Metro 2039 Being Darker Than Ever Is Music To My Ears

Seven years ago, I came across Metro Exodus for the first time. The atmospheric post-apocalyptic FPS with an open design; the premise seemed a little too interesting. I picked up Metro: Last Light to make my way towards Exodus, and man, was it one hell of a journey. From the tunnels of war-torn Moscow to a bleak open world where every environment had a story to tell, for a moment, I forgot this was supposed to be a shooting game.

When the sequel was teased back in 2020, I was fresh off the Exodus hype train and ready for more. It took six long years, but the Metro 2039 reveal is finally here, and even six years of anticipation weren’t enough to prepare me for this. Let’s just say the Metro fan in me, who went underground with a tank of hopium, has now climbed out of the nuclear bunker and wants to scream out in excitement. It’s a new Metro!

Metro 2039: Back To The Traumatic Tunnels

The Metro 2039 reveal trailer really shook me. All those memories from six years ago came flooding back to the point I’m itching to go back and do a full replay of the series. And it’s perfect timing, too. If you haven’t played Metro yet, trust me, you’re missing out on a tragically beautiful journey. And if it keeps moving through your backlog priority, I think this new trailer should be motivation enough to bump it to the top. Consider buying a Revolut e-gift card online for hassle-free payments, and get the whole series in one fell swoop at a sale.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot of amazing stuff to see in the Metro 2039 trailer. As always, the game doubles down on the series’ iconic atmospheric storytelling and vivid presentation of the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world. It never shies away from a realistic depiction of the grim reality in a plot that hooks you with a grounded narrative. And so far, Metro 2039 is going extra hard on all this, and I absolutely love it.

Above all, the game takes you back to the haunting underground tunnels of a war-torn Moscow. Originally, the Metro series was all about navigating this complex network called “Metro,” with the strong narrative augmenting the gameplay. In Exodus, the series tried an open-ended approach with huge biomes and strong levels. I can never forget the Volga Sea part. Still, the open design led to some content issues, and I’m fine with the series going back to its roots, especially since the overall world design seems stronger than ever.

Metro 2039 looks insane
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A Bleak World Fueled By Reality

Alongside the trailer came another strong revelation from the original novels’ author, Dmitry Glukhovsky himself, saying the game will be darker than anything we’ve ever seen, and this statement really made my day. More than the shooting and the narrative, I’ve loved the series’s atmospheric design and deafening environments that silently told a story. Hearing that it’s all going to be even more powerful and grim, and then seeing little glimpses of it in the trailer myself, sold me right then and there.

However, there’s a cruel reason behind this game being a lot darker and grounded in reality, one that makes me hate myself for saying that I’m excited for it. Metro 2039 was developed during the recent Ukraine war; the repercussions of the ongoing war haunted the production team as they worked. Seeing all that yourself is something hard to shake off, no matter how strong you are, and I think it’s what makes this game a lot more “alive.” But alas, I’m a gamer who loves a tragic world filled with surreal realism, and I can’t help but be excited for it.

In METRO 2039 (allegedly 2026), ukrainian studio 4A games demonstrates absolute mastery over the subtlest of references to the real life events
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The war-based circumstances are truly unfortunate, but I think the fact that the dev team powered through it to present a game so closely relevant to the traumatic experience means we owe it to them to witness it all. The game promises a war-torn Moscow grounded in realism, where the scars of war and those who lived through it all are always a reminder of humanity’s evils. And if this bleak representation that doesn’t try to find solace in an apocalyptic world, but has more to do with dealing with it, I don’t think Metro can get any better than this.