We've been waiting for a new Metro game for a long, long time. Exodus was released back in 2019, seven years ago. Metro Awakening was a VR-exclusive, and while it reviewed relatively well, I don't know anyone who's played it. Metro 2039, then, has some big shoes to fill. Set in the heart of a post-armageddon Russia, it's not a game that misses and hits the wall. Its central narrative engages with themes of death, tyranny, and political manipulation, coalescing under the shadow of a ruined Saint Basil's Cathedral. "Our games explore what humans were before the world ended... The meaning has always been about preventing war," creative director Andriy 'mLs' Shevchenko says. "But now, war is our reality, and our message has shifted to be about the consequences, the cost of silence, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom," co-creative director Pavel Ulmer continues. I don't think I have to explain the parallels between Metro 2039 and real life.