Twitter on April 14. The bar is already high: 2019’s Metro Exodus is still remembered by many as one of the most oppressive open-world post-apocalypses.
The full reveal will take place tomorrow, April 16, as part of Xbox First Look. The stream starts at 13:00 (1:00 PM) New York time (EDT). on the official Xbox YouTube channel. We previously reported on the event’s format and anticipated announcements.
4A Games, a Kyiv-based studio, has experienced several traumatic transformations. After a full-scale invasion, the operations center moved to Malta, but the core team remained in Ukraine. The developers are open about the impact this experience had on the tone of Metro 2039. The studio’s statement stated bluntly: “Art has become life for many of our developers in Ukraine, and we drew from this experience to create an even darker story.”
Metro 2039 will be the fourth title in the series, following Metro 2033 (2010), Metro: Last Light (2013), and Metro Exodus (2019). Judging by the title, the events take place approximately four years after the conclusion of Exodus. The game has been confirmed for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, but a precise release date is not yet available. We wrote separately about the studio’s restructuring in recent years. There are currently zero gameplay or plot details—only a teaser mentioning the “dark heart of post-apocalyptic Moscow.” Whether Artyom will return as the protagonist has not yet been officially confirmed. The answers will be revealed tomorrow.
Plot twist: who turned out to be the “Stranger” and what really happened to Artyom
The Metro series has accustomed gamers to the fact that each part carefully closes its cycle. But Metro 2039, judging by insiders and the very structure of the teaser, breaks this tradition. In a short clip with a static camera, a figure wearing a gas mask enters the frame. The “Stranger”. The voice is familiar to the point of goosebumps — almost Artyom, only with a metal filter, as if through a respiratory system or an old radio transmitter.
4A Games has already dropped a hint: the narrative in the new part will be built as a “story through memories.” Indirectly, this confirms the change of perspective. Leaks have surfaced on ResetEra, according to which the “Stranger” is either a clone of Artyom (hello to the Eden project from Last Light Redux), or a survivor who lost his memory after the events of Exodus. The canonical ending of 2019, where Artyom sacrifices himself for Aurora, left plenty of room for maneuver. This means that Metro 2039 may well turn out to be a direct continuation of this very sacrifice.
According to Lore, 4A lays down a time pass and will show the effects of cleansing the atmosphere — but without the leafy romanticization. Moscow in 2039 is not a reborn metropolis, but a city of phantoms. Here, the remnants of life cling to every filter. It is here that the “Stranger” catches the radio signal with the call sign “Artem”, starting a new cycle. It is symbolic — both for the hero and for the whole series.
Metro: Awakening Theories
According to insiders, Metro 2039 is not conceived as a “relaunch.” The game should close the theme of redemption and remembrance that 4A Games started back in Metro 2033. Artyom, even if he is physically gone, will remain the voice of a world where humanity has become an archival resource.
