You could possibly, and doubtless ought to, reduce Metro 2039’s environment with a knife

Printed: August 26, 2026

There are some videogame worlds I may see myself residing in; these with stunning environments, pleasant individuals, and an actual sense of journey. Metro 2039 will not be a type of video games. An actual hellhole, the place the smallest of victories require the biggest of efforts – it is a dour place that reeks of dying. I fairly loved it.

The Metro collection has been going since 2010, telling the story of humanity after disaster and the way they discovered shelter underground from the now-uninhabitable floor. It is cramped, it seems prefer it smells, and never everyone seems to be a ray of sunshine (honest sufficient, to be trustworthy). Venturing out from this relative security to discover can be a dying sentence for many, with the ambient radiation and packs of monsters a continuing risk.

Whereas Metro Exodus was extra of a sandbox-y kind of deal, with the goal being to depart the dank tunnels, 2039 is a return to the extra traditional Metro setting. I bought to play a bit of 2039, beginning partway by the story, with a lot of the narrative bits shaved off. I am again within the tunnels; I am searching for somebody, and a brand new risk has emerged in my absence.

I began my transient playthrough in one of many greatest surviving human colonies, Sevastopolskaya, which I am informed is an iconic location within the books and one thing we have by no means seen earlier than. The place hummed with exercise; individuals going about their day, scrounging a residing, as I waltzed by, getting ready for my eventual journey exterior.

It did not really feel like these had been NPCs ready for an interplay. The station feels prefer it was there earlier than I turned up, and can proceed after I go away. I visited a person who had been cleansing my tools, which is the place I used to be launched to the brand new customizable Metro 2039 weapons.

I am all the time fascinated with how these post-apocalyptic worlds deal with expertise – yeah, it is sooner or later, but additionally, you already know, mankind has seen higher days. Metro has a really distinct, superior ramshackle high quality to it, in that the majority of my tools seems selfmade, so with the ability to change that on the fly is a really attractive prospect.

Altering bits of my weapons, bettering their effectiveness – with the ability to change components in order that they shoot various kinds of ammo. This provides me choices while out within the wild, and choices often extend my life, so I am all for it. It is an improve system with fancy animations, however it’s one thing that makes me really feel like I am making my mark on my survival instruments.

As soon as I’ve had a chat with a few of the locals and sorted my gear, it was time to go by the airlock and enterprise exterior. I am met with a mixture of admiration and a few jeers – venturing past the relative security of the metro partitions is not one thing individuals do, and after roughly 30 seconds, I can see why.

The environment in Metro 2039 is poisonous, and something that strikes is probably going one thing that wishes to tear me in two. I’ve to put on a fuel masks always – my imaginative and prescient is barely obscured, my respiration is sometimes labored, and I’ve to maintain a continuing eye on my filters lest I choke. It is claustrophobic, and that is earlier than I bear in mind the literal tunnels I am strolling by.

Metro 2039 is heavy. It is heavy in each sense of the phrase. Motion is gradual and purposeful; something held in hand has a heft; I labor to stay. Pushing ahead means burning webs with my lighter, and it means scouting forward so I do not get jumped. I am unable to afford to mess up when merely present right here comes with an enormous baseline effort.

Scaling again from Exodus’ sandbox-like world does not make 2039 small – removed from it, truly. I bought to discover a big chunk of dilapidated Moscow, looking out nooks and crannies for something remotely helpful for the duty forward. It felt like a cheerful medium between the openness of the Exodus and the extra linear, conventional components of Metro 2033.

The creatures I encountered whereas topside behaved like animals in that they attacked with a single function, with none actual concern for his or her private security. Combatting people, nevertheless, was a unique story. They used a bit extra tactical nous to hunt me down, which made these skirmishes much more harmful – I did not have to only shoot what was in entrance of me; I as a substitute needed to predict and transfer, lest I be cornered.

As I mentioned earlier, a number of the narrative element was stripped from the model of Metro 2039 I bought to play, giving me a style of what it has to supply with out spoiling something main. It is bought actual jeopardy and weight, with an environment you might reduce with a knife. I loved my time with 2039 – if 4A Video games can add a little bit of emotional weight to the proceedings with a good story, then we might be taking a look at the very best sport within the collection thus far.