It’s been fifteen years since 4A Games released Metro 2033, the acclaimed adaptation of the first of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s series of post-apocalyptic novels. Metro 2033 Redux is currently free to download for 48 hours on Steam, Xbox and GOG to celebrate the anniversary (nice spot, VGC).
4A Games released a video in celebration of the series’ fifteenth anniversary, featuring testimonies from key developers and Glukhovksy himself, who said «4A, you are amazing, I’m with you in whatever it takes.»
Life Imitates Art
The studio also released an accompanying blog post, giving an update on the fourth mainline entry in the Metro series, which has been in development since the studio finished creating expansions for Exodus in 2020.
«As we said in our last studio update, in 2022 a full-scale Russian invasion changed how we wanted to tell the story of the next Metro game,» the post reads. «As art became life for many of our developers in Ukraine, we drew from that lived experience to create an even darker story, those themes already present in Metro becoming ever more apparent and important. As conflict, the struggle for power, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom have become part of our lives over the past 3+ years, we are still living and working during this wartime, and that inevitably shapes the games we make.»
4A Games was originally formed in Kyiv when several prominent developers who worked on Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl departed GSC Game World to found their own studio. Amid the invasion, much of 4A Games has been relocated to Malta.
«Metro has always had a hard-hitting, political, anti-war and often emotional story — and you can sure these themes will continue thanks to our ongoing collaboration with franchise creator, author, and activist Dmitry Glukhovsky,» the post continues.
Glukhovsky is currently a wanted man in Russia for speaking out against the government’s invasion of Ukraine. The Moscow native has been handed an eight-year prison sentence in absentia. He currently lives abroad.
«Dmitry has always spoken out against the war in Ukraine from the start — a courageous decision for any Russian, that has seen him sentenced to jail (in absentia) — and we are proud to have him as a friend and co-creator as we tell the next, and never more relevant chapter of Metro together.»
4A Games describes development as «incredibly challenging» because of the invasion, but work progresses on the new Metro and «it will be ready when it’s ready.»
Metro
