Metro 2039 isn't just a game, it's an experience, says book series author Dmitry Glukhovsky

Original Metro book series author Dmitry Glukhovsky reiterates the darker themes for the new Metro 2039 game, saying that the project aims to deliver a meaningful and impactful experience rather than just another FPS campaign.

4A Games recently revealed the first look at Metro 2039, the next game in the landmark franchise. Metro 2039 was promised to be a truly brutal and twisted game, tapping into the fear and steely resolve that the developers have faced while crafting the project during the ongoing Ukrainian War. The cinematic trailer for Metro 2039 amps up the franchise's psychological torment to new heights, depicting a protagonist that's tortured by their own memories while simultaneously being led by a faint flickering hope.

Leading up to the reveal, Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author behind the books that the games are based on, has hyped up the project with assertions that Metro 2039 is a more agonizing and distressing game, and now he's said that it's less of a game and more of an experience: "I don't think Metro 2039 should be called a game. It should be called an experience," Glukhovsky said on Twitter.

Glukhovsky, who is currently living in exile from his home country of Russia for speaking out against the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine, has shared his unique perspective by co-crafting the story alongside 4A Games.

The echoes of Glukhovsky's words also reverberate in the developer's voice as well; 4A Games indicates that Metro 2039 is the manifestation of suffering, hope, and a creative sublimation of the horrors of a war that continues igniting the country on fire.

The challenging situation that our team members in Ukraine are still enduring has changed the way we want to tell this story. It is undeniably darker than ever before.

We do not aim to romanticise the apocalypse, it is not simply a playground in which to tell our story, but we focus on the human heart of a dead and ruthless world.

We've crafted this new story together, united by our shared values of freedom and truth that have been shaped by the harsh reality of the world around us.

The Cost of Silence. The Horror of Tyranny. The Price of Freedom. We want players to walk away with a deeper understanding of what that means. We want you to you feel it... and question it.

Metro 2039 will be out this winter on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC via Steam and the Epic Store.