Complete Recap of the Metro Games Ahead of Metro 2039’s Release

After years of silence, the next chapter of 4A Games’ Metro series, Metro 2039, is finally on the way. Set to take players back into the claustrophobic, mutant-infested tunnels of Moscow, the upcoming sequel promises to be the darkest entry in the franchise to date. However, while Metro 2039 is marking a highly anticipated return to the Metro, the series’ primary protagonist up to this point, Artyom, will not be joining players. Instead, they will take on the role of the enigmatic Stranger and confront the authoritarian Novoreich regime, led by none other than the legendary Spartan, Hunter, who was first introduced in Metro 2033. With the series’ returning to its terrifying, survival-horror roots and delivering a narrative heavily influenced by 4A GAmes’ real-world experiences with Russian invasion of Ukraine, Metro 2039 may be the franchise’s biggest moment yet in the video game space.

But before you strap on a fresh gas mask, check your filters, and head back into the darkness to face Hunter, it’s crucial to understand the history that led up to this point in the Metro timeline. Dmitry Glukhovsky’s post-apocalyptic universe is built on political and factional warfare, moral ambiguity, and the consequences of past choices. Whether you’re a Metro veteran needing a refresher on the fate of the Dark Ones or a newcomer stepping into the irradiated wasteland for the very first time, this complete recap of Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, and Metro Exodus will give you everything they need to know before Metro 2039 arrives.

Metro 2033: The Spark in the Dark

Originally released in 2010 before receiving a remake in 2014, Metro 2033 introduced players to a vision of post-nuclear Moscow. 20 years after a devastating global conflict forced the remnants of humanity underground, the metro system has now been transformed into a home for humanity’s worst impulses. Factions like the communist Red Line and the neo-Nazi Fourth Reich wage endless wars over resources and ideology, all while mutants stalk the surface as well as the tunnels below.

Here, players step into the boots of Artyom, a young survivor from the independent station of Exhibition. When his home is threatened by a seemingly telepathic breed of mutants known as the “Dark Ones,” Artyom embarks on a pilgrimage across the Metro, seeking aid from the legendary Spartan Rangers. His journey is filled with bandit ambushes, supernatural anomalies, and the constant tick of a Geiger counter. Guided by the ranger Hunter and the cryptic wanderer Khan, Artyom eventually secures pre-war missile codes.

In the game’s canonical ending, Artyom targets the Dark Ones’ surface hive, unleashing a devastating missile strike that obliterates the threat. However, it is here Artyom learns that the Dark Ones were never trying to destroy humanity, but were desperately attempting to establish peaceful communication. This tragic misunderstanding sets the moral foundation for the entire franchise, leaving Artyom to carry the immense guilt of committing a preemptive genocide against a species that really only wanted to help.

Metro: Last Light: The Burden of Guilt

Picking up a year after the destruction of the Dark Ones, Metro: Last Light brings a traumatized Artyom right back into the fray. Now a full-fledged Spartan Ranger, Artyom learns that a single, infant Dark One survived the missile strike. Ordered by the Spartan commander, Colonel Miller, to hunt down and destroy this final anomaly, Artyom is intercepted by the Red Line, setting off a grand conspiracy.

Last Light expands the political landscape of the Metro, revealing a terrifying plot by Red Line General Korbut to seize control of a massive pre-war bunker known as D6. This facility houses a stockpile of biological weapons and vital resources, enough to give the communists absolute supremacy over the entire underground.

As Artyom tracks down the surviving little Dark One, his mission turns from assassination to salvation. Through the creature’s psychic abilities, Artyom uncovers the true, peaceful nature of its species and begins to bond with the child. Together, they navigate the swampy ruins of Venice and the irradiated surface, trying to get ahead of both the Red Line and the Fourth Reich.

The climax converges at D6, where the Spartan Rangers make a suicidal last stand against Korbut’s overwhelming armored train and countless infantry. In the canonical “Redemption” ending, just as Artyom prepares to detonate D6 to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, the little Dark One arrives with a group of surviving, awakened Dark Ones from a hidden hibernation vault. They systematically dismantle the Red Line forces, saving the Spartans. Recognizing that humanity is not yet ready for coexistence, the Dark Ones leave in search of a new home, Artyom now left behind with a fragile sense of hope and a second chance.

Metro Exodus: Leaving the Underground

Metro Exodus effectively uncovers the truth about the series’ most foundational lie: the inhabitants of Moscow Metro are not, in fact, the last humans on Earth. Driven by an obsessive belief that life exists beyond the irradiated capital, Artyom ventures to the deadly surface to search for radio signals. His expeditions eventually uncover a conspiracy orchestrated by the invisible “Watchers,” who have been jamming external communications to hide Moscow from Western enemies.

Forced to evacuate the city after hijacking a functioning steam locomotive dubbed the Aurora, Artyom, his wife Anna, Colonel Miller, and a loyal crew of Spartans embark on a year-long, cross-country journey across Russia. In what is widely considered one of the series’ most controversial changes, the tunnels of the Metro are replaced by expansive, seasonally changing sandboxes, from the cult-controlled waters of the Volga in spring to the scorching, Mad Max-style deserts of the Caspian Sea in summer. The crew’s ultimate goal is to find a habitable sanctuary free from radiation and mutants. However, things take a turn when Anna falls deathly ill from a toxic gas exposure.

Desperate for a cure, the crew pushes to the dead city of Novosibirsk in the dead of winter. The city is a nightmare of extreme radiation and blind, telepathic mutants. In a heart-wrenching finale, Colonel Miller sacrifices himself, using his own uncontaminated radiation shot to save Artyom after they secure the cure for Anna. The survivors finally reach the pristine shores of Lake Baikal, establishing a permanent, peaceful settlement. As Artyom takes up leadership of the Spartans following Miller’s death, the crew prepares to return and rescue others from the Moscow Metro, setting a hopeful stage that Metro 2039 seems ready to rip to shreds.

Released

2026

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood, Language