Metro 2039 Developers on Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: "Quite a Lot of Our Plans Changed Overnight"

After finishing the four-or-so-hour preview build of Metro 2039, the upcoming first-person shooter sequel from Ukrainian developer 4A Games and falling completely in love with it, I reached out to the team to ask some questions about how they've approached the latest entry in their post-apocalyptic franchise – both in terms of the game itself, but also in terms of how their real lives have changed since Russia's invasion of their country in 2022.

South Korea police find four bodies on Jeju island as missing persons scandal deepens

Four missing people have been found dead on South Korean holiday island Jeju, as local police face mounting public criticism for allegedly mishandling missing persons cases.

Reports emerged last week that authorities were launching a belated search for a woman reported missing months ago. This sparked criticism of the police for failing to search for her earlier.

Metro 2039's return to the underground plays like the sneaky FPS you'd expect, but there are still good reasons to leave the beaten track

Tunnel vision

An armourer hands the Stranger a custom gas-powered rifle in Metro 2039.
Image credit: Deep Silver

Since I’m apparently now RPS’ Radioactive Eastern Europe correspondent, I recently spent a couple of hours in Metro 2039, the gloom ‘n’ grit FPS sequel that Ukrainian developers 4A Games have explicitly styled as a return to the series’ roots. From what I’ve played, it is in fact as much of a hybrid as the mutated shrimp-insects that lurk in its Moscow sewers, reviving the claustrophobic tunnel dwelling of Metros 2033 and Last Light while keeping a few favoured twists from the more freely-roamable Metro Exodus.

Metro 2039 takes us back to Moscow, but it's still got some delicious bits of Exodus in there

Armourer hands over a weapon.
(Image credit: Deep Silver)

Isn't it always the way? You spend so long yearning to leave home, to strike out and make a go of it all by yourself, but the second you step foot out the door you start missing it. All of it. The camaraderie and the rows, the shared meals and the constant, privacy-smothering proximity, and—of course—the mutated beasts from the overland, intent on your complete and utter destruction.

Metro 2039 Doesn’t Mess Around, and it Might Already Be My Favorite FPS in Years

Key Preview Takeaways:

  • Metro 2039, very refreshingly, doesn't hold your hand. It throws you straight into the deep end.
  • Gameplay variety was fantastic during my 3-4 hour hands-on; I was rarely doing the same thing for very long.
  • Metro 2039 blew me away with its handcrafted hellscapes, intense combat, and attention to detail.

I’ve spent about 3–4 hours with Metro 2039 so far, and it’s already healing me even as the in-game version of me, dubbed The Stranger in this sequel, struggles to breathe through a gas mask whose filters don’t last long, thus requiring me to craft new ones from items scrounged by scouring every last inch of its post-apocalyptic world as the countdown timer on my wristwatch constantly ticks down, threatening to choke me to death if it hits 0:00. In a real world where AI is being shoved down our throats at every corner, from our emails to the customer service reps we interact with, one of my biggest takeaways from Metro 2039 is that even though it’s an apocalypse-ravaged hellscape, every inch of it is very obviously and very painstakingly handcrafted. This franchise always was, of course; this is nothing new.

Saffron Cresswell on life-changing accident and new career in para-canoe

After four months in hospital, Saffron Cresswell was dreading coming home.

She knew the field would be empty.

Before she had the fall that would leave her paralysed at the age of 23, she had 25 horses that she trained and rode in a business she had been running since she was 15 and was a talented eventer on a pathway towards the Olympics.