Metro 2039 Unveiled at Gamescom: 4A Games Reflects on Building a War Story During Wartime

Metro 2039, the fourth main entry in the Metro franchise, is launching in February 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S—eight years after Metro Exodus. The game received its first gameplay trailer at Gamescom, where creators from Ukrainian studio 4A Games discussed the weight of developing a narrative about war’s consequences while their home country faces real conflict.

What 4A Games Is Saying About Metro 2039

At Gamescom, executive producer Jon Bloch and co-creative director Pavel Ulmer took the stage alongside Geoff Keighley to introduce the new trailer and share the studio’s vision for the game.

Bloch framed Metro 2039 as a thematic evolution for the series. “Metro has always been a story about preventing a war,” he said, “but now that war is at our doorstep, we have created a story about its consequences and what it takes to survive, the cost of silence, the horror of tyranny and the price for freedom.”

Ulmer emphasized the human element at the game’s core, describing Metro as fundamentally about people—”what they protect, what they sacrifice and what remains of them when the world takes almost everything away.” He also noted that 4A Games has designed the game for both longtime Metro players and newcomers entering the franchise for the first time. In closing remarks, Ulmer thanked the community: “Your support and love have stayed with us every step of development.”

Why This Matters

The Metro series has long traded in post-apocalyptic storytelling rooted in Russian culture and Cold War tensions—themes that take on new resonance given the timing of this announcement. Metro 2039 arrives eight years after Exodus, marking a significant gap between mainline entries. The fact that 4A Games, based in Ukraine, is crafting a narrative explicitly about war’s human cost and survival while operating under wartime conditions adds genuine weight to the developers’ words about the game’s themes.

For the franchise, this represents a chance to deepen what Metro has always explored: how ordinary people endure extraordinary circumstances. The studio’s deliberate outreach to new players suggests confidence in the game’s accessibility and a desire to grow the fanbase beyond series veterans.

What’s Next

With a February 2027 release window confirmed and a new gameplay trailer now public, attention will likely turn to how the full game translates these thematic ambitions into playable experience. Whether additional trailers, interviews, or gameplay reveals surface before launch will shape how the gaming community engages with Metro 2039 in the months ahead.